Some UCLA students have voiced concern over escalating violence between North and South Korea that has brought the nations to the brink of all-out war.
North Korea shelled the South Korean island Yeonpyeong on Nov. 23 in its first attack on a civilian area since the Korean War died down in 1953.
The attack, which killed four people and wounded many others, followed a joint U.S. and South Korean military exercise that North Korea claimed provoked its decision to bomb.
On Nov. 29, three UCLA students from the Korean cultural group, Hanoolim, gathered in Koreatown to join a rally for peace between the two Korean nations.
Eric Cho, the president of Hanoolim and a fourth-year biology student, said he hopes the rally made more people aware of the current situation in Korea. He and other Hanoolim members listened to speakers at the rally, which was attended by about 50 people and took place outside the Metro stop at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.
There have been increasing tensions between North and South Korea since the newest South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, assumed power in 2008, said Nahmee Lee, a professor of modern Korean history. Before Myung-bak, South Korea followed a policy of working toward reunification with its neighbor, Lee said.
In recent years, the U.S. and South Korea have attempted to isolate North Korea. Lee said South Korea’s current strategy is to wait for North Korea to collapse without engaging the Communist state.
Sehyun Kim, the president of the Korean Student Union, which brings together Korean international students, said his group has not held any events in response to the attack, but members of his group did discuss the issue.
Kim, a fourth-year electrical engineering student from South Korea, said he personally found the attack to be very frustrating, because he believes North Korea attacked South Korea without any provocation.
Kim said he believes the attack was the result of a power struggle within the North Korean government.
“The current president (Kim Jong-il) wants his son (Kim Jong-un) to be the next president but there’s some conflict within the government (over his succession). The purpose of the attack was to show off the son’s power,” Kim said.
But according to Lee, no one has a clear idea of who in North Korea ordered the shelling. The truth about what is occurring within North Korea’s totalitarian government remains a mystery even to the experts.
Lee is a member of the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea, a group of international scholars whose mission is to promote peace between North and South Korea.
The alliance is calling for the Korean governments to resume negotiations with each other and for the U.S. and South Korea to halt any military actions against North Korea, Lee said.
Cho said although it may not seem relevant to the U.S., a war between North and South Korea could have dire consequences, he said.
According to the alliance of scholars, if a crisis between North and South Korea is not averted, the worst-case scenario could be a nuclear war.