The “Weekend Program for South and North Korean Teenagers Together” was begun last August by the Rev. Benjamin H. Yoon, 80, head of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.

“Although we share the same genes, South and North Koreans live like completely different peoples, with different accents, different ways of thinking and behaving,” said Mr. Yoon. “We forgot that before Korea was divided, we lived in the same country, marrying each other.”

After mingling with the North Korean teenagers for a semester, hearing about their hardships and their concerns for relatives left behind, the South Koreans said they believed more strongly in unification, but now less for economic reasons than something closer to good will.

“Before I joined this program, I considered unification with a calculator, not with my heart for fellow Koreans in the North,” Ms. Hur said.

This is maybe the scariest thing that could happen to anyone in the world.  After watching so many documentaries about North Korea, the thought of being trapped there—for 12 years nonetheless—is horrifying.  They would be completely different people by then.  Hopefully the U.S. or Sweden can do something, but who knows now that Kim Jong Il is on some psycho power trip.

I checked to see if the North/South Korea situation had changed at all, and CNN does a good job of making it look pretty scary.  There was also an article (here) one of their Korea reporters wrote about how little South Koreans seem to care about what’s going on.

My mom had been asking me if we had been told anything in case there were some emergency, and as far as I can tell, no one really seems to be worried.  I don’t know if South Koreans have just become used to the weird shit that goes on up north, but it seems more likely that they just don’t want to think about it.  My students all have opinions they’ve probably acquired from their parents regarding every other north-Asian country, so it should seem weird they never bring up North Korea.  I’m hoping it’s just that they know something we don’t, and everything is going to be okay.

On the other hand, I think it’s insane North Korea has managed to exist for this long, and for some reason I feel like it’s inevitable they’re going to re-unify sometime.  I mean, Koreans are super nationalistic, it seems counterintuitive they would be one of the few divided nations.  (Granted, it’s much much more complicated than that, but I know I’m not the only one who hopes they can someday work something out.)

The North Korean and South Korean World Cup teams are playing in Seoul on April 1st and I’m hoping to go.  That should be interesting.