Dubai Telegraph - Life on the frontline: fear, camaraderie on S. Korean border island

EUR -
AED 3.850499
AFN 71.008773
ALL 98.203623
AMD 408.181205
ANG 1.878426
AOA 957.117815
ARS 1052.802845
AUD 1.611799
AWG 1.889601
AZN 1.78073
BAM 1.95685
BBD 2.104369
BDT 124.546819
BGN 1.955321
BHD 0.395093
BIF 3078.681071
BMD 1.048322
BND 1.404767
BOB 7.242022
BRL 6.068274
BSD 1.042269
BTN 88.462435
BWP 14.238911
BYN 3.410895
BYR 20547.119472
BZD 2.100867
CAD 1.464763
CDF 3009.733788
CHF 0.933259
CLF 0.036948
CLP 1019.505987
CNY 7.59717
CNH 7.598032
COP 4601.873352
CRC 530.889885
CUC 1.048322
CUP 27.780544
CVE 110.939365
CZK 25.31071
DJF 185.603117
DKK 7.458186
DOP 62.814299
DZD 140.452152
EGP 52.010209
ERN 15.724836
ETB 127.59287
FJD 2.383151
FKP 0.827459
GBP 0.834234
GEL 2.872224
GGP 0.827459
GHS 16.558655
GIP 0.827459
GMD 74.431168
GNF 8983.905538
GTQ 8.090178
GYD 219.26283
HKD 8.156945
HNL 26.338382
HRK 7.477955
HTG 136.814706
HUF 410.177472
IDR 16634.465696
ILS 3.851683
IMP 0.827459
INR 88.359061
IQD 1365.358559
IRR 44108.165823
ISK 144.899116
JEP 0.827459
JMD 166.040664
JOD 0.743572
JPY 161.920737
KES 135.495088
KGS 90.983275
KHR 4196.291327
KMF 495.32971
KPW 943.489782
KRW 1470.40793
KWD 0.322684
KYD 0.868583
KZT 520.409126
LAK 22893.719185
LBP 93333.853984
LKR 303.348533
LRD 189.169904
LSL 18.807949
LTL 3.095423
LVL 0.634119
LYD 5.089828
MAD 10.54339
MDL 19.010562
MGA 4864.702709
MKD 61.551564
MMK 3404.910334
MNT 3562.199534
MOP 8.356543
MRU 41.470644
MUR 49.09263
MVR 16.206881
MWK 1807.304094
MXN 21.343897
MYR 4.667134
MZN 66.998095
NAD 18.807949
NGN 1763.687131
NIO 38.350941
NOK 11.598951
NPR 140.756858
NZD 1.793396
OMR 0.403607
PAB 1.048071
PEN 3.95212
PGK 4.196291
PHP 61.870958
PKR 289.43114
PLN 4.324697
PYG 8136.52045
QAR 3.822234
RON 4.9767
RSD 117.002216
RUB 109.041694
RWF 1422.776888
SAR 3.936062
SBD 8.788669
SCR 15.763705
SDG 630.565511
SEK 11.518181
SGD 1.412426
SHP 0.827459
SLE 23.827917
SLL 21982.801994
SOS 595.625233
SRD 37.209173
STD 21698.157582
SVC 9.120067
SYP 2633.941386
SZL 18.801446
THB 36.275119
TJS 11.161648
TMT 3.669128
TND 3.32964
TOP 2.455279
TRY 36.262506
TTD 7.078798
TWD 34.040064
TZS 2778.054341
UAH 43.118956
UGX 3872.539951
USD 1.048322
UYU 44.570933
UZS 13371.173597
VES 49.410144
VND 26648.355968
VUV 124.458945
WST 2.926487
XAF 656.315372
XAG 0.034032
XAU 0.00039
XCD 2.833144
XDR 0.79284
XOF 656.315372
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.001981
ZAR 18.935062
ZMK 9436.158367
ZMW 28.791996
ZWL 337.559392
  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

Life on the frontline: fear, camaraderie on S. Korean border island
Life on the frontline: fear, camaraderie on S. Korean border island / Photo: Jung Yeon-je - AFP

Life on the frontline: fear, camaraderie on S. Korean border island

When a North Korean artillery shell slammed into his house and burned it to the ground in 2010, Jung Chang-kuan thought that war had broken out again.

Text size:

That attack was a North Korean artillery barrage on Jung's home, the remote South Korean border island of Yeongpeong, which killed four people in the first such incident since the 1950-53 Korean War.

And on Friday, that previous attack was on Jung's mind as he fled to a shelter with his family after North Korea fired artillery shells near his island, prompting a South Korean live-fire exercise in response.

"There wasn't that much fear inside the shelter. Rather, all the residents came and it was just a chatting atmosphere because they had not seen each other in a long time," he said of the Friday evacuation.

In contrast, in 2010, Jung said his family was unable to salvage any of their belongings from their burning house and had no choice but to run.

"The shells rained down, smoke billowed, and everything was engulfed in flames and destroyed, there was no time to think about anything else," he told AFP.

Having to flee again on Friday, 70-year-old Jung said it felt both strange and "reminiscent" of the 2010 incident.

But "I wasn't too shocked," he said.

"I've even experienced (my house) being directly hit by artillery fire before."

On Saturday, North Korea fired another 60 artillery shells in the area, Seoul's military said, urging Pyongyang to immediately cease "actions that increase tension" along the maritime border.

- Shelters always open -

Yeonpyeong is extremely close -- less than two kilometres (1.5 miles) -- to the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

Although it is controlled by Seoul and on the southern side of the de facto maritime border, the sparsely populated island is much closer to North Korea.

It is only around 42 kilometres away from the North Korean city of Haeju, while being situated about 115 kilometres west of the South Korean capital Seoul.

On a clear day in autumn months, the train station in Haeju, as well as the plumes of smoke rising from the city's factories, can be seen from a hilltop on Yeonpyeong.

Yeonpyeong operates around 10 shelters across the island equipped with medical beds, children's books and gas masks, among other materials.

"We always keep the shelter doors open," an official from the Yeonpyeong district office told AFP at one of the shelters where around 200 residents stayed on Friday.

"Our aim is to ensure that people can seek refuge here whenever necessary."

- Compassion for North Koreans -

The streets and residents of Yeonpyeong remained peaceful early on Saturday, with military soldiers visiting hair salons and people enjoying bike rides on quiet roads.

"I always have this understanding in my mind that... (Yeonpyeong Island) is a tense place in the West Sea," a hairdresser and island resident, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

"If we're told to go to a shelter, we should follow the instructions, since we live in this place.

"There's no need to worry excessively. Tomorrow is tomorrow, and today is today."

But resident Kim Na-yeon, 69, said she suffered from trauma stemming from the 2010 incident, and said many elderly women on the island were deeply shaken and filled with fear -- both on Friday and during the 2010 shelling.

Fourteen years ago, Kim said that people sought refuge in a poorly built, rudimentary shelter where they could see dead mice, anxiously awaiting private and public ferries to evacuate them from the area.

On Friday, "I was anxious and didn't know if I should go to sleep or not, so I left a bag by the door without even unpacking it", she told AFP.

Due to its location, around 30 percent of the island's residents are war refugees who hail from Hwanghae Province in North Korea.

"I long to step on the land of my hometown, where my mother rests," reads a sculpture erected on the island in remembrance of the families separated by the Korean War.

For such reasons, resident Jung said he harbours no personal grudge against North Koreans, despite having his house destroyed by Pyongyang's shells.

"Even now, I feel compassion towards the North Korean people."

"I even have this willingness to help them."

A.Ragab--DT