South Korea has run over rapid civilization after Korean War.
Korean citizens have always thought about their lives, whether they can
continue their lives for a day or not, with a hope of getting things better.
South Koreans have desperately wanted to get out from the worry of livelihood.
Thus, Koreans have always emphasized the word “fast” in order to get many
things done as fast as possible to maintain their life. And this mind, filled
with urgency without accuracy has made them to get a disease named “public
apathy from danger.” Whenever bad phenomenon or accidents happened, they have
always calmed their hearts by saying “it was just bad luck.” Plus, if it’s not
one's own problem, they claim "it doesn’t matter any ways." For
instance when people work in a construction site, they often times do not wear
helmet because they are not aware of accidents. This is one of the great
example of public apathy from danger and this kind of event is common in South
Korea. As a result, public apathy from danger have decreased public
responsibility and increased selfishness to the citizens.
I had a debate in my English Debate class on
February 22nd. The motion was “This
House Should bring nukes to South Korea.” The
reason why we were having this kind of debate was because South Korea is under
threat from North Korea. While considering the fact that North Korea had
another nuclear test, our team claimed that nukes are necessary to South Korea
in order to protect our own country. I came up there on the podium, stating
that, “we can no longer depend on the United States and we need something that
can protect ourselves which can
give equal threat to North Korea.” Furthermore, I found the fact that 64
percent of Korean citizens are worried about the attack from North Korea. Two out
of three is a considerable number which allows us to know that South Korea is
in urgent need to assure South Korean citizens that they are safe. At the end,
besides the result of the debate, I could realize that this issue is something
serious more than a debate class. Since many people are dull about the danger,
there are only a few people who care about the threat from North Korea
including students. As a result, people must also consider about the issue of
whether China should restrain their relationship with North Korea or not.
To start with, China must restrict their
partnership with North Korea in order to keep world peace. North Korea has
comfortably tested a new type of nuclear bomb on
February 22nd because
China shielded in front of North Korea. For instance, in 2009, when North Korea
tested their nuclear power plant, China pretended to be blinded about this
issue. The mistake made North Korea to grow up as a threatening country. As
China’s shield gets thicker and thicker, the threat of North Korea will also
increase tremendously. Thus, China must no longer act in the same way in order
to prevent North Korea’s dangerous acts.
Moreover, China must restrain its connection with
North Korea for the benefits that can occur to them as well as surrounding
countries. China must utilize the fact that they are the last ally of North Korea who supplies them
economically. When North Korea finds out that China will be against them, they
will do something profitable for China in order to keep the ally. For example, China provides 80 percent of consumer goods and 45
percent of foods in North Korea. Furthermore, according to the statistics by the Korean Government, the percentage of the finance
in military service comparing to GDP is 4.5 for the U.S and 2.5 for South Korea
which can be lessened significantly when North Korea stops its hostile
relationship with South Korea.
In my opinion, this is a serious issue not only
for China but also for the entire world. North Korea was withdrawn from the NPT(Nonproliferation Treaty) signed in 1993 (NPT).
This fact makes North Korea a dangerous country which has tested nuclear power
three times. I believe North Korea is already a country with powerful nuclear
weapons. We can consider North Korea as a child with a gun. Usually, a child
cannot control her or himself, and a gun makes a child more threatening. However, I think China can be the mother of this child because China can control North Koreawith its power and relationship. According
to the online news Der Spiegal, on April 8th, Xi Jinping has claimed
that “A country should never make the world into disaster for its benefits.” It
was a harsh comment by the premier of China to criticize North Korea. Thus,
China must act as a mother who can be harsh and nice at the same time.
In a nutshell, China is
getting impatient with North Korea. North Korea is trying to make the whole
world blind. However, China can be Mahatma Gandhi, the peace keeper in the
world by actively participating in making North Korea calm down. South Korean
government should keep paying attention on the issue with North Korea, and also
make their citizens to be aware of the seriousness of the issue. South Koreans
can no longer be apathy about the threat that North Korea is giving to them. It
is the time to be changed!
