I woke this morning to an article in the Chosun Ilbo that addresses the very likely possibility that the North Korean Spy ring that has grabbed headlines as of late had infiltrated the United States Forces in Korea to the highest levels. No shit. But d…

That’s a hoot. If it did come from the midlings, they proved the point.

What is odd about this is that if it had happened before 2001 or 2002, the independance group would be working for the conservatives in the GNP in a round about way. I don’t think it was terribly unusual in pre-9/11 times for the conservatives to play up ultra-nationalism or at least quietly support the more liberal factions stir up trouble to put pressure on the allaince to stall changes the conservatives saw as weakening the US committment.

That could be the case today, but it is slighly more likely the conservatives will not like what the leaking faction is trying to accomplish (stalling pre-signed deals), because the conservatives believe the US is willing to leave and won’t except the typical long delays of the past.

And in that same area…..I would think the leakers are probably doing this stuff out of habit and instinct, because the actual agreements are old. Strategic flexibility as a concept is more new or given much more emphasis to day, but base consolidation and especially moving Yongsan has been around for many years, agreed to for many years, and bitched about for many years after the deal was signed.

So, either the leaker faction is short-sighted and running on routine, or perhaps, they might really want USFK out and want to push push push and delay delay delay to see that come about, or, like in previous decades, they are convinced the US wouldn’t leave regardless of what Korea said.

These are interesting times…

The ??ndependence??faction claims that USFK strategic flexibility, which would allow U.S. forces based in Korea to respond to contingencies outside of the peninsula, would violate the Korea-U.S. mutual security pact; U.S. forces are stationed in Korea only to protect Korea, they say.

Let’s hope the US makes these knuckleheads “walk the walk” - which in Korea’s case would be walking the plank - by withdrawing all US troops, and putting all other security matters on an arms-length basis, and letting Korea have its independence in security matters.