Comments on: Sure, go ahead - take your time

By: railwaycharm

railwaycharm — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:36:55 +0000

I am surprised any ROK troops were deployed. This admnistration is so pro NK.

By: The Marmot

The Marmot — Fri, 14 Nov 2003 01:19:28 +0000

The Koreans could provide a lot of help if there is the political willpower, and there lies the rub. The Ministry of Defense wants to put in the combat troops, and I get the feeling that the Special Forces Headquarters is itching to see what its boys can do, but usinkorea hits the nail on the head - Noh’s going to get his men killed if he doesn’t heed what the MoD is saying and decides to make this a “political deployment” rather than a military one. If he sends in noncombat troops without the men to protect them, engineers and doctors may very well come home in body bags, and military morale will go straight into the crapper. Of course, I think Noh is counting on the Americans to provide the protection, but I gather the Americans aren’t too thrilled with this idea, which is why they rejected Noh’s first offer last week.

Personally, I think the combat troops are going in - and I’ll be the first to thank Noh when he finally makes the decision - but I hope to hell he makes his decision in a way that doesn’t cause undue resentment in Washington and alienate even further those segments of the Korean electorate that are concerned with the future of the ROK-US Alliance.

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 10:56:41 +0000

I thought the Times piece did a very good job of showing why Koreans call Roh a frog — he has hopped all over this troop issue and made things worse.

I will say yet again, I don’t care if SK sends troops or not. They will not provide a crucial amount of help. Korea has problems of its own. And they will not, contrary to what Koreans seem to believe, do MUCH of anything to help solve the problems in the US-SK alliance. It would be a good jesture, but not a whole lot more. There will be little quid pro quo here.

But now, I am getting seriously annoyed by the Korean government and worried for the SK troops.

In an effort to please both sides and limit opposition at home, Roh is going to get Korean soldiers killed. More killed than would have happened if he had addressed the troop disptach from a military standpoint first and political one second.

By: luisalegria

luisalegria — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 08:42:53 +0000

Based on the last news coming out of the DOD regarding troop deployments to Iraq (Marines, National Guard in the rotation mix), I don’t think the US government is counting on the Koreans.

By: The Commissar

The Commissar — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 07:43:54 +0000

Would it be overly simplistic to say that we’re being stalled.