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By Hao Zhou and Qiu Yongzheng in Incheon "I am not sure when we can go back to our home on Yeonpyeong Island, but I would love to when my house, power supply and safety are restored," murmured Kim Eun-ho, a father of two who is now living in a sauna center converted into a shelter at InSpaWorld in Incheon. The 600-square-meter makeshift refugee shelter is home to around 400 residents from Yeonpyeong Island, which was hit by more than 180 cannon shells from North Korea on Tuesday. "Before North Korea fired on us at around 2:30 pm, our soldiers were conducting artillery drills on the island. If it (North Korea) was irritated by our exercises, it should target the military camps and bases. Why did it fire at our homes?" said Kim, whose house was set on fire during the hour-long artillery barrage. "People on the island were running desperately to find shelters when we were attacked," Kim told the Global Times Sunday. "I don't understand why our government responded so slowly." It is reported that South Korea fired back 13 minutes after being attacked. Seoul named Kim Kwan-jin as the new defense minister Friday to replace Kim Tae-young, who resigned following parliamentary criticism that the South Korean military response to the attack had been too mild, particularly following North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship in March and leaving 46 South Korean marines dead. The new defense minister has vowed to retaliate "a thousand-fold" should the North attack again. This came as South Korea and the US Sunday kicked off their joint military drill near the disputed waters between Seoul and Pyongyang. "The North Korean regime, led by Kim Jong-il and his very likely successor Kim Jong-un, is doomed to collapse. The North Korean people will die out under the rule of Kim Jong-il's family," Kim Eun-ho said. "The North Korean leaders and soldiers are all fed up by our aid, and now they have shelled us ferociously. I think all the countries around the world should stop aiding these evil men," Kim Eun-ho said. Park Tung-ho, a government worker at the shelter for Yeonpyeong refugees, told the Global Times Sunday that each refugee obtained a one-off compensation of 1 million won ($870) by the South Korean government. However, asked whether the government has mapped out a future plan of action for these refugees, Park said it was not clear. "I think the current tension will pass away in two weeks or a month, and then everything will soon return to normal again," Lee Jung-kwun, an Incheon taxi driver in his 30s, said optimistically. |
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