Should America Defend South Korea?

[onedomino]

South Korea, (you know, the guys we currently defend, died for in the Korean War, and helped build into a first-world economic power) so far has refused to participate in UN sanctions against North Korea. Even the Chinese are nominally participating in the sanctions. The former PM of South Korea says that the NK nuke detonation is America’s fault. Now Pyongyang has threatened Seoul with severing ties, if SK participates in the UN sanctions. What do you think of SK’s attitude? Should we defend people who apparently cannot decide to defend themselves? Should we defend a SK that is willing to trade with the criminal regime in Pyongyang, the gang that killed by terror and starvation more than a million North Koreans? Should we defend a SK that is undermining the UN sanctions? Should we pull our troops out of SK and admit defeat by the Chinese in the 50 year Beijing-Washington struggle for political and economic power in NE Asia? If we leave SK, will that tell the Japanese that America is unreliable? Will the Japanese then develop nuclear weapons? What should America do? Ignore the simpering South Koreans?

Pyongyang to Sever Ties if S.Korea Joins Sanctions

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200610/200610260012.html

North Korea warned Wednesday if South Korea joins U.S.-led sanctions against the Stalinist country, it will regard it as “a declaration of confrontation.” The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said it will treat South Korean cooperation with a UN resolution sanctioning the North as “a declaration of confrontation against its own people” and a negation of the 2000 Joint Statement by former president Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il “and take corresponding measures.” “The South will bear the entire responsibility and pay dearly if international sanctions it backs have destructive results for inter-Korean relations," a committee spokesman said in a statement.

It is the first time since the UN Security Council last week condemned North Korea’s nuclear test that Pyongyang has directly threatened Seoul in relation to the sanctions. The CPRF said South Korean authorities are moving in a “dangerous direction” by following the U.S. and joining hands with others to “stifle” the country. Inter-Korean cooperative projects -- a reference to the Kaesong Industrial Complex and package tours to Mt.Kumgang ? “are not for just one side but promote the shared interest and unity of the Korean people,” it said. Prof. Kim Geun-sik of Kyungnam University said the remarks seem to say that if Seoul takes part in sanctions including the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, the North could sever inter-Korean relations and the two Koreas will return to the icy relations they enjoyed before the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.

The PSI aims to stop North Korean ships suspected of carrying missiles and other proscribed cargo, which would hit its fragile economy hard. A study by Dr. Park Chang-kwon and Dr. Kim Myung-jin at the Korean Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA) says full implementation of the PSI would deprive the North of hard currency gains of US$700 million-1 billion (US$=W958) by stopping exports of weapons and illegal drugs and counterfeit money. The sum accounts for 40-50 percent of the $2 billion the North earns through overseas transactions including inter-Korean business. That would make it extremely difficult for the North Korean regime to keep the economy afloat and stay in power. It is the Chinese and the South Koreans that are keeping NK afloat.

North Korea’s weapons exports earn it some $400-500 million, drug smuggling and counterfeit dollar transactions $300-500 million, and the inter-Korean projects $160 million, a Unification Ministry official estimates. Another $30-100 million annually goes to the North from the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan or Chongryon. The study says Seoul’s participation in the PSI would stop or curtail inter-Korean exchanges and the subsidies from the South that go with it, which besides hitting the North Korean economy would dry up the supply of materials for Pyongyang’s weapons industry.

That threat would inevitably galvanize the North Korean military. Implementation of the PSI could force it into mobilization under anti-American, anti-imperialist and nationalist slogans. The study speculates that if Pyongyang’s traditional allies China and Russia join the PSI too, the resulting frustration and defeat would split the North Korean military into hawks and the moderates. In that scenario, the North could escalate military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, especially through incursions across the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea.

It was concerns like these that prompted the CPRF statement on Wednesday, a Unification Ministry official speculated.

