Seoul vows to bar U.S. strike at North Korea

International Herald Tribune ^ | July 8th, 2005 | Choe Sang-Hun

[Paul Ross]

SEOUL President Roh Moo Hyun declared Thursday that under no circumstances would South Korea allow the United States to resort to a military attack against North Korea.

President George W. Bush insists that he wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy, but he has not officially ruled out a military option, which he has called a "last choice."

[angkor]

South Korea's Gen X'ers sincerely believe the'll be "reunified" with "Pol Pot" Jong Il in a spirit of joyous brotherly love.

The recent histories of Vietnam and Cambodia don't seem to phase them.

So let them have their bloodbath.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

To: Rutles4Ever
>> We need to keep the troops there. <<

Why?

61 posted on 07/08/2005 12:12:39 PM EDT by appalachian_dweller

and another "Why?' to Rutles4Ever from me.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

"....37,000 troops are at Camp Casey, Camp Red Cloud, or some combination of North and South of the Han River"

and all of the rest of the camps in the western corridor.....when I spent 74-75 at Casey, the 2d Div had 3 Inf Bn's and some armor Bn's, plus plenty of Engineer assets on the actual Z.....then, there were all those missile sites up in the hills, too.

(and then there was dear Maxine at Essayons, one who I shall never furgit, LOL)

[Ronin]

Damn good question.

[kabar]

Re Taiwan: We're the only ones who care about them. That's the way it is. Neither South Korea nor Japan would help us in a war over the island. No one in the world would fight with us for Taiwan. That's just the sad truth. Which is a reason we need troops in Korea and the surrounding region. If we need to save Taiwan by ourselves, we need every military resource in the region we can get.

If a shooting war with China broke out over Taiwan, our military bases in South Korea and Japan would become legitimate military targets for the Chinese, especially if they are being used to prosecute the war. I don't see how South Korea and Japan can sit on the sidelines in that case.

Almost 21% of South Korea's exports go to the US with China (12%) and Japan (11%) being second and third. Approximately 19% of South Korea's imports come from Japan, with the US second at 16% and China at 9%. Any conflict between the US and China will have a major economic impact on all parties. It is also worth noting that the US receives more that 20% of China's exports with Hong Kong (17.5%), Japan (16.9%) and South Korea (4.7%) being the next three largest export destinations. The US, Japan, and South Korea have tremendous economic leverage over the Chinese should they threaten an invasion of Taiwan.

[Walkingfeather]

"under no circumstances "????

Well okay then... were outta there.

[wtc911]

"eat me" "bite me".....the dumbing down of America is taking hold ar Free Republic.

[CaptSkip]

I think I understand now having read a few pages of "In Forum" for wtc911. You pick fights, are always right, never wrong and live for conflict.

I feel sorry for you.

"Low tolerance for bullshit of any kind."

TRANSLATION: "Jerk on Board".

[Made ya look...you can't help yourself :^)]

[gogogodzilla]

After reading the article...

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!

As if South (read: Stupid) Korea can stop the US from launching an airstrike against North Korea.

---

On a more serious note, they can stop us from invading North Korea, as the only place we could invade from is South Korea. (Unless China or Russia would be willing to host a few hundred thousand US troops.)

[cherokee1]

I guess you're aware that GW just approved a forty thousand (not the exact number but close) ton food shipment to the NK's. That's ten Liberty ship size loads and is enough to take the edge off their starvation for a couple months (only). Maybe Kimmie will let them grow longer hair w/the xtra food?
I'm not sure how GW plans to make sure they eat the stuff and not resell it but it will be distributed by the WHO guys so we pretty much gotta trust them.
While I agree with your basic starve 'em out notion it simply won't work because it's already being prevented by both the Chicoms AND THE SGOOKS! Ain't that a hoot?
There's plenty of evidence even the Chicoms realize reunification is going to happen---they wouldn't spend a dime on a new bridge over the Yalu if that weren't the case.

[gogogodzilla]

Yup, Roh is a pro-North Korean, pro-China 'useful idiot'.

But think on this, he was elected because the bulk of college-age and 20-somethings in South Korea voted for him.

And as the older generation of South Koreans die off, who do you think will be running the country?

The idiots who voted for Roh, of course.

I'm willing to bet that there will be reunification on the Korean peninsula within 30-40 years. AND it won't be in favor of a democratic government.

[cherokee1]

I guess you missed the really small story a few weeks ago about Rummy ordering a squadron of F-117's from Holloman to far-SKorea? Stuff is happening-- you just have to watch really close to pick out the real parts but this is huge. Can't prove it but I'd bet a cold case of your choice that Kimmies already had a fly-by. In barely two weeks Kimmie has decided maybe the 6-talks "would be OK."
I enjoyed your scenario but could you revise it for us keeping the above in mind? ---you know GW wouldn't waste the 117's.

[bitt]

hmmm.....

[gogogodzilla]

We used to have military bases in Taiwan during the Vietnam era.

What with the heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, I'm relatively sure that if we asked Taiwan for some land to build US military bases, they'd be more than happy to oblige.

Which would get us US military bases ON Chinese soil.

(It'd also oblige us to defend Taiwan, instead of cutting and running like some in Congress would want us to do.)

---

As for pulling out of South Korea.

The South Korean government is currently (and for the foreseeable future) only authorizing the US troops in South Korea for the defense of South Korea in case of NK aggression.

