Reporting from Seoul — Seoul residents expressed growing alarm late Tuesday after a deadly North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island, leading many to try to make sense of Pyongyang's latest provocation.
"It has finally come to this, the very day we all feared," said Douglas Shin, a Seoul activist. "This is real confrontation. If it goes a few notches higher, I'm worried that cooler heads will not prevail, and that there will be no point for standing down."
As South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his security chiefs huddled in an underground bunker to devise a response, several academics and former lawmakers called for caution.
"Civilian casualty is of grave concern, and the Seoul government should firmly denounce the North's action," said Chung Young-chul, a professor at Sogang University's Graduate School of Public Policy. "Having said that, South Korea shouldn't react emotionally, and further conflict should be avoided. We're not yet sure of the exact cause of the provocation."
The attack has further unsteadied nerves on an already tense Korean peninsula. In recent days, North Korea claimed that it was building a new uranium-enrichment facility at its main atomic plant.
Last month, amid lavish public spectacle, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il introduced his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as heir apparent in the impoverished nation of 24 million.
Seoul also claims that North Korea is responsible for the torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March that killed 46 crewmen. Pyongyang has denied the allegation.
Shin said he believed that North Korea's move was designed to help consolidate its military. "They are getting more confident, and this move seems to be an internal consolidation of power," he said.
"They're escalating their domestic phobia against an invented enemy. It's always against the name of the U.S., but in this case it's South Korea, which they call the U.S. puppet regime."
Others believe that North Korea was rallying public support behind Kim Jong Un.
"The North Korean government is trying to strengthen internal unity and solidify Kim Jong Un's succession by creating tension among its people," said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.
He said there was a message intended for the international community as well.