 

[Annie]

South Korea, (you know, the guys we currently defend, died for in the Korean War, and helped build into a first-world economic power) so far has refused to participate in UN sanctions against North Korea. Even the Chinese are nominally participating in the sanctions. The former PM of South Korea says that the NK nuke detonation is America’s fault. Now Pyongyang has threatened Seoul with severing ties, if SK participates in the UN sanctions. What do you think of SK’s attitude? Should we defend people who apparently cannot decide to defend themselves? Should we defend a SK that is willing to trade with the criminal regime in Pyongyang, the gang that killed by terror and starvation more than a million North Koreans? Should we defend a SK that is undermining the UN sanctions? Should we pull our troops out of SK and admit defeat by the Chinese in the 50 year Beijing-Washington struggle for political and economic power in NE Asia? If we leave SK, will that tell the Japanese that America is unreliable? Will the Japanese then develop nuclear weapons? What should America do? Ignore the simpering South Koreans?

South Korea has been growing more and more anti-American, here's one thread where we discussed this:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24890&highlight=south+korea

 

[akiboy]

South Korea has been growing more and more anti-American, here's one thread where we discussed this:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24890&highlight=south+korea

I agree with what you say about S.K's current attitude towards America. America lost blood for the S.Koreans against the Communists in the 50's and certainly don't deserve the bullshit from the South Koreans now. I suggest America more closely watch the De-Militarized zone separating both the Korea's as it has been doing for so many years..because if it comes to an allout war between the North and South then the North will win due its larger ground based forces and its missiles.

Akshay

 

[Gunny]

I agree with what you say about S.K's current attitude towards America. America lost blood for the S.Koreans against the Communists in the 50's and certainly don't deserve the bullshit from the South Koreans now. I suggest America more closely watch the De-Militarized zone separating both the Korea's as it has been doing for so many years..because if it comes to an allout war between the North and South then the North will win due its larger ground based forces and its missiles.

Akshay

If for no other reason, as long as Japan is one of our staunchest allies, it is not to our advantage nor Japan's for us to leave S Korea.

A lot of US military personnel may have died for S Korea, but we are dealing with the offspring of the people we saved, not the people we saved themselves. Succeeding generations are almost always weaker than those that earned what their children only inherit.

 

[Hamiltonian]

I agree with what you say about S.K's current attitude towards America. America lost blood for the S.Koreans against the Communists in the 50's and certainly don't deserve the bullshit from the South Koreans now. I suggest America more closely watch the De-Militarized zone separating both the Korea's as it has been doing for so many years..because if it comes to an allout war between the North and South then the North will win due its larger ground based forces and its missiles.

Akshay

If there was a war, the entire peninsula would be a lake of fire instantly, and there would be no "winner." The best thing the DPRK has going for it are not superior numbers or it's missiles. The Army of SK is much better trained and much more modernized than their counterpart to the North. The best thing the DPRK has is tunnels running across the DMZ, and their artillery can cause much more damage than their missiles.

I believe that a lot of the dislike that South Korean's have with the US stems from the actions of a few bad apples that we've had stationed there in the army. There have been several cases of a US soldier driving drunk and running over a Korean child, and then jurisdiction is turned over to the US and not Korea, which makes people there unhappy. Also, the people of North and South Korea want to reunite, although they disagree about how to do it. They feel that the US troop force puts pressure on the situation and the actions of America are most likely to start a war between the two countries.

 

[Ninja]

I believe that a lot of the dislike that South Korean's have with the US stems from the actions of a few bad apples that we've had stationed there in the army.

Surprise, surprise

Like a moth to a flame, a libtard can't resist the urge to demonize and denigrate our heroes in uniform

By the way William (if you even get the reference ) you didn't need that apostrophe.

 

[Hamiltonian]

Surprise, surprise

Like a moth to a flame, a libtard can't resist the urge to demonize and denigrate our heroes in uniform

By the way William (if you even get the reference ) you didn't need that apostrophe.

