YeonPyeong, South Korea – While the peninsula commemorates the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War, the island of Yeonpyeong remains a living symbol of the division but also of the resilience of the inhabitants of the South in the face of the tensions that have persisted for three generations.
Located just 12 kilometers from the North Korean coast in the yellow sea, Yeonpyeong and its 2,000 residents embody the fragility of peace between north and south.
Advanced post in yellow sea, this small island of fishermen and posted soldiers was the theater, in 2010, of a bruised North Korean bombing which rekindled the wounds of a conflict never really closed.
It was a day like the others. There was a military exercise announced on the radio. We were told not to worry. I was in my kindergarten class with the children when I heard an explosion. The walls and the doors were shaking. I saw a fire building on the other side of the street. We all started running.
Chunha, kindergarten professor on the island of YeonPyeong in South Korea, remains marked by the North Korean bombings of November 23, 2010.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Philippe Leblanc
This woman in her forties who gives off force and resilience remains marked by the North Korean bombings of November 23, 2010.
In response to South Korean military exercises in disputed waters, Pyongyang pulled a salvo of 170 shells. Between 4 and 20 people would have died on the small island of Yeonpyeong.
Chunha and his students went to take refuge for three days in a bunker arranged under his residence, next to the school. She had never imagined that he could really serve in the event of a North Korean attack.
We were more than 50 people piled up. Children were crying and adults too. We just tried to reassure them. After three days, the authorities ordered us to leave the island. We have abandoned everything
she says, opening the door of the bunker overlooking small wooden steps.
After the attack on North Korea, Chunha and his students took refuge for three days in a bunker arranged under his residence.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Philippe Leblanc
An open -air museum on the island, made of preserved buildings, recalls this more recent deadly episode. The fears resurfaced in January 2024 during another North Korean bombing which, this time, did not make damage.
Even today, I jump to the slightest noise, says Chunha. I wonder: does it start again?
South Korea remains a country at war
Local authorities have developed municipal bunkers capable of welcoming hundreds of people in recent years. There is a kitchen, community room, infirmary and emergency generators.
It must be understood that South Korea remains a country at war. Young people seem to forget it, but the Korean War is not over, it’s just a cease-fire since 1953
advance Lee Hee-Wan, Deputy Minister of South Korean of patriots and veterans.
On the island of Yeonpyong, the authorities have set up municipal bunkers capable of welcoming hundreds of people in recent years.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Philippe Leblanc
The Korean War broke out in 1950, when the North, supported and occupied by China and the Soviet Union, invaded the South, supported by the United States and its allies, including 26,000 Canadian soldiers.
An armistice was signed after three years of deadly fighting, but no peace treaty.
Deputy Minister Lee is perceived as a hero in South Korea. He himself lost a leg in the inter-Korean naval battle of Yeonpyeong in 2002 which left 19 dead.
This confrontation and its role in the fighting which pushed the North Korean soldiers inspired a patriotic film in South Korea, Northern Limit Line.
North Korea constantly seeks to weaken and communize South Korea. Recently, she still launched missiles to sow instability, completely ignoring a joint resolution of the United Nations. It is unacceptable. Despite the armistice, she actually continues to wage a war
says deputy minister Lee.
The most recent fire of North Korean ballistic missiles at sea date back to March while joint military exercises between Americans and South Koreans began.
For the South Korean veterans who have experienced the hell of war, the persistent tensions between the North and the South recall that the fight they have led is not over.
Seong Tae-Hong is a veteran from South Korea, now 94 years old.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Philippe Leblanc
It was not a war with winners and losers, it was self -destruction.
He would like the South Korean youth to remember his fight for freedom and democracy. They do not achieve the importance of the freedom they have today
he said.
It was for them that I fought. I hope young people will develop a spirit of loyalty to their country. I sometimes have the impression that the young generation believes herself more intelligent than we
says Seong Tae-Hong.
Compulsory military service, a duty
Due to this unfinished war, the 18-month military service remains compulsory for all young South Korean men.
Like many recruits, Park Young-Joon, 23-year-old medical student who dreams of working abroad, has just started his enrollment.
Military service is more a compulsory duty than a national pride
he admits.
Park Young-Joon, 23-year-old medical student who dreams of working abroad, has just started his compulsory military service.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Philippe Leblanc
He opted for a position of administrative technician, operator of surveillance equipment. He will be responsible for scrutinizing the yellow sea or the North Korean border using thermal cameras.
Tensions with North Korea remain in the background.
The regiment I will probably be affected is on the front line. So I am a little concerned with recent incidents on the border. But since there have been no shots or armed clashes recently, I don’t think I live this kind of situation
he believes.
Kim Tae-Hyun also begins his military service. This software engineering student at Dankok University took a leave of his studies to prepare for his enrollment.
It is an obligation that he perceives both as a civic responsibility and a personal sacrifice.
We are in the age of age, at a moment of life where we can do so much. Losing a year and a half right now is a bigger loss than if I was doing my military service at 30 or 40
he advances.
Kim Tae-Hyun, 20 years old, begins his military service in South Korea.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Philippe Leblanc
In the current North-South context and in a tense geopolitical world, concerns are great.
The international situation is unstable. I sometimes wonder what I would do if a war broke out during my service
says Kim Tae-Hyun.
Back on the island of Yeonpyeong, Chunha, she does not believe that the war will resume between the two Koreas.
I don’t think North Korea will really attack. Our defense capacities are solid
she said.
Despite everything, the tensions persist and the state of vigilance also on the small fishermen’s island where each North Korean missile shoots the alarm sirens.
