The Dance of Death on the Korean Penninsula

How many US troops are stationed in South Korea right now, around 35,000? Seems like 35,000 too many for me, as the South Korean government shows no signs whatsoever of changing its behavior toward its outlaw nuclear neighbor:

South Korea is still sending tourists to a mountain resort in the North and maintaining a joint economic zone, despite pressure to cancel the projects after Pyongyang's nuclear test...

The U.S. has scoffed at the tourism venture at the North's majestic Diamond Mountain resort, saying the project simply hands money to the North Korean government. Washington also has questioned labor practices in a joint economic zone where North Korean workers provide cheap labor for South Korean firms.
But Seoul has been reluctant to inflame North Korea as it pursues its policy of reconciliation that has led to unprecedented cooperation between the two countries that share a peninsula.

Amazing; it is a submission of the South to the North made out of fear; be it of Kim Jong's nukes or a collapse of the North Korean government, which would likely lead to a severe refugee influx into the South. Kim Jong has no reason at all to stop his nuclear program; his next door neighbor has not even bothered to eliminate the economic agreements that have funded his newfound arsenal; why should he believe that nations located even further away would be any more serious about sanction enforcement?

And let's talk about cowboy unilateralism, shall we?

But in the wake of the North's first-ever nuclear test, Seoul has faced new calls to cancel the landmark reconciliation projects in line with the U.N. sanctions.

Whoa! Going directly against UN sanctions that they were signatories to! Those South Korean cowboys are a threat to world peace, flouting the will of the international community and acting strictly in their own self-interest! How dare they!

Now if were Americans that acted this way, well...the World Court would be calling for George Bush's head right about now. And speaking of Americans, how exactly does the average South Korean feel about us?

The "favorable" view of the United States dropped from 58% in 1999-2000, to 53% in summer 2002, to 46% in summer 2003. Of those with unfavorable views of the United States, more than 80% thought the "problem" was not just Bush, but was at least partly the result of the American people themselves. This latter figure was an outlier among nations surveyed.

22% had started boycotting U.S. goods. 29% had considered it. This was the highest number outside the Muslim world.
Just 24% supported the U.S.-led War on Terror, also a result that fit within the number in the Muslim world.

And here's the kicker:

In the event of war between the U.S. and North Korea, 20% of South Koreans say their country should take the North's side; another 30% were undecided.

Not surprising, given the behavior of the South Korean government - from OneFreeKorea, a startling little story with a shocking photo:

The results we see today are a more focused version of the absurd and tragic story of North Korea since the mid-1990’s, when the North’s people experienced their lowest depths of misery, and when the policies of neighboring nations did so much to prolong it.

Of South Korea’s part in this, I have written extensively of the costs: the nearly complete destruction of its alliance with the United States, the cultivation of long-term enmity among North Koreans they chose not to welcome, and possibly, a contest with China over control of the North. The old expression just doesn’t do this one justice; a thousand words could not capture the metaphorical splendor of the head of South Korea’s ruling party dancing for the North Koreans’ amusement just days after their nuclear test provoked an international crisis.


The dancing buffoon is Kim Geun-Tae, and what I wouldn’t give for video of this. Kim heard that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was coming to coordinate South Korea’s compliance with Resolution 1718, which is designed to deny the regime funds to build more nukes and missiles. Denials notwithstanding, she was probably there to exert some pressure, too. It seems reasonable enough for Ms. Rice to ask the South Koreans to be sure they’re not funding the very weapons American taxpayers spend billions of dollars each year to defend South Korea from.

The South Koreans dance for Kim Jong's pleasure; and they expect the United States to dance for theirs. No dice; it is time to limit our military presence in S-K, and move our troops to friendlier nations where they are still deployable to international hotspots. It was done well in Europe; a large contingent of American forces are leaving Germany to take up new bases in Poland and Romania. And did you notice how Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was booted out of office soon after, to be replaced with the much more American-friendly Merkel governemnt? Coincidence? Hardly...

So since South Korea blatently ignores UN sanctions, and Russia intends to block any sanctions imposed upon Iran, perhaps it is long past time we give up the whole charade of a "united nations" and build alliances based on shared mutual interests, as Charles Krauthammer suggests we do with Japan. Creating "consensus" at the UN for the sake of appearances is actually quite detrimental to world peace, as renegade nations know that these coalitions have no backbone, no true support, and will collapse at the first whiff of a fistful of dollars waved under a diplomat's nose.

But the political left, in Europe and in America, know that, and they want Western Civilization to fail... so they support the UN. So does the Democratic Party, wholeheartedly. Can we imagine what will happen should they regain the halls of power come November 7th?