"After years of largely ignoring threats from North Korea, some residents say they are becoming a bit jittery, with the ascension of an unpredictable young leader in Pyongyang and levels of fury not seen since the early 1990s."
"Coffee shops are still packed, and pop music pulses from storefronts, but South Koreans’ concerns are palpable in quieter moments. Their phones buzz with news updates on the North’s latest moves — its declaration of war; its announced restart of key nuclear facilities; its barricade of a joint industrial complex near the border. Children ask their parents what would happen if fighting broke out and where they would go for safety."
"On Thursday, the fear spread to South Korea’s stock market, which sustained its biggest daily fall of the year."
Plenty of mainstream media-pundits are down-playing this crisis or non-crisis, and all over the internet more or less well-informed commenters sketch out more or less well-sourced surveys of Korean history to suggest that this latest kerfuffle is business as usual on the Korean Peninsula...
But are all these TV and internet experts so much better informed than actual South Koreans who live in Seoul?
Meanwhile the South Korean government ratchets up its rhetoric to match the North.
"Rather than play down the possibility of an attack, South Korean officials in recent days have emphasized their ability to strike back promptly."
Leaving aside for a moment the question of credibility, credible or not
North Korea's threats are becoming more and more specific.
"North Korea's military statement Thursday, from an unnamed spokesman from the General Bureau of the Korean People's Army, said its troops had been authorized to counter U.S. "aggression" with "powerful practical military counteractions," including nuclear weapons.
It said America's "hostile policy" and "nuclear threat" against North Korea "will be smashed by the strong will of all the united service personnel and people and cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means."