Going back to old master.

70% believe Saddam, 9-11 link

If you want to try a non-US vision of the Korean War, try Larteguy’s “Les Mercenaires”, originally published as “Sang sur la coline”.

Kimbob. Good points on the Chosun dynasty and today’s pacifist mood. I would point out that the quality of the ROK army in Vietnam spoke for itself. Unlike American units, which arrived well-trained and then degenerated due to many factors, with the individual replacement system being a major one, the two Korean divisions and Marine Brigade maintained their edge. U.S. commanders often derided the ROK forces as “inflexible and unimaginative”, but in my former sector, after a year of trying to clear the NVA out of a zone using “flexible and imaginative” tactics (with admittedly inferior forces), they had to turn to the 9th ROK Division. The White Horse cleared the “Dong Bo” using a tried and true “by the book” approach in a matter of days. Small wonder that after the war, the U.S. Army went back to relearning its doctrine.

The author had been a sailor on the US river gunboats in China of the 20’s, and was a great observer. A fascinating portrayal in there about how the Chinese learn Western military techniques & political nationalism from the resident Western powers, and turn it against them to expel them from the interior of China. The author brings in on the incipient conflict between the Communists and the Nationalists as well.

I mention it here as I am reminded of it by the discussion of the Sino-Japanese war above. Korean culture of the time was probably similar to the Chinese, in that nationalism in the Western sense (and in the sense it exists in both Koreas today) was not a dominant factor then, until the rise of the Kuomintang.

?€œeffeminate?€? and ?€œcowardly?€?. Hamel might have said “cowardly”, but I think Bedjan threw in the “effeminate” part in there as an extra effect. If he’s right and Koreans are genetically effiminate and genetically prone to be cowardly then we have nothing to worry about the North Koreans. They’ll just be all softies with homosexual tendencies with pink handkerchiefs who can’t possibly fight. Yes, that must be it. So I just don’t understand how those same cowardly homos can take over the entire S.Korea when we have 30,000 brave American “real men” standing in their way. Before someone flame again, I am just being sarcastic. So take it with a grain of salt.

No arguments here that Militarism has never been the culture of the Chosun dynasty, that is no secrecy. It was systematic that the military was always weak. Confuscianism made sure that the lowest common denominators were the soldiers. Many of the foot soldiers were actually conscripted slaves who were basically used as fodder - abused, ill fed, ill equipped, ill-led, and ill trained. The top most hierarchy during the Chosun dynasty were the Yangban scholars who were the commanders . Fighting in wars weren’t actually their fortes. The Chosun dynasty were never really interested in having a strong modern military as far as I could see. That was part of their downfall when Japan colonized Korea in 1905. Chosun looked upon China as the great originator of culture, and thus looked upon China as a military guarantor as well. The problem was, China was going down the tubes. Choson utterly depended upon China that they never saw how far they were being outstripped technologically by Japan who opened up their economy to the West. That dependence on a bigger foreign power in certain ways, is no different from today, when S.Korea looks upon the US as the great originator of culture, and also a military guarantor of S.Korea.

There is a mood of pacifism sweeping Korea at this current moment. Koreans are tired of 50 years of division and conflict with North Korea, and thus explains the wishful thinkings we see today. I just wish people don’t forget the lessons of Chosun dynasty, and the Korean war, when Korea’s military was woefully ill prepared. If you want to keep peace and freedom, you need a strong military to fight for it and defend it. That is the hard lesson that many Koreans are forgetting already. It is frustrating to see that learning from history and past mistakes is not taught in the public and in the schools. The text books, even the TV dramas of Chosun dynasty only idolizes all portray a fantasy. The truth was that the Chosun Korea was a horrid, primitive, and a stumped culture with very little advances in anything. It’s as if time stopped in Choson Korea.

“On the other hand the Koreans are very gullible. We could fool them with anything. This was particularly true for the monks, who liked to listen to stories about foreign countries and their people. Furthermore they are very cowardly, as it seemed what we have heard from reliable people concerning their behavior during the Japanese invasion, when their king was killed and a great number of cities and villages were destroyed. From Jan Janse Weltevree we heard that when the Tartarians(Manchu/Qing) came over the ice and occupied the country, more soldiers hanged themselves in the wood, than had been killed during the battle against the invaders.”

Aside for nulji: We all have assholes, and the more we post on the blogsphere, the easier it is to see. (to paraphrase Creighton Abrams)