Posted on 02/23/2003 10:27:09 PM PST by Thud
February 24, 2003
U.S. Approach on North Korea Is Straining Alliances in Asia
By Howard W. French
Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 23
"... To the dismay of Washington, Mr. Roh [South Korean President-elect] has spoken in recent weeks of establishing an economic community with North Korea, stepping up trade, aid and investment there, ruling out economic sanctions and military strikes against the country and even of personally "guaranteeing" North Korea's security.
... "It is better to struggle than to suffer deaths in a war," Mr. Roh said in a speech to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions. "Koreans should stand together, although things will get difficult when the United States bosses us around."
A senior South Korean diplomat said: "It looks like Roh is prepared to throw the alliance away and make common cause with North Korea. We don't understand why he seems to trust North Korea so completely."
While Japan looks nervously at North Korea and is beginning to explore ways to augment its alliance with the United States, South Koreans and experts in this country's affairs are contemplating the end of the five-decade-old alliance between the countries, at least as it has existed, with 37,000 American troops on the front lines here.
"The Japanese are on the spot because the U.S. alliance with South Korea is defunct, and there is no point in insisting on it any more," said Robyn Lim, a regional security expert at Nanzan University in Japan. "The U.S. alliance with Japan is integrally linked with the U.S. alliance with South Korea. Indeed, since the Korean War, the American presence in South Korea has been as much about protecting Japan as it was about South Korea."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I can think of a few reasons to understand it. Probably the same types of reasons Clinton trusts the Red Chinese so completely.
This is bad news. If it continues this way, the N. Korean surrogates of China may not have to even fight to take the south. ... And if that happens, it will make a huge strategic difference in how China proceeds with its hegonomy plans for Asia IMHO ... and may escalate and advance their time table.
Here is another battle here at home where our troops need our support to protect their children in school! (WABI TV reported Friday that the Maine National Guard Family Assistance Center has received about 30 complaints from children of deployed soldiers concerning Principals, Teachers and Guidance Counselors reportedly demeaning the role of their deployed parent. Some children involved are 7 to 9 years of age. link).
Not. South Korea is free to act in what its government perceives to be South Korea's interest, but if that breaches the alliance, the United States government is free to act in America's interest.
South Korea will be swarmed by millions of starving North Koreans. It is possible that Seoul will become a smoking hole in the ground. Tough for South Korea. If it continues to help North Korea produce nuclear weapons to sell to terrorists for use on the America, America will remove the threat.
That's a brilliant analysis Jeff, and I hope that the situtation is understood in those terms at the NSC.
Amen.
You can already tell, from what is leaking into the public domain ... that the Japanese understand all too well where it leads from there.
In Volume II of my series, as Japan is being attacked, they reveal their capability to do just that ... and then the Chinese brow beat and strong talk them into not doing so ... can;t say too much, a bunch of people haven't read it.
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