Ingratitude

Sometimes pictures get to me. No matter how thick the shroud of cynicism gets, there's always one that manages to cut through the skin thickened over the years by injustices and scandals of all sorts. This one has done just that (thanks to Corsair)...

South Korea exports 17.2% of its goods and services to the United States, its largest trading partner - nearly double the exports it sends to its number two trading partner Japan. Before the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in Asia. Until the 1980s it was known more for exporting children abroad for adoption than its current top exports of electronics, textiles and machinery. Today it enjoys the 12th largest economy in the world.(Source: Pocket World in Figures, 2001 Edition, The Economist).

Its transformation from one of the poorest countries in the world to one of the wealthiest is one of the most remarkable stories in history. This transformation has been facilitated and encouraged by the United States.

Of the 1,789,000 Americans who fought in the Korean War, 36,577 Americans were killed and 103,284 were wounded. Source: Washington Headquarters Service, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports via this link.

36,000 Americans currently serve in Korea. They are viewed as a "tripwire", soldiers to be sacrificed before reinforcements from Japan would arrive. In best-case scenarios, they can last up to three weeks. In worst-case scenarios, they last six days before their positions are overrun by North Korean regulars. These Americans are viewed as a stabilizing force in the region by American allies as well as nations such as China and Russia, which see them as a guarantee that Japan will never militarize again.

The US has allowed Korea open access to its markets without reciprocity. Consequently industries such as shipbuilding and steel in the United States have faced strong competition from Korea. Korean car makers are not subject to the same volutary trade restrictions that their competitors in Japan are. Korean automakers are therefore following the Japanese model of gaining market share in the USA by selling cars known more for being cheap than reliable as they gain market share at the expense of domestic car makers.

The US Embassy in Seoul is a walled compound covered with bomb-netting. It would seem more in-place in Damascus or Tehran than in Seoul, the capital city of one of our staunchest allies. Americans are regularly refused service in restaurants and taxis. The US State Dept has warned Americans to avoid loitering near the embassy or wearing any object that could identify one's self as American.

The outcry which precipitated the above display of emotion was caused by the death of two junior-high school girls during American training exercises.While most Koreans believe that the US should remain in Korea, they sure have an odd way of expressing it considering this flag desecration occurred during the same week that their neighbor, North Korea, gave the boot to UN nuclear inspectors and took steps to reprocess spent fuel from a formerly decommissioned nuclear reactor. Most Koreans are insisting on American treating Korea on a equitable footing. The DMZ with North Korea lays about 25 miles north of Seoul. It's 5000 or so miles away from the continental USA. Americans don't need help to protect Washington from an invasion by their neighbor in the North; the Korean people do.

The situation is akin to a small kid demanding to be treated the same as his big brother. While in many ways such equality works, it doesn't when it comes to raw power. The truth is that the big brother is stronger than his little brother, and the former doesn't need or expect the latter to join him in his brawls. The relationship is unequal, and the sooner little brother realizes this the better.

North Korea is not going to fade away. It presents a nightmare to all policymakers in the region as well as to those in the United States. While the deaths of two innocent girls are regrettable, and there is no doubt that the Korean people have suffered at the hands of the occasional American soldier, tearing up the American flag after America has done so much for the Korean nation shows ingratitude at best, stupidity at the worst.

America is not a colonial power, and Korea is not our colony. The situation is not equitable, and America is protecting Korea without expecting anything in return. If we are not wanted there we should leave and let the Korean people fend for themselves.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il with Disney-defecting son.