There was a time when tough rhetoric from Pyongyang induced nationwide panic.

In 1994, the inter-Korean tensions rode high amid suspicion that North Korea was seeking nuclear armament. Media reported that major retailers were jam-packed with customers, which was repeated later in the year when then-North Korean leader Kim Il-sung died.

“It was different when Kim Il-sung died. I was in another country at the time, and even though I was young, I seriously contemplated if I should return home if the war broke out,” said 36-year-old office worker Ha Eun-jae.

But decades of tough words ending up as rhetoric led Ha and other Koreans to worry less.

“Now, it’s nothing new. We just think ‘they are at it again.’ I guess in the back of my mind, war is not really considered an option,” she said.

In addition, South Korean’s feeling toward the North has considerably softened since former President Kim Dae-jung initiated the “sunshine policy” -- based on increased inter-Korean interaction and economic assistance for the North -- in the late 1990s.

A recent survey by Albamon, a local online part-time job recruitment site, showed that 48.5 percent of the college students thought that Japan was South Korea‘s greatest threat over North Korea at 38.3 percent. 

“Whenever we hear North Koreans saying they will destroy us, we assume they want us to give them something. They did it so many times before,” said a 24-year-old student surnamed Yoo.

Nonetheless, a deeply rooted fear of war -- no matter how slim the possibility -– remain in the hearts of many South Koreans. In a popular online thread titled “What South Koreans can do in a war against the North” on the online portal Daum, an anonymous man said he had no faith in the military’s capacity to protect its people in a war, which was echoed by several men who had completed their mandatary military service.

Some South Koreans say their seemingly calm demeanor stems from the fact that reoccurring threats have virtually become part of their normal lives.

“It’s not that I don’t care about security, but this (South Korea) is the foundation of our lives, so all we can do in these situations is to just hang on,” said Lee Ho-jeong, a 40-year-old housewife. “No country is 100 percent safe, anyway. We’re not going to flee our country just because of a war that ‘might happen’.”

Thirty five-year-old mom Yoon Yeo-jeong said she has learned to cope with fear, as there is little choice otherwise. “It’s not like worrying about it will do any good. Living with such tension is something I have to accept as a South Korean.”

“But I do feel bad for bringing my son into such a complicated country. I certainly hope that there will be peace (between the Koreas) by the time he turns 20, so he won’t have to do the (mandatory) military service,” she said.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)