Earlier this week, North Korean fighter jets approached a U.S. spy plane off the coast of Japan which U.S. officials have deemed a “serious provocation.” This event may have shocked most people who are accustomed to news coverage dominated by the Middle East, but for some students and one local teacher, the conflict with North Korea is a daily concern.

The threat of a possible war between the United States and North Korea stirs feelings of anxiousness from all citizens of the Korean peninsula. However, the impact differs from person to person.

“If a war between North Korea and the United States broke out, I would choose to return to Korea,” senior Jae Shim said. “Korea is where all my family and relatives live. My father is a diplomat who serves for the Korean government. It is where the origin of my ancestry began.”

While most Korean families would chose to return, many students see themselves staying behind to pursue their educations.

“It honestly wouldn’t have a big impact on my life since I will be going to college in the States,” senior Hyungsoo Kim said. “However I would face the emotional struggle of constantly worrying about my family members who would be going back.”

Although conflict between North Korea and America may seem to be strictly a problem between those two countries, it has the possibility of involving other countries, especially South Korea. The North Korean regime boasts an army of 1 million troops, the world’s fourth largest, with an estimated 4.7 million in reserve. It also keeps a massive store of artillery shells and hundreds of scud missiles that could be loaded with biological and chemical agents and rain down on South Korea and the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed there.

“If conflicts between the North Koreans and the U.S. keep growing and getting aggravated, I believe the South Koreans would be in a situation where they would have to be cautious of military attack,” Kim said. “However, the strong South Korean military and its world-wide support including that of the United States will alleviate some of the fears and anxieties that we would have had otherwise.”

While South’s president-elect, Roh Moo Hyun, has vowed to renew Seoul’s policy of “sunshine” engagement with the North, many students feel differently about the role South Korea would play.

“It is true that the South Koreans want a peaceful unification that would enable them not only to grow as a worldwide power but to move away from the only nation to be divided up into two,” Kim said. “However, if North Korea declared war against the United States, I am certain that the South Koreans would side with the United States. The South Koreans have been allied with the United States since the Korean War. Under the current South Korean administration, we are constantly making efforts to negotiate and establish healthy relations with the North. We possibly cannot side with the North Koreans and give up the long followed ideals of democracy.”

But Kim says a war would be personal.

“I have lived half of my life with my grandparents back in Korea where I was exposed to many stories of split families and the agony and pain that follows in not being able to see their family members who reside in North Korea. I guess this is why the issue of the possible war against North Korea is so close to me. It feels like war with the North is the same as fighting against a brother with the same heritage. My parents feel agony in not being able to experience the peaceful unification we’ve all been craving for.”

Not all students agree that the Unites States would be the choice ally.

“South Korea will side with North Korea for sure,” Shim said. “First, North Korea would attack U.S. military bases in South Korea including the one in central Seoul. The United States would use the location of South Korea as its trading center with the mainland U.S. to get support for arms. At the same time, South Korea will side North Korea because we have the same origin and history of more than 5,000 years. We are the same ‘Koreans.’”

One thing most Korean students do agree on is that the Iraq conflict should not be ignored in place of the Korean situation.

“It makes sense for [Bush] to take action against the Iraqi forces. As the nation strives for war against terrorism, it is emerging as a more significant aspect in the everyday lives of the American people,” Kim said.

A year ago Anne Roberts was a resident of Falls Church and an English and journalism teacher at Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology. Now she lives with her husband in South Korea about 20 minutes north of Seoul and spends her days teaching English to Korean students as one of five FCPS teachers on an exchange program. As a high school teacher she is able to have conversations with her students about American relations as part of her lesson plans. While not all of their discussions involve hostile relations toward the Americans, the high school aged boys in Robert’s class were quite vocal in their anger toward America mainly isolated around a particular incident in June. Two 13-year-old girls who were walking to a friend’s along the road with no sidewalk. A US Army lookout vehicle leading a huge tank-like vehicle was supposed to radio the tank driver if there were any hazards on the road since the driver could not see easily ahead. The lookout soldier did not notify the tank of the girls, and they were both run over. Apologies and grief followed and the drivers were tried in a US Army court martial. They were found not guilty because “although it was a terrible accident, it was not their fault” Roberts said.

The media then displayed pictures of the girls’ bodies causing the population to become distressed and inflamed. The sad situation was timed perfectly for the two South Korean presidential candidates to use for their advantage. Both of them concentrated most of their campaigns on blaming the U.S. government for the girls’ deaths, even going as far as saying they were not accidental. Americans in South Korea were asked not go into the cities to avoid anti-American protests.

“We were warned on the TV by the AFKN (Armed Forces Korean Network) every few minutes, like when Fairfax County is going to get a blizzard that will close the schools,” Roberts said. “Even reasonable, educated adults I spoke to were angry and blamed the American military and the entire American government, calling for the military to be fair and let Korea govern itself.”

Then President Bush apologized and the elections. The demonstrations and American disdain died down.

Last week there were demonstration with Pro-American demonstrators and a number of Koreans have told Roberts how they love Americans.

There may be some concern about living in a country that may see war in the future but not enough to persuade Roberts to leave.

“Most of the Americans here do consider the ‘What if’s’ but don’t worry too much,” Roberts said. “The worrywarts have already left.  I look at history and wonder what the ordinary people thought in Germany prior to World War II, or in Russia just before the Bolshevik Revolution, or in the United States shortly before the Civil War.”