A sea change

As you all know, it was announced yesterday afternoon that Kim Jong-Il had died on Saturday.

Yesterday, it seemed that the only ones talking feverishly about it were the foreigners. I didn't hear anything from my coworkers and just a little bit from my students.

However I got a better sense today as to the mood of everyone here in regards to Kim Jong-Il's death...
I think my initial feeling of it being glad but cautious is pretty accurate.
Of course i can't understand the little conversations on the street but today I was out and about and saw that everyone has 24-hour news on (even cabbies) and is watching it and talking about it, with relatively somber faces.

The sense is that people actually are nervous about what this will mean for Korea. And to be honest that fact alone is a bit unsettling. Having seen the lack of strong reaction by most people in regards to the Yongpyeong shelling and overall being unconcerned with the North, the fact that they are actually concerned is strange. I think they want to be hopeful about it but many are worried that things could get worse before they get better.

Actually this is more than just a sense. I asked a few adults about what they think about it today and one expressed uncertainty and caution, the other felt much more worried and frankly a bit afraid. Not to mention the kids saying they think there will be a war. Which, yeah they're just kids, but kids' opinions often reflect those of adults around them, don't they?

I was eating in a Korean-style cafe for lunch today and the news was showing footage of Kim Jong-Il's body laying in state and his son coming to view it. And one of the ladies working there called her mother to come watch. They watched it in silence and I could tell the old woman was really thinking a lot about it. And I so wished I could communicate with her well enough to talk to her about her feelings and opinions of it. But instead I marveled at what an interesting time to be in this country, when everyone's kind of holding their breath to see if everything will stay more or less the same or if their entire world is about to change. Fascinating, really.

We're planning to do another balloon launch this Saturday. The police have been consulted and they have given us the green light to go ahead with it. I feel like this one carries so much more weight than any others. Symbolically and practically. I'm very excited to talk to Mr. Lee (from Pyongyang) about what he thinks about all this. And I'm excited to launch those balloons. As I say, it seems like this time there is more at stake.

Being here now brings lots of emotions...it's exciting. It's a bit scary. It's interesting. It's any number of things. But I'm glad to be where I am at what could be a major point in history.

To be able to say 'I was there'.