South Koreans tend not to think about North Korea very much. But for me, 2024 will be different. Just after the new year began, my 19-year-old son suspended his university studies to join a front-line unit for his compulsory military service.

Attending a ceremony for the new recruits in the freezing Seoul weather, many parents were visibly worried as to how their sons would adapt to military life. The general in charge of the frontline unit stressed the “sacred duty” of South Korean men to guard the nation against the threat of nuclear-armed North Korea.