The Marmot’s Hole

Flipping through Yahoo! News, I came across a pretty good op-ed piece from the Joongang Ilbo by Hanguk University of Foreign Studies American Studies professor Kim Hyeong-in that looks back at the Korea-U.S. relationship and where said relationship stands now. Anyway, I’ve translated it for your reading pleasure below. Enjoy.

If We Are to Stand on Our Own Without the United States…

“If one coldly looks at the relationship between our two nations with an eye for history, however, the last 50 years in which the U.S. and Korea have shared a sincere relationship of alliance occupy an exceptional place in the history of the bilateral relationship. Before that, the basic tone of the relationship between Korea and the U.S. was of disinterest and indifference.”

The U.S. is preparing to leave Korea. It doesn’t matter whether that’s the result of the candlelight demonstrations or the realization of a new U.S. global strategy — the U.S. is packing up its bags. Where will it go? That’s unclear, too. The residents of Yongsan are quietly enjoying the skyrocketing land values, but the residents of the place the U.S. military is scheduled to move might be satisfied for the same reason. Since when did the U.S. become such a loathsome existence for us? Most of our citizens have persistently maintained the Korea-U.S. relationship until very recently, and they had a vague feeling they would do so in the future. If one coldly looks at the relationship between our two nations with an eye for history, however, the last 50 years in which the U.S. and Korea have shared a sincere relationship of alliance occupy an exceptional place in the history of the bilateral relationship. Before that, the basic tone of the relationship between Korea and the U.S. was of disinterest and indifference.

Since the time the Western powers grew interested in the East, Chosun (Korea) was outside their interest. To them, Korea was simply a point their ships would pass on the way to China or Japan. According, even when the [U.S. merchant vessel] General Sherman was burned in 1861, it took five years for the U.S. to send five warships in response. Of course, the U.S. was embroiled in its Civil War at the time, but even though the ensuing battle with Chosun ended in a U.S. defeat, the Americans made nothing out of it afterwards. This is because the U.S. judged that the Korean Peninsula wasn’t worth the effort.

Other Great Powers were the same way. At the end of the Chosun Dynasty, the warships of countless Western nations suddenly appeared in our nearby seas, sounded the depths, and went back. These were their furtive attempts to see if the Korean Peninsula could be used as a base for their navies or coaling station for their ships. Luckily, our good ports are all hidden away in the island seas off the south coast, so the Korean Peninsula was judged to be lacking in those regards.

U.S. interest in Korea developed as a matter associated with the problem of dealing with a defeated Japan after World War Two. Even then, Korea was considered so insignificant that it was left outside the “Acheson Line” up until the Korean War. Accordingly, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung miscalculated that he could completely occupy South Korea in six days. The U.S. Copernican shift, however, starts here. As soon as the North Korean invasion of South began, the U.S. Congress unanimously resolved to block it. Afterwards, the Korea-U.S. relationship changed into a blood alliance between those who fought a war together.

The Cold War is now over. If we examine changes in national competitiveness in the last half-century worthy of attention, we can cite Germany and Japan’s using their wartime defeats as stepping-stones to become economic powerhouses. In both nations, communism spread within appalling post-war poverty. Accordingly, the U.S. gave special procurement orders to Japan during the Korean War and gave Germany special NATO procurements orders, encouraging their economies. Thusly, both nations stood high as economic Great Powers within 10 years.

For the last half-century, the world was divided between the U.S. and Soviet sides. Just like one must chose sides well in order to do well personally, international relations are the same way. Fortunately, we stood on the U.S. side, and in 50 years, South Korea’s per capita income went from US$40 a year to over US$10,000 a year. Generally, those nations that stood with the U.S. are doing better economically and are better ruled than those that stood with the Soviet Union.

We scold the United States for the big mistakes it committed against us during that time. It seems, however, that we are venting all our spite, accumulated as our ethnic spirit was trampled on during thousands of years of submission to China and Japanese colonial rule, all at once at the United States. Now, the incubator that protected us for the last half-century is disappearing, and we must stand on our own. In order to do this, we must shun diplomacy based on emotion. Moreover, diplomacy mustn’t be made a sacrificial offering to domestic political battles for dominance.