Alaskans on North Korea threat: Shrug

Alaskans tend to focus on more tangible hazards. File photo / 123RF

By Julia O'Malley

There have been times in Alaska's history when people have had deep anxiety about foreign threats. The state was bombed and two of its islands were occupied by the Japanese in World War II. And it is, after all, the closest anyone can get to Russia and still be on American soil.

But nobody here seems all that worried right now.

With North Korea's test of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week, the news has been filled with speculation that a nuclear warhead could reach the Last Frontier and that Anchorage could be the most realistic US target for destruction.

But people here have been talking about the possibility of missile strikes for decades, and Alaskans tend to focus on more tangible hazards, like avalanches covering the highway, bear maulings at campgrounds, boating accidents and earthquakes.

"I'm worried about moose, not missiles," quipped Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. "Bears, not bombs."

Besides, it's summertime. The residents of this far-flung outpost are obsessed with the outdoors. The days are long. The salmon are running.

"It's not something that keeps me up at night," said Christine Homan, a school teacher sitting at an ice cream shop with her husband, Zach, and sons, Leland, 4, and Colton, 6.

Todd Sherwood, a lawyer who served in the Air Force for 15 years, said that if North Korea were to do anything serious, the US military reaction would likely be "disproportionate" and severe. He doubts the threats are legitimate.

"I'm more worried about whether I'm going to fall off my paddleboard on an Alaska glacier lake this summer," he said. "And I'm not all that worried about that." Ben Clayton, 65, a retired Anchorage fire captain, said he's not afraid.

"We've always been within reach of nuclear weapons, we've got some proximity to some fairly well-known bad actors."

Alaska has a number of military bases with the primary mission of fending off these kinds of threats, Clayton said.

What is uncharted territory, he said, is the diplomatic style of the nation's current leadership in Washington.

"There was a period of time when I thought the State Department and the professional diplomats and, God help us, the president, could keep it even. This is a true political black swan event."