The True Motivation of the Anti-US Groups in Korea

There is a great editorial in the Chosun Ilbo that highlights exactly what is motivating the Camp Humphreys protests.  Here is a snippet:

In the minds of the Pan-National Committee, the Republic of Korea is a country that should never have been born or should be absorbed into the North Korean system as soon as possible. That became clear during the protests against the Pyeongtaek base. Protestors planted not the Taegukgi ? the South Korean flag — but pan-Korean flags in the rice fields. They attacked troops from the Republic of Korea with split bamboo sticks and cut barbed-wire fences to trespass on military facilities. The Pyeongtaek coalition says on its homepage it opposes the relocation of U.S. bases “because it is designed to launch a preemptive attack on North Korea.” That betrays a mindset more concerned about the security of the Kim Jong-il regime than the Republic of Korea. They live here, but their true fatherland is elsewhere.

Amidst all this, the president after a long silence mumbles something about how some nights he can¿t sleep for worry about the Republic of Korea. The prime minister says everyone involved ¿should take a step back and look at the situation calmly.¿ How much further can troops step back if they are ordered not to retaliate when they are attacked with sharpened bamboo sticks? A ruling-party lawmaker, mingling with the protestors, said, “The U.S. is a land owner, the South Korean government a farm manager and the people are tenant farmers. It makes one weep to see the manager and the tenant farmers fight.”

The 2002 candle vigils over the deaths of the two schoolgirls provided the impetus that propelled the Roh Moo-hyun administration to power, an administration that has asked, “What’s wrong with being anti-American?” Is it because of this debt in their mind that those in government close their eyes to the attacks on our democracy? Or is it because they agree with the protestors, even if they cannot say so openly? Having entrusted their country to such a government, it is the people who should have sleepless night.

Pretty well put if I do say so myself.