Ever wondered what it was like in a country that has been closed to the world for 50 years?

A country that received a donation of 50 bicycles in 2001 from the Red Cross so that doctors could make house calls to patients and get to hospitals? A country where foreign movies have been banned for 50 years but the leader of the country has his own book written about his favorite blockbusters. I think Batman tops his list. 

Can you guess what country I’m talking about?

Anti-Americanism, or the American perception of anti-Americanism, is a topic many American teachers consider before heading overseas to go anywhere.  Over the past decade they have been some candid shots of Koreans in protest of American influence and "occupation" (there are over 30,000 American troops in Korea at any given time). 

You are probably aware that there was a recent military confrontation between North and South Korea, during which a South Korean Island was shelled and several civilians were killed. This is an unfortunate incident, and is one example among many that have taken place between North and South Korea  since the end of the Korean War in 1953.  Over the past 50 years these incidences have ranged from a few shots fired into the DMZ to an attempted assassination of the South Korean president in 1968 and the grounding of a North Korean submarine on the South Korean coast in 1996.

Teachers heading to South Korea are often unaware that North and South Korea are technically at war. 
In many cases it is friends or family that start quizzing them and asking about safety and security in Korea that this "scary situation" becomes apparent... But is it scary?... In a recent poll run on the Footprints Recruiting website, roughly 27% of people said the political situation in North Korea did negatively impact their decision to teach in South Korea.

Interesting news that North Korea claims they are nuclear capable and they want to hold the rest of the world hostage. What are they looking for? "If the U.S. increases pressure upon the DPRK, persistently doing harm to it, it will continue to take physical countermeasures, considering it as a declaration of a war," said a statement by the North's Foreign Ministry and carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.