The only way we were allowed to pull some troops in South Korea out for Iraq was by having them permenantly removed from the Korean peninsula. (Which is why you saw that there are now fewer US troops in South Korea.)

This means that any US troops stationed in South Korea are useless for dealing with any other problem that might arise worldwide.

Which isn't all that good of a deal for the US, is it?

Why should we keep 32,000 of our troops in, for all essential purposes, a 'lockdown'? In a country that does not want us there? That proclaims to control how the US can use it's military regarding North Korea?

No, it would be better to reposition our troops to Japan. Then enforce a 'scorched earth' policy in regards to a possible North Korean invasion. That if North Korea invades the South, that we would destroy all the factories, all the powerplants, all the ports, all the dams, and all the roads of Korea.

Let's see North Korea build anything after that. (Not to mention the huge boost to the Japanese economy that would result from the sudden absence of Korean cars, electronics, cellphones.)

And we'd still have our troops in the area, should we wish to move back into Korea.

And we'd have 32,000 move US troops that could be used wherever the Pentagon thinks that they are needed.

[gogogodzilla]

There is no deterrence as the Chinese know that the 32,000 US troops in South Korea cannot be used to deter them.

So why waste the money?

Putting our troops in new bases on the west coast of Japan would do FAR more to discourage China (as we could use them to respond to anything the Chinese would do). Not to mention that the Japanese government has been looking (for some time now) for ways to move some of the US military presence off of Okinawa onto mainland Japan.

It would kill three birds with one stone; creating a real deterrence against China, easing the US military presence on Okinawa (which is a big headache for Tokyo), and it would still position our troops for a rapid reaction to any situation on the Korean peninsula.

All we'd need to do is pre-position our military equipment in the southern part of South Korea, away from any North Korean artillery bombardment. A quick ferryboat ride later, and an instant army division, ready to go. Assuming that the South Koreans did their job in maintaining the equipment.

[Paul Ross]

You need a wake up call. Here's one:

Congress Demands Pentagon Report on China
By GOPAL RATNAM, Defense News, 7/08/2005

Ten U.S. lawmakers are demanding that the Pentagon submit its annual report on Chinese military capabilities to Congress as soon as possible.

In a July 1 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Rep. Randy Forbes, R-VA, and nine other members of the House of Representatives, both Democrats and Republicans, complain that the report — due to Congress on March 1 every year — hasn’t been delivered yet.

“Congress requires the annual report on the military power of the People’s Republic of China to execute its constitutional responsibilities,” the lawmakers wrote. “Additional delay will impair Congress’ ability to perform those oversight duties.”

Forbes is the co-chairman of the newly formed China caucus, created to focus Congress’ attention on China’s rise as an economic and military power. Seven other signatories of the July 1 letter are also members of the caucus.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2000 requires the Pentagon to submit an annual report of its assessment of Chinese military capabilities.

"The annual DoD China Military Power report required by Congress is not yet ready for release, but we expect to be completed with it soon,” one defense official said July 7.

The official said a team of intelligence experts within the Pentagon is preparing the report by drawing on several in-house and outside resources.

In recent weeks, senior Bush administration officials, including Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, have raised questions about China’s military modernization.

"Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: Why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases?" Rumsfeld said in a June 4 address to a security conference in Singapore, organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

COMMENT: Negroponte's DIA team...is sand-papering the language of some very deleterious developments to soft-pedal the conclusions...and avoid the inevitable national security budget & foreign policy implications: I.e., we need to stop treating China as a "trading partner" and start enforcing the "Trading with the Enemies Act".

And even with that change, we likely will still have to boost military procurement dramatically. Nuke the BRAC cuts now. Reverse course on all the strategic procurement holiday, and the submarine/bomber/ICBM drawdown. Start flying Project Looking Glass again.

Say hello to Cold War II. Let's pray it doesn't heat up too soon.

The Lesson? Thanks alot to the people who kept repeating blindly the religious dogma of trade that ....China will change.... They had no idea who they were dealing with.

Deng Xioaping: "It doesn't matter whether you call the cat black or white. So long as it catches mice."

[gogogodzilla]

You've got that right in a nutshell.

Having talked with the ROK draftees that I've had to work with, I seriously doubt that even the ROK military would fight all that much.

The ROK officer's, though, would. But it's not like the officer's are the one's to man the trenches.

[gogogodzilla]

If anything, your post reinforces my belief that we need to reposition our troops out of South Korea. There they are useless against China. And they are at the mercy of the South Korean government.

Put them on the west coast of Japan, were we could actually USE them if the situation demanded it.

---

So, if your post was to discourage my earlier post, it is the exact opposite. It reinforced it.

[Paul Ross]

Actually the post was supposed to be in reply to a different poster! Sorry. Wonder how that happened?

[Fee]

Roh represents a generation of student activists when South Korea was ruled by strongmen leaders. In their eyes the US supported political repression and used South Korea as a pawn in the Cold War. Today many harbor feelings that the US is unjustly preventing the Koreas to re unite in order to justify their presence in Korea to counterbalance Communist China. Like the US, the breeding ground for such thinking is in the Universities. Learn first hand when I was on a blog for a Korean stock. Read some posting that blamed GWB. Got to blog with the several Korean individuals and their viewpoints would make MoveOn.org proud. There are days I think Buchanan is right, pull back our forces and let the world stew in their own stupidity.