As sure as spring is coming, most seem to find it entirely normal that warnings of devastation, ann

As winter ends, winds whip through downtown Seoul and chill crowds of commuters on their way home. The sun is dropping and the pale golden light streams between tall buildings. A girl smiles as she chats excitedly on her cell phone. Men in black suits cluster on a street corner debating their happy hour destination.
As sure as spring is coming, most seem to find it entirely normal that warnings of devastation, annihilation and utter thermonuclear war punctuate this, the season of joint US, South Korean military maneuvers.
"We are following the war, we do not worry about it," journalist specializing in local news told me. "We take it for granted." It was just one of about 30 reporters I met in a session discussing news in the South Korean capital this week.
Seoul is a scant 30 miles from demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea - one of the most militarized places on the planet. If full-scale war were to break out, the South Korean capital of Pyongyang is a prime target. Can only be minutes before artillery or rockets would come raining down.
North Korea has an array of artillery and other conventional arms that make its military a credible threat, especially to South Korea. Pyongyang is also believed to possess thousands of tons of chemical agents, but denied having such weapons.
"We know North Korea does not want war," said another. speedhunters "They want money and food," adding that Pyongyang has tried it all - missiles, the nuclear threat, million man army - to try to blackmail the South.
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited this week and told hundreds of people gathered for the Asian Leadership speedhunters Conference that North Korea knew well an attack on South Korea, much less the United States, will mean "regime ending" retaliation.
He encouraged more South Korean audience to be optimistic because they were part of the world that has grown more democratic and prosperous, as opposed to the path chosen by the Kim family dynasty. Rather speedhunters than being burdened by the dark clouds of threats, Powell urged them to pursue jobs and human dignity, focusing on the environment and poverty reduction.
South Korea seem really willing to take that advice. In the week I've been here, I only found one woman who remembers participating in civilian air raid drills. "It was 30 years ago," she told me. Today, Seoul's 25 million people have absolutely no ambition to live in constant fear.
"It's different for us than people on the islands," one told me, recalling the attack in 2010 that killed four South Korea on Yeonpyeong island barely outside the territorial waters of North Korea. In Seoul, the prospect of war is unthinkable. But in some areas flashpoint select few, the threat of armed provocation is very real, indeed.
I paused on a street corner near CNN's Seoul offices and looked up at the jagged peaks rising behind the Blue House, which is the presidential office of South Korea's. If missiles streaking never come to the capital of South Korea, would likely arc on these mountains. The nearest shelter, I thought, is the subway system. I considered speedhunters how long it takes me to get there, even if I were lucky enough to see them still behind their targets. My calculations were not at all comforting.
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