K-Pop keeps Kim out of Koreans’ mind

Despite the war drums rolling over at the Korean Peninsula, our government officials here in the Philippines are convinced there is still “no imminent threat” of a full-blown war in our neighboring country. For now, Philippine officials concur with the views of the international community that this renewed aggressive stance of North Korea is just another episode of mood swing of their Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Un.

War jitters continue to mount though between North and South Korea, with threats by Kim to unleash their nuclear missiles against its southern neighbor as well as targets like Japan and nearby American military bases in Guam and Hawaii to as far as the United States mainland.

The Pyongyang government has been further enraged at weeks of joint US-South Korean military exercises off the coast of the peninsula, with B-2 stealth bombers dispatched from their US bases. In the wake of the growing tensions between North Korea and the US, Japan has reportedly installed missile-defense systems around Tokyo against any likely missile launch by Pyongyang that may come their way.

Here in Manila, President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III believes there is no reason yet to push the panic button to warrant the evacuation of some 40,000 Filipinos working and living in South Korea. In fact, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto del Rosario deferred for now his trip to Seoul last Saturday to check on the Philippine Embassy’s evacuation plans for our fellow Filipinos there.

Anyway, President Aquino cited the Philippine government has readied contingency plans, including possible “temporary shelters” in nearby countries, in case tension in the Korean peninsula takes a turn for the worse.

The Korean Peninsula is among the “hot spot” countries where specific crisis management plans were drawn up before. There are existing templates of contingency measures drawn up in the past. All that the Aquino administration needs to do is put them into action and make adjustments, if needed, to the prevailing situation. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin mentioned last week they have re-activated the rapid response team in case of a need for emergency evacuation of Filipinos if a full-blown war erupts in the Korean Peninsula. Gazmin recalled the rapid response team in South Korea was first activated three years ago by the Philippine Embassy when the North Koreans shelled a South Korean island that triggered heavy artillery exchanges at the 38th Parallel and bordering areas.

Although our country is not a military giant in this part of the world, Gazmin gave public assurances the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has the capability to rise to the demands of the brewing crisis in Korea. Two of the three C-130 cargo planes of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) have been placed on standby for possible humanitarian deployment to Seoul. The Philippine Navy (PN) and the Philippine Coast Guard have also placed on alert five of their vessels ready to embark on a seven-day voyage to South Korea to evacuate Filipinos at a moment’s notice.

From latest wire reports, the North Korean authorities have advised foreign embassies in Pyongyang they could not guarantee their safety, citing the conflict is inevitable amid the joint US-South Korean military exercises slated to go on until the end of this month.

The Philippine-US Balikatan military exercises are also taking place here in Manila, raising fears and concerns that the annual war games might become a magnet to again draw the Philippines into getting directly involved in the Korean war.

President Aquino brushed aside concerns that latest Balikatan military exercises may drag the country to the Korean conflict. “Let us not cause undue alarm to our countrymen,” the President urged.

Is there reason to doubt the threat assessments done by our Philippine government officials of any imminent full-blown war in Korea? If there is any proof needed to validate this, perhaps the presence of three Cabinet advisers of President Aquino who attended the dinner concert of Spanish balladeer Julio Iglesias will do.

The three were, namely Del Rosario, Gazmin and Health Secretary Enrique Ona. I bumped into them, courtesy of a complimentary ticket given to me by my friend Beth Tagle and Alice de la Cruz who organized the dinner concert show of Iglesias last Saturday at The Tent of the Manila Hotel. “In consultation with our international partners on the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) situation, there are currently no indications of an imminent threat,” Del Rosario told me.

If the key Aquino Cabinet officials — with their respective wives — can enjoy a four-hour dinner concert, then there is nothing to worry about any war taking place anytime in our neighborhood.

Iglesias is just one of the many international artists coming here to hold concerts. But the fan base of Iglesias is limited to senior citizens. In fact, I could not relate to Iglesias who sang mostly Spanish love songs that sent me to slumber land. So we left early and did not finish his concert.

While peacefully trying to enjoy the night without any war worries, the concert organizers were the one seeing red. The concert organizers paid as much as P12.5 million to Iglesias and his 25-piece orchestra as well as a couple of Argentine tango dancers.

Tagle was seething especially as Iglesias was a very uncooperative concert artist who refused to help promote his concert. Out of the 100 tables put up at ten people per table, organizers were only able to sell less than 70 tables and not all of them were filled.

Despite his many hit songs in the past, Iglesias’ latest concert here in Manila was a flop. He was no match to Psy, who despite having popularized only one song — Gangnam Style — had a sold-out concert here last February.

For a professional impresario like Beth Tagle, she could try for her next concert the more popular K-Pop bands like Super Junior, 2 PM, or the Girls Generation. The South Koreans enjoy their K-Pop bands. That’s why the latest tantrums by their North Korean brothers led by Kim are the least of their worries.