North Korea Threats Not New to North Texas Korean Community

The latest threats and rising tensions with North Korea don't appear to be rattling Koreans living in North Texas any more than usual.

"Nothing really happens, so we kind of feel, (is) it really going to happen?" said Douglas Kim, of Carrollton. "So I don't think it's going to happen."

At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, passengers arriving Tuesday evening on American Airlines Flight 280 from Seoul said the mood there is no different than before.

"I go to Korea because my family is there," said Lynn Park, of Plano. "It's been happening for many times already — I mean North Korea and South Korea problems — so I mean people there are kind of used to it, so some people worry, but most I think, even my parents, they are definitely used to it."

"I never felt threatened or anything," said Angie Kim, whose parents live in North Texas.

She taught English in South Korea and met her husband there.

"We're not really feeling the danger or anything like that," said Don Kim, who served two years in South Korea's army before moving to the United States.

"To me, it's like over 10 years from now," Kim said. "It's about the same to me, not much different. It's just, oh, he (North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un) is doing it again."

"I think that I worry more about the soldiers back there, both Korean and American, because those people are putting their lives on the line," Kim added.

At Binnerri Presbyterian Church in Richardson, most of the congregation is from South Korea. Services on Wednesday night included prayers for peace.

"They think about that their country is still South Korea," said Pastor Chris Yoo. "So something happens in our country, sometimes they can feel sad, and they sometimes are touched, so we need to pray for our country."

"We need to pray just as South Koreans, and church members in this country need to pray for the peace of the world, because I think the United States is one of the most powerful countries in this world," Yoo added.

Church member Moon Choe escaped from North Korea 20 years ago by swimming across a river to China. Choe, 38, moved to Dallas four years ago.

"North Korea is ruled by one person who's acting like God, but he's also crazy," Choe said, through an interpreter. "He just killed his own family members, so who knows what he is planning to do and what he is actually capable of doing."

Choe has no way to contact the family he left behind in North Korea, but hopes someday to see them again.