I can tell already that you're one of those people who like to make bad assumptions. That must be why you're a Republican . I did not choose Hamiltonian for its mathematical significance.

You cannot seriously believe that every single US troop stationed in Korea is an amazing person. Now most of the people in the US Army are great people, but there are a small handful that do things like drive under the influence who ruin the image of the Army. I specifically mentioned that this behavior was not the norm in the Army, that it shouldn't denigrate all of those heroes in the Army, but it ruins the image of the US Army in the eyes of the Koreans.

What can I say about the apostrophe, my English is not so good. By the way, thanks to the new management for adding a spell checker.

Also, I would like to correct something in my previous post. Koreans think that the US is the second most likely to start a war in that region, with Japan being the most likely.

 

[Dirt McGirt]

Should America Defend South Korea?

Of course they should. What people don't realize is that it's not just about defending South Korea. It's a regional thing- a US presence helps keep the region stable. We got trading partners in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China, etc. that ship us goods and resources via boats and cargo planes. Regional instability disrupts all that.

 

[dilloduck]

Of course they should. What people don't realize is that it's not just about defending South Korea. It's a regional thing- a US presence helps keep the region stable. We got trading partners in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China, etc. that ship us goods and resources via boats and cargo planes. Regional instability disrupts all that.

Which is EXACTLY why our southern border isn't a wall. Strictly enforcing our borders would destabalize it.

 

[Gunny]

I can tell already that you're one of those people who like to make bad assumptions. That must be why you're a Republican . I did not choose Hamiltonian for its mathematical significance.

You cannot seriously believe that every single US troop stationed in Korea is an amazing person. Now most of the people in the US Army are great people, but there are a small handful that do things like drive under the influence who ruin the image of the Army. I specifically mentioned that this behavior was not the norm in the Army, that it shouldn't denigrate all of those heroes in the Army, but it ruins the image of the US Army in the eyes of the Koreans.

What can I say about the apostrophe, my English is not so good. By the way, thanks to the new management for adding a spell checker.

Also, I would like to correct something in my previous post. Koreans think that the US is the second most likely to start a war in that region, with Japan being the most likely.

It doesn't help much when the media portrays the criminal actions of individuals the the actions of the US military in general.

 

[manu1959]

NO....we should not defend anyone other than ourselves...south korea is a rich prosperous nation....it should defend itself

 

[akiboy]

NO....we should not defend anyone other than ourselves...south korea is a rich prosperous nation....it should defend itself

Yes and when Kim lauches a few of his "short range birds" into Seoul or Tokyo and try to unify the Korean peninsula by force Washington should sit back and do nothing.Then Kim can continue enriching Uranium and building up his missile capability while putting South Korean dollars into his treasury.

North Korea is a threat now and will be a long term threat to the U.S. It can give more then a "bloody nose" to Washington.

 

[CSM]

I am opposed to the US military defending ANY country ever again. Period.

These foreign countries demand we defend them then criticize and sometimes even work in diameric opposition to their own defense. Their citizens scream for removal of US troops and hold protests to get them sent home. The US citizenry has no stomach for war of any kind, treat our soldiers like crap while spouting platitudes of support and consider them second class citizens. Our politicians are even worse.

Hell, no...let every country defend itself as best it can without US support.

 

[Gunny]

I am opposed to the US military defending ANY country ever again. Period.

These foreign countries demand we defend them then criticize and sometimes even work in diameric opposition to their own defense. Their citizens scream for removal of US troops and hold protests to get them sent home. The US citizenry has no stomach for war of any kind, treat our soldiers like crap while spouting platitudes of support and consider them second class citizens. Our politicians are even worse.

Hell, no...let every country defend itself as best it can without US support.

Well-said.

 

[LuvRPgrl]

I dont believe the US presence is to defend SK, but merely to have a US base of operations for whatever occurs. IF NK managed to get nukes, we would be much closer by to observe and do other actionsa/activity to defend the states.

Having bases in strategic locations worldwide is wise.