Washington -- Ho hum, how are we to respond to the South Korean
government's sudden standoffishness? We do have our plates full
with the war against terrorism and with Saddam Hussein. Now
long-simmering anti-Americanism in South Korea seems to be coming
to a boil. There have been large anti-American demonstrations in
South Korea. During the recent elections there were prissy
references to us from candidate Roh Moo Hyun. After his December 19
election Mr. Roh has displayed a reluctance to join with us in
opposing the North Korean nuclear threat. In fact, Mr. Roh has even
postured that he might serve as a mediator between the United
States and North Korea. It is all very perplexing given the fact
that after the Cold War about the only reason for the United States
to station 37,000 troops in South Korea has been to demonstrate
that we stand by South Korea in its defense against the bully to
the North.
After all what does it matter to us if the North invades the
South and turns it into a playground for Kim Jong Il? There is no
vast geopolitical game going on there as was the case during the
Cold War. Then North Korea could be seen as a Communist pawn
against the Western democracies. A gain for the Communists was a
loss for us. North Korea was part of a Communist camp arrayed
against the West. Today North Korea is part of no international
movement that I recognize unless it be an international movement of
dissolute playboys with a yearning to stay in power by threatening
nearby neighbors.
For some not very well thought out reasons, Mr. Roh seems to
think that the United States is the reason North Korea is a brutish
tyranny. He blames the Bush Administration for not being more
sympathetic to the North. He seems to think that Kim Jong Il is a
reasonable man with whom he can do business. I say let him do
business with Mr. Kim. In fact I say it is time we save ourselves
the expense of those 37,000 rowdy troops in South Korea and bring
them home. Let Mr. Roh deal with Mr. Kim unimpeded by
Washington.
Admittedly Mr. Roh's predecessor, President Kim Dae Jung, was
not terribly successful in appeasing his North Korean counterpart.
His Sunshine Policy, as it was felicitously known, won him a Nobel
Prize for creating ties between the South and the North. Yet the
North continued to build its nuclear potential in contraventions to
signed treaties. Now President Kim Jong Il appears more of a menace
to world peace than ever. Perhaps Jimmy Carter whom President Kim
lied to about his nuclear intentions is not the only appeaser who
should return his Nobel Prize. He and the author of the Sunshine
Policy could return their prizes together.
Frankly I would have thought that the South Koreans would want
their steadfast American allies to remain in South Korea. What is
known about the North Korean dictator is not reassuring. His
father, who preceded him as dictator, was recognized as a tough old
Stalinist. There was always something reliable about him. His son
suggests unreliability. He is a sybarite, given to drink,
gourmandizing, and licentiousness. Worse he has a murderous
record.
Not only is he allowing his countrymen to starve, he has a
record of terror. James R. Lilley, our very able and wise
ambassador to South Korea from 1986 to 1989, has told ABC News that
while serving as apprentice dictator to his father, Kim Jong Il
"plotted, for instance, the sabotage of KA-858 in November 1987,
when 115 South Koreans were blown up. There's also indications that
he may have been behind the Rangoon bombing when 17 people from the
highest echelons of the South Korean government were killed and the
president missed being killed by a few minutes."
If South Koreans now feel comfortable living in this man's
backyard after he has armed himself with nuclear weapons, I say it
is time we get our 37,000 troops out of harm's way. This would not
be a withdrawal from all Asia, for we already maintain sizable
forces in the region. What is more they are stationed in areas
where they are treated hospitably. For too many years America's
willingness to defend weaker nations has been taken advantage of.
This is one opportunity for us to step aside and let the prima
donna beneficiary of our strength go it alone. I say good-bye
Seoul. Call us when you need us.
topics:
Business, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, Oil
