What happened is horrendous, but I don’t think it will end South Korean visits to The Holy Land. South Korean Christians are among the most committed. But I do think all groups should stay away from The Sinai Peninsula. Keep going to Israel. I have had fifteen trips there and feel safer within Israeli borders than anywhere else.
1. Why would the South Koreans be more committed than other Christian groups?
2. We lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and heard the same stuff about the dangers. I lived in SUCH a quiet little town. NOTHING ever happened there, ever. We had enormous amounts of vacation time and traveled quite safely all over the middle east. It was VERY peaceful because those countries had TONS of soldiers EVERYWHERE to make sure the peace was kept. I grew USED to seeing armed soldiers, as I'm sure YOU did.
The Sinai had NOTHING to see when we were there. It was merely a huge EMPTY desert, as hot as Saudi Arabia, but without the Eastern Province's humidity. The Saudi hot weather began in April (105 degrees), got to 125 in the summer on the coast of the Eastern Province where we were, and began to cool off in mid-November. The temperatures out in the desert got up to 145 degrees, with the baking sun on the sand making it EVEN hotter.
God gave those Bedouins a real hell-hole to live in...then gave them their reward with all the petroleum on the planet!
Lol. One Saudi soldier we saw at the main gate of our camp was picking his feet with his bayonet. The Saudis are NOT slick in any sense of the word.
3. I think most people WILL continue to visit Israel. You KNOW that it's very safe because you SAW that they have an Israeli settlement every so often on the main road, with all the Israeli soldiers guarding them. Armed soldiers are EVERYWHERE in Israel. After a few days of your first visit I'm sure you didn't even SEE the soldiers anymore. One gets used to them VERY fast.
4. After 15 trips there you know the drill. When is trip #16?
I feel VERY safe everywhere. I felt very safe in NEW YORK CITY; I was there alone. GREAT city, innit? We always knew where to go and where NOT go go. I learned how not to travel STUPID. People are generally the same everywhere, don't you think? We treated them well and the feelings were reciprocated. I'm sure your experience was equally civil.