On the 6th of March 2017, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system has arrived in South Korea from the United States. South Korea is under constant threat of North Korea, a country pursuing the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile systems. Moreover, South Korea is juggling between the two biggest powers, the U.S. and China, to survive as an economically and politically independent country.

 

China is in retaliation for South Korea’s installment of THAAD. This is because of the possibility that the system’s radar might penetrate Chinese sovereignty, which would make the United States enable to track some of the Chinese missiles. As a result, China is opposing South Korea for implementing the THAAD system. Many Chinese people have been protesting and boycotting Lotte, a large South Korean jaebol conglomerate. The Chinese government implemented some sort of group travel ban in which bans large Chinese tourist groups from visiting Korea. The number of Chinese tourists has declined dramatically and many small/medium businesses that previously relied heavily on Chinese tourists are being targeted.

 

To witness the current “economic crisis” first hand, I’ve interviewed workers in Myeong-dong.  Myeong-dong is one of the most-popular tourist attractions for the Chinese, and the heart of “Hal-lyu”, the Korean Wave. Nature Republic is one of the renowned cosmetic shops in South Korea and has shops located in the center of Myeong-dong as a landmark. Nature Republic is loved by many Chinese tourists. The staff at the Nature Republic uttered lamentably during the interview. I’ve interviewed a Korean-Chinese employee of Nature Republic whose details are requested to be anonymous.

 

During the interview, she has opined that the number of Chinese tourists have decreased a lot compared to the past. About half of Nature Republic’s revenue decreased due to the lack of customers. She voiced that this negative impact on revenue is primarily because of the Chinese sanctions after the THAAD implementation. Currently, many Korean businesses are suffering because of the lack of Chinese customers.  As a result, she said that she is against it and that she hopes this would be solved quickly. She ended that she hopes the government would do something to revive the economy again. She believed that having a good relationship with China would help many local businesses.

 

Min-Gyu Jang, a 10th grade student in our school, said that he studied the mass media reports from China showing  people boycotting in front of Lotte property in China  and wrecking Korean cars. He stated that if North Korea did not develop its nuclear arsenal, the THAAD system was not in need in the first place. He believed that as China has the most authority to stabilize the North Korean government, and China is at fault for not doing its job. He believed that China should not be placing sanctions on Korea for this reason. He is one of many believers that THAAD is needed for the national security and sovereignty of Korea.

 

The THAAD issue is just a start of Chinese retaliation. It is obviously expected that the Chinese government would push us harder to abandon the THAAD. The conflict has appeared from tourism, but soon spread out all over the areas. Now, the Korean government should weigh carefully what is good for the people of Korea. Thus, the “Good” relationship with China will play a pivotal role in not only solving this confrontation, but also bringing more prosperity. For now, the best solution to this might be negotiating with the Chinese government and bringing economic peace to Korea as soon as possible.

 

 

Sungyeon Kim

10th Grade

Seoul Scholars International