| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Why Seoul is soft on North Korea. |
| 2006-12-24 |
| by B.B. Myers, Wall Street Journal No country today is as misunderstood as North Korea. Journalists still refer to it as a Stalinist or communist state, when in fact it espouses a race-based nationalism such as the West last confronted during the Pacific War. Pyongyang's propaganda touts the moral superiority of the Korean race, condemns South Korea for allowing miscegenation, and stresses the need to defend the Dear Leader with kyeolsa, or dare-to-die spirit--the Korean version of the Japanese kamikaze slogan kesshi. The six-party talks are therefore less likely to replicate the successes of Cold War détente than the negotiating failures of the 1930s. According to early reports from Beijing, the North Korean delegation appears more confident than ever. It has clearly been emboldened not only by its accession to the nuclear club, but by the awareness that Seoul will continue providing food and financial support no matter what happens. This support is not meant to expedite unification, which South Koreans are happy to put off indefinitely. Nor has it much to do with concern for starving children; by now everyone knows where the "humanitarian" aid really goes. No, the desire to help North Korea derives in large part from ideological common ground. South Koreans may chuckle at the personality cult, but they generally agree with Pyongyang that Koreans are a pure-blooded race whose innate goodness has made them the perennial victims of rapacious foreign powers. They share the same tendency to regard Koreans as innocent children on the world stage--and to ascribe evil to foreigners alone. In other words, it ain't called "the Hermit Kingdom" for nothin'. Though the North expresses itself more stridently on such matters, there is no clear ideological divide such as the one that separated West and East Germany. Bonn held its nose when conducting Ostpolitik. Seoul pursues its sunshine policy with respect for Pyongyang. I don't know enough about Korean culture to say for sure, but this theory sure seems to fit the facts. I've had three or four reasonably close acquaintenances who were Korean, and I never sensed any sort of racial attitude from any of them. On the other hand, these people were South Koreans who had immigrated to the US--so I suspect that, like my own Scots and Irish and French and German ancestors, they were the ones who moved here to get away from all that Old Country stuff. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #5 They consider themselves a special breed among mankind, and yet they are perfectly okay with the starvation of thousands, even millions of their own. It makes no sense. In fact, it is lunacy, and yes, time to bring our troops home. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-12-24 15:47 |
| #4 Every time I state that I think America should pull its troops out of South Korea immediately in front of my Korean friends over here, I get the "staring down at my shoes because I know I've made a mistake" response. The South Koreans are happy as hell to knock America all they want--just as long as they have Uncle Sam sitting here with 37K troops holding the nuclear umbrella over their heads. They pay $790 million per year to support our troops, the stationing of which costs us at least $3 billion, and that doesn't include a hell of a lot of our expenses. If we were smart, we'd tell the South and their anti-American president Roh that ANY further anti-American demonstrations would be considered prima facie evidence of a desire for the US to leave and we would act accordingly. That crap would stop in a major league hurry because the South DOES NOT want our troops to go. The Korean people aren't stupid by any means. Deep down they know damned well that we're the best friends they EVER had and the ONLY ones who don't want something from them. Right now they've got Japan demanding a nub of rock off the east coast called Dokdo, and the Chinese making noises about how parts of Korea that were Chinese during the Gorhyo dynasty really should be given back to China. Both claims are serious, too, and Korea on its own couldn't hope to fight off the Japs much less the Chinese. Without our help they're screwed and they know it. That's why you've had street protests against the SK Government attended by big numbers of Korean ex-Secretaries of Defense and retired flag-rank officers of all services. These people aren't living in some dream world; they KNOW South Korea is in a tough neighborhood and can't go it alone. That said, the South Koreans hate to be dependent and there is this romantic attachment to the idea of the North as the repository of the "real" Korean culture. There's also, as I have posted before, the deathly fear of having the North collapse and having the South stuck with the bill for reunification; that's what really scares them. They're in an uncomfortable spot and the path of least resistance for them is to a)kiss up to the North, and b)be as rude to us as we'll allow them to be so as to show they're "standing on their own." So, as long as we'll let them do it, they'll spit on us in public and kiss our butts in private. Sounds like a lot of the rest of the world, no? |
| Posted by: mac 2006-12-24 15:30 |
| #3 They share the same tendency to regard Koreans as innocent children on the world stage--and to ascribe evil to foreigners alone. Given that they have been the battleground for over a 1,000 years between the Chinese and Japanese and then in the last 50 years between the East [China/Soviet] and West [US], its not too hard to grasp the xenophobic undercurrents. Take a look at someone else in the same strategic situation, the Belgiums. They certainly turned out to be an open tolerant society that exudes successful multi-culturalism and graceful relations with the US too. /sarcasm off Regardless, the troops should have been pulled 10 years ago. |
| Posted by: Spolunter Grins4865 2006-12-24 10:41 |
| #2 Try this one on for size. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-12-24 10:23 |
| #1 another reason to withdraw US forces |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-24 09:41 |
