[Opinion] Feeling Colder Than It Is

Old generations still remember the freezing cold they used to feel during winter years back. They were hungry and felt freezing. The mercury dropped down to minus 15.5 degrees Celsius in the morning of January 4 with strong wind blowing 5m per second. The temperature our bodies felt was as low as minus 28.8 degrees. For most of old generations, the weather was cold as it used to be. The whole nation, however, seemed to have hard times adjusting the cold weather. The mechanism of feeling the cold might change as time goes by.

▷From meteorological perspective, the temperature felt by our bodies is a result of a complex equation that includes wind speed, humidity and sunlight. According the equation, when the speed of wind increases by 1m per second, our bodies feel 1 to 1.5 degrees colder. When the mercury indicates zero, with strong wind of 5m per second (18km per hour), 10m per second (35km per hour) and 15m per second (54km per hour), people feel minus 8.6 degrees, 15 degrees and 18 degrees cold respectively. Yet, sometimes our bodies feel warmer as wind gets stronger. It happens in desert where the atmosphere is hotter than the body`s temperature. When we say we feel hotter with much humidity in the air in summer, it is also related to this work of weather factors.

▷Sometimes you do not wear warm after listening to the weatherman, but soon you begin to feel cold when you go out and even end up catching a cold. It is because of the difference between the temperature in the air and the temperature your body feels. The some goes to the economics. While economists say prices have dropped, housewives still feel prices are too high. Even the international relations work in this way. While the international community raises the concern about the North`s nuclear program, some within our society downplays the crisis thinking `it will be ours` when we are united. Is the temperature outside this country is abnormally too low or we feel warmer than it is?

▷Watching the government transition committee these days, we find the temperature gap growing there, too. There seems to be a significant gap between the ambitious initiative sought by the new government and the way people see their plans. We already witnessed the gap between the young and the old generation during the election. Large businesses, in particular, are having a very cold winter facing economic policies crafted by the new government, which seems too harsh to them.

Song Moon-hong, Editorial Writer, songmh@donga.com