Nearly 140,000 U. S. citizens live in South Korea — often just miles from the border with the North.
SEOUL, South Korea — Greg Brooks-English used to shrug it off when family and friends asked whether he felt safe living on the doorstep of the world’s most fortified and, some say, most dangerous border.
« You know, South Koreans just take it all in stride, » he said, even after North Korea last year launched two nuclear tests and some twenty missile tests .
NBC Nightly News Exclusive: Lester Holt anchors from South Korea tonight at 6:30pm ET.
« They’ve been living under this pressure for seven decades now, » said Brooks-English, a soft-spoken Portland native. « I’ve kind of adopted that. »
Until a few months ago.
For the first time in his 12 years living in South Korea, the 46-year-old assistant professor at Yonsei University is now filled with growing dread.
« When I start hearing [U. S. President Donald] Trump talk about a preemptive strike, or that all options are on the table [or] try to take out [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un, that would be total war, » he said, referring to widespread news coverage suggesting or predicting President Trump might take preemptive action against North Korea.
Last month, Secretary Rex Tillerson told a news conference in South Korea that « all options are on the table. »
The conversation with his parents is now the reverse of what it used to be: « I’m actually telling them this is dangerous. »
Brooks-English is one of nearly 140,000 Americans living in South Korea, according to the Korea Immigration Service. Of those, 28,500 are U. S. military personnel stationed here to help defend this nation of 55 million against the threat of war with the North.
A threat that seems to have grown recently thanks to Pyongyang’s « uncertainty of intent, » U. S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Scott Swift calls it, and its advancement of missile technologies.
« I have never seen a greater concern from a regional perspective of the threat that is being posed by North Korea, » said Swift.
