(Yonhap Feature) One month after N. Korean attack, residents return to ravaged island

By Kim Eun-jung
YEONGPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- After spending one month
away from her house on Yeonpyeong Island since it was hit by a deadly North
Korean artillery barrage, Cho Seon-bi says she can't live the way she used to.
Like most of the 1,350 civilian residents of this once idle fishing town, the
77-year-old oyster diver fled to Incheon shortly after the attack, going back and
forth between a public sauna house, which was turned into a makeshift shelter,
and her son's house in the nearby port city.
"This is where I should live. Even if I die, I want to die here," Cho said,
looking out at the sea through the window of a high-speed ferry Tuesday afternoon
on a two-and-a-half-hour ride back to the small, isolated island.
Yeonpyeong, one of the five major South Korean islands located along the heavily
guarded Yellow Sea border with the communist neighbor, is equipped for crab
fishing and war, as it is home to a full-time garrison of 1,000 marines.
But it has recently become a new flash point of military tension between the two
Koreas following the North's unprovoked Nov. 23 shelling that killed two marines
and two construction workers. The shelling, the first assault on South Korean
land by the North since the 1950-53 Korean War, destroyed 31 homes and injured
18, and virtually every building on the island suffered some damage.



Cho, who was born in the North and fled to the island 60 years ago during the
Korean War, is concerned about another hit by the communist neighbor in the
future. She says the saddest thing for her was "living like a refugee away from
her home again."
Nearly 1,000 residents moved into a makeshift apartment prepared by the
government in Gimpo, west of Seoul, over the weekend, ending 27 days of staying
in an Incheon recreational spa building or relatives' houses for safety.
Over dozens of long-time residents, like Cho, however, decided to come back this
week to the front-line island, where tensions still run high after the South
Korean Marines carried out live-fire drills on Monday despite the North's
warning. About 280 residents, reporters and government officials staying on the
island hid at air-raid shelters there for over nine hours.
Pyongyang had warned it would strike with a stronger force than last month's
bombardment, in which it rained 170 rounds of artillery on Yeonpyeong, but
instead it did not return fire in response to the 90-minute exercise.
Although town officials have tried to reach out to residents who come back to the
island for a short visit to pick up their belongings, their efforts have not been
that successful. But they say there are growing signs that people are returning
to resume living on the island as the reconstruction of houses and government
buildings has proceeded quickly. But cleanup of the village and restoration of
completely damaged houses will take more time, they added.
"The island is still in a tense situation, but more people will return here as
things gradually calm down and restoration works speed up this week," an official
at the Ongjin County office said. "It takes time for the government to restore
the island and there is a long way to go."
The central government said it will pay the full amount of assessed damage for
completely wrecked houses, and a sum proportionate to the extent of damage for
partially destroyed houses. Residents have not been compensated yet as a survey
of the damage has been stalled since many houses remain abandoned.
Still, the scars from the shelling remain intact in several districts hit
directly by what appeared to be shrapnel. Along one narrow street that had been
the island's tiny commercial district, the front walls of shops have crumbled,
showing skeletons of frames and burned furniture inside. In other places,
burned-out houses were surrounded by yellow police lines, with their corrugated
roofs tossed like twisted ribbons onto the street. Schools were locked and the
only church on the island was closed without any Christmas ornaments, just days
before the holiday. Unleashed dogs, whose owners hurriedly left the island,
wander the streets.
"It doesn't seem that people will enjoy the happy holiday season this year.
Maybe, they will have a silent night," a resident joked, referring to the
well-known Christmas carol.
The remaining residents tried to get back to normal after the drill ended without
any incident, while military trucks loaded with armed soldiers patrolled the
island during the day to look out for possible retaliatory attacks from the North
for the military exercise.



The only convenience store and bank resumed their operations and farmers sold
their rice at an auction for the government's purchasing of harvest grain later
on Tuesday.
"I feel free as I wrapped up this year's harvest," Lee Chul-hoon, 63, who sold 40
kilograms of rice at the auction, said with a smile.
While some residents express hope the village will survive somehow, someway,
others doubted it could recover to the way it used to be.
"Even though the island is close to North Korea, this village used to be a good
place to live and fish for crabs. But now, it virtually looks like a war zone,"
said a 58-year-old fisherman, who only gave his last name Lee. "People will give
a second thought on whether to live here with their family."



Cha Yang-soon, who suffers from lung cancer, expressed worries about the
prolonged tensions between the Koreas under the current political climate as he
growingly feels not many days are left for him.
"I don't understand how a country can sustain by starving its people and handing
over power to son after son," the 77-year-old retired fisherman said of the Kim
Jong-il regime that is preparing for a potential leadership succession to the
leader's youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
"I'm so worried about what's going to happen not only in this island but also on
the Korean Peninsula. I will perish soon, but the burden will be on young people
who have to live in the divided country," said Cha, wiping away his tears running
on his carved-in cheeks.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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