Finally Some Common Sense Talk from the Korean Media
The Chosun Ilbo’s Kim Dae-joong really hits the nail on the head regarding how the Korean government should approach relations with the US in his latest editorial:
Our country has few resources. We rely 100 percent on foreign countries for our energy, and because we do, we should choose a side that has the resources. We cannot say we belong fully to the Christian world, but we definitely do not belong to Islam. That means we cannot afford to be on bad terms with the Christian world. Bluntly speaking, we have no oil but lots of Christians. Since we cannot hide under the wing of neutral “third? countries, we must show the wisdom, through a carefully calculated foreign policy, to avoid becoming embroiled in a whirlpool of war.How we deal with America today depends on just such survival skills. Strategic anti-Americanism benefits us no more than sentimental or ideological anti-Americanism. Blind pro-Americanism as a hangover from the Cold War is just as useless. We must adopt a fundamental strategy of taking the real benefits where we need the U.S. even at the cost of concessions, and of coldly cutting it off where it is in our interest to do so.
Kim is right that Cheongwadae needs to do what is in Korea’s interest and the ongoing debacle at Camp Humphreys is not in it’s interest. The US wants to consolidate forces in order to continue a steady face saving withdrawal of USFK soldiers from Korea. If USFK cannot consolidate forces at Camp Humphreys that will lead to a massive withdrawal that is not in either allies interest because it would embarrassing for the US to be withdrawing from Korea due to perceived anti-Americanism. However, it would be a bigger disaster to Korea because how many people in America would be willing to buy a Hyundai after seeing USFK appear to be running out of Korea with it’s tail tucked between it’s legs due to anti-Americanism? That is not even taking into account the loss of foreign investment due to losing the US security blanket and the loss of jobs provided by USFK that would imparct the Korean economy.
The current consolidation of forces at Camp Humphreys is in everyone’s interest, yet due to the lack of leadership from the Blue House the plan may very well fail. Remember it has taken years due to anti-Americanism to find the US Embassy a new home in Korea much less USFK.
Those who advocate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea insist that the American presence here keeps up the pressure and thus the risk of war. If that were the case, the Korean Peninsula would have been reduced to rubble in the days when the troops exercised much greater influence here. Already U.S. troops are in the process of pulling out of South Korea. What terrible unresolved grudges these people must entertain, to throw stones at the U.S. forces? retreating backs.
For South Korea, the U.S. is no longer the be-all and end-all: it is a means to survival. It is useful. There is no point in getting worked up as though we would perish immediately without the U.S. It is equally nonsensical to curse the U.S. as if it was responsible for an imminent Armageddon. The U.S. is no longer a requirement but an option: we should choose wisely.
I continue to maintain that the US deserves a face saving reduction of forces from Korea instead of the current America bashing that is going on in Korea. 38,000 deaths and 50 years of security and investment in South Korea should at least be worth a face saving reduction in forces in my honest opinion.
Who will be the biggest loser if the Camp Humphreys consolidation fails? It may be neither US or South Korea, but North Korea. How you ask? The North Koreans justify their “military first” policy due to the perceived threat of a US invasion. If the Yankees all go home than that discredits their policy because the bogey man is gone. Plus the world takes the North Korean threat a whole lot more seriously when the US is seen to be taking the Norks seriously enough by putting roughly 32,000 US soldiers between the two Koreas. The reduction of US forces from Korea is a signal to the rest of the world that North Korea is not as important of an issue as it used to be. Less focus and attention on North Korea means less foreign aid, which in turn may mean the end of Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il needs a bogeyman to legitimize his autocratic rule and USFK is it, but maybe for not much longer.
