The apartment reconstruction boom in Seoul, both in the northern and southern parts of the capital city, is expected to go on for some time like a little sunny patch in the overcast Korean economy. Almost all apartment complexes built during or before the early 1980s are in the various stages of reconstruction, remodeling or renewal, aiming to raise the value of the properties. Blueprints invariably show towers of 30 to 40 stories or higher with smaller unit sizes, which are the current trend.

Forests of skyscraper apartments in the capital city located 40-50 kilometers directly from the Demilitarized Zone are hardly a comfortable image in this time of heightened tension under the threat of North Korean weapons of mass destruction. The real estate market does show a sign of cooling from last year’s bullishness, but analysts attribute it to a cyclical slowdown rather than any impact from Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test and rocket launching.

Let us now look back on the late 1960s when the nation was gripped by the first renewal of security tension since the end of the war. North Korean guerrilla incursions continued throughout 1968 starting from the aborted raid on the Blue House in January. North Koreans captured the U.S. intelligence-gathering ship Pueblo with a crew of 83 off Wonsan Port and then shot down an EC-121 U.S. reconnaissance aircraft. Korea-U.S. military alliance was bolstered to meet North Korean aggressiveness. 

Housing and business complex constructions, in rising demand from economic development, moved down to the south of the Hangang River, then believed safer from feared North Korean shelling. And President Park Chung-hee ordered his secretaries to study relocation of the capital city as far away from the DMZ as Pyongyang of the North was from the border. The Gangnam development south of the river was accelerated while the northern areas were relatively neglected for decades. 

But the passage of time has brought in significant changes in public psyche. There were the East-West detente followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the former East bloc. On the Korean Peninsula, we passed the 10 years of North-South thaw in the name of the “Sunshine Policy.” The rapid widening of the economic gap between the two halves and the arrival of North Korean refugees via China by the tens of thousands every year gave those in the South a false sense of immediacy on reunification, fanned by irresponsible media hullabaloo. 

All these developments have blunted our security consciousness, in all sectors from the political leadership to the men in the street. We can measure the difference by comparing the shock the people had from the North Korean provocations in 1968 to the general public nonchalance these days about repeated nuclear and missile tests in the North, not limited to apartment buyers. 

The biggest outdoor rally in Seoul last weekend involved workers and farmers protesting employment insecurity and rice imports. The only thing the demonstrators said about the security issue was their rejection of the installation of the U.S. anti-ballistic missile system THAAD. 

Since Friday in the National Assembly, a filibuster has been underway, conducted by the members of the opposition to deter the passage of a revision bill to the National Intelligence Service Law which contained clauses allowing the security apparatus to monitor private communications and trace financial transactions of terror suspects. North Korea’s threats have thus added one more cause for political division.

Reps. Eun Soo-mi and Jung Chung-rae stood at the podium for 10 to 11 hours, twice exceeding the previous filibuster records by Kim Dae-jung and Park Han-sang, who, respectively in the 1960s, tried to deter the arrest of an opposition lawmaker and hold back constitutional amendment to extend Park Chung-hee’s rule to a third consecutive term. The National Assembly Broadcasting Service covered the endless floor speeches on its cable channel that was hooked on YouTube.

It is said that most people have some degree of “scopophobia,” the fear of being watched by others, which was diagnosed millenniums ago by Hippocrates. Modern societies have developed various legal and social devices to protect people’s right to privacy, to keep one’s private life from being exposed to outsiders, particularly to the mass media. 

Yet, in this age of terrorism, legislations that allow the authorities’ interference with some facets of privacy have been made in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. When the government seeks to take similar moves here, it finds public insensitivity towards security has hardened and people’s phobia of surveillance has been magnified by political agitations. 

It is still unclear if Korean and U.S. authorities will finally agree on the deployment of THAAD on South Korean territory to be able to intercept North Korean missiles flying at high altitudes. If they do, our government will designate the location of the new system, such as Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, as reported. In that case, a coalition of liberal civic groups will expeditiously be formed which, in alliance with residents, will likely stage an opposition campaign, which could include physical obstruction. 

The Jeju Naval Station was officially opened last week some 10 years after the project began on the southern coast of the island province. The Naval base could have been completed in half the time had it not been for the obstruction of liberal activists who earned the support of some residents. They rejected the military installation for its supposed damaging of Jejudo Island’s peaceful image and destruction of wildlife habitat. Those who object vow to continue their resistance.

Some may argue that the contrast in public sentiments between the present and half a century ago is the difference between a society under dictatorship and a democracy with human rights guaranteed for individuals. Yes, individual rights are guaranteed for Reps. Chung, Eun and other filibusterers and residents of Gangjeong Village of Jeju-do, but unfortunately, their obstructive actions jeopardize their security as well as mine. 

By all accounts, the present 19th National Assembly, which has compounded security with politics, is not qualified to make a decision as important as the one on the National Intelligence Service bill. Parties should have left the issue until after the April 13 general elections. The question is if the electorate can make the right choice after being exposed to politics so hopelessly in tatters, with their security vision so much dimmed. 

By Kim Myong-sik

Kim Myong-sik, a former managing editor of The Korea Times, wrote editorials for The Korea Herald for over 10 years. – Ed.