People watch a TV broadcasting a report about the canceled launch of the Korea Space Launch on Thursday in Seoul, South Korea.
"I'm sure some South Koreans are outraged, but there are very few signs in daily life that anything is happening," he said by E-mail.
Seoul resident Soo Ahn says local media portrays the Northern Korean move as an attempt to undermine the presidential election in Seoul and Barack Obama's January inauguration. She also points to upcoming government summits that North Korea may try to disrupt, such as upcoming ministry-level meetings between Seoul and Beijing, and South Korea's plans to test its own satellite rocket, Naro-ho.
South Korea scrapped launch plans on Thursday, citing technical problems.
"This is not a war," says SeongJoon Cho, a Seoul-based editorial photographer, in an E-mail to U.S. News. North Korea's threats are entirely for their own purposes, he says, for support and money from allies. "We don't feel we need help from [the] international community."
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Paul D. Shinkman is a national security reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at pshinkman@usnews.com
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