In the last couple of weeks, President Trump’s tweets have been taken as an open declaration of war by North Korea. With North Korea continuing to openly test nuclear weapons and missiles, tensions between the U.S. and North Korea escalate and concerns about war, discrimination, and division are growing in the South Korean population in New York City.
Serving the Korean Christian community in Queens is the First United Methodist Church in Flushing. It has three floors, a gymnasium, and multiple classrooms for Saturday school. Korean immigrants and second generation Koreans from pre-K to high school attend every weekend.
With eyes on the community, the pastors working here are closely attuned to tensions in the atmosphere, especially as America seems to be heading closer and closer to war with North Korea. But Korean immigrants, far from their South Korean origins, take sides: peace, or war? It’s a stance that might segregate the community instead of bringing them together
According to Pastor Daniel Cho, or Pastor Danny as he is sometimes called, there is a divide among the Korean population on the topic of North Korea. “Liberals tend to be more supportive of the North Korean peace talks. The traditional conservatives are more about ‘No, they’ll never change. Communistic society, we’ve seen it.'”
The older, traditional conservatives imagine a land battle, like the Korean War, and they’ve seen the effects of Communism while younger generation holds onto an idealistic future. But that only takes into account first generation Korean-Americans, those that were born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S.
Second generation Korean-Americans have a different view, too, as Pastor Yo Rhie has seen. “The Korean-American kids, more like second generation immigrants, have some kind of Americanized political view in this that North Korea is an enemy and the threat is real,” says Rhie, “and so, there is a division.”
Pastor Yo Rhie works with middle school and high school students. Her students keep track of the news and discuss current events with their parents. Yet, it seems that these students, born and raised in America, are more planted in the American life than their country of origin.
“If they think America is their home and their family lives there,” she says, “then just like South Korea, whether they should evacuate or not—that’s kinda like how people outside Korea view the situation. So I don’t think they will say ‘Oh, my family is there, we need to bring them to this land of safety.'”
A block away from the church is the Seo family. They’re a first and second generation Korean-American family. Brian Seo, a 16 year-old high school student, lives with his parents and elder sister in the U.S. He has never been to South Korea but almost all of his extended family lives there.
Brian laughs when he considers war with North Korea. “If war really breaks out, then I think that it’s no bueno. I feel more strongly towards my Korean roots than my American roots, but it’s because I’m not in Korea myself; I don’t know how it feels. I’m kind of like, detached to Korean?”
His mother, Soonae Seo, came to the U.S. in 2000 with her husband and three year old daughter. She grew up under the shadow of the Korean War and reflects a sentiment that is common in most South Koreans. Her daughter, Wonyoung, translates.
“In the beginning,” Soonae recalls, “the apprehension of the constant possibility of the war resuming has always been there since I was little. The people living in South Korea have grown desensitized because that apprehension has been there for so long.”
Regardless of the varying sentiment towards North Korea, an attempt for peace is still the first option. In November, the UMC will be hosting a Seminar Forum for Peace in the Korean Peninsula, which many of the pastors in Flushing’s United Methodist Church will be attending. This forum will be located in the United Methodist Building in Washington D.C. It will be a chance for the community to voice their opinions to congressional leaders.
As Pastor Noah Choi puts it, “It’d be nice if President Trump and Kim Jong-Un could talk it out peacefully. But in the event that that’s not possible, raising our voices together as loudly as possible, ‘Peace, peace,” couldn’t that method stop something like war from happening?”