The situation brewing with North Korea makes me very very nervous. I lived and worked in South Korea in 1997, for the late former president Kim Dae-jung. I still have relatives who live in South Korea. When I think about what Trump is doing now with Syria and now his focus on North Korea, I shiver in the same way I shivered when I walked back to my apartment and I saw the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City ablaze and smoking after two jet planes crashed into them on 9/11. I fear that this will be Korea’s 9/11 but much much worse, and this time caused by Trump. Unfortunately I voted for Trump.

I do not even want to write the unspeakable because of what I fear could happen if Trump strikes N. Korea.

I wanted to add on to my comments above. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I grew up in the United States, had American friends, and hardly speak much Korean. I grew up in a myopic Hollywood version of the world. After graduating from Wellesley, my Korean mother thought it best that I go and live and work in South Korea for at least one year to see the world. She had previously sent me on trips to Russia and Kenya before, but suddenly decided that I ought to go to Korea, perhaps to marry a Korean man, which never worked out. But, I digress. I worked in South Korea in 1997 for the Forum of Democratic Leaders in the Asia-Pacific, an NGO organized under Kim Dae-jung’s Peace Foundation for the peaceful reunification of North and South Korea. I edited a quarterly newsletter in English for them.  As I worked at the FDLAP, my eyes really opened up to how the rest of the world functions and views the United States. Even then in 1997, many Koreans felt anti-U.S. sentiment because the U.S. has a huge military base in the most expensive location in Seoul – Gangnam. Does anyone know the hit Korean song “Gangnam Style”? based on the ultra-hip and wealthy area in Gangnam where the U.S. military base is also located.  Kim Dae-jung ran for the presidency during in 1997, which also coincided with the Asian economic crisis. I saw mass riots in the streets as the Korean won crashed and many Koreans lost their jobs and livelihoods. It was a terrible mess and probably the reason why Kim Dae-jung won, as people wanted change and to get rid of corruption in politics.

The North Korean leaders are bad. Let me be clear, they are just plain bad with this total dictatorship and keeping people poor so they can have all the power and wealth. Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un are just bad. Personally, I believe they think South Korea is just a puppet of American leaders and probably have a lot of disdain for their “weak” southern counterparts. The one good thing that came out of the Korean war was capitalism was allowed to flourish in South Korea, helping the south build wealth.

One of the things I learned after working in South Korea, is that even in South Korea, there are a lot of political factions. Just because you are Korean, does not mean you like all Koreans. There are Koreans from the East who have disdain for Koreans living in the South West. And within Korea, Koreans have different accents on the way they speak Korean so you can tell from which region they come from. South Korea is not totally unified.

So, I really do not see how bombing North Korea would solve any problems. In fact, I just see it getting worse. Perhaps Trump could remove the current North regime, but no one is prepared to handle the devastation that would occur as as a result. There would be a flood of refugees that the South could not absorb economically, not to mention the death tolls, and destruction of infrastructure.