Who helps Tom Plate get dressed in the morning, and what does he have against Tom Plate? is a far more interesting question, to my mind.

What War on Terror?

Also, as Robert points out, the situation on the ground is a bit more complicated than Tom may appreciate. There is a resurgence of pro-American feelings among the young, blond-dyed hair kids as well as similar sentiments remaining with the silver-haired crowd. It is no longer a generational divide but a fracturing, with the strongest anti-American crowd, being in their late 30’s and early 40’s, sandwiched between pro-American generations — and even they are starting to see the writing on the wall as China becomes increasingly dominant in various theatres concerning Korea’s immediate and future well being.

Anyway, Tom may have less to worry about the [sic:] 32,500 armed force personnel. Even with a more accurate count of 28,000 — that number is likely to be very substantially reduced in the coming 24 - 36 months as the Pentagon takes the initiative to redeploy forces elsewhere. The demand by Roh for the wartime control handover was a godsend for US military planners since though it operationally changes little, it gives much more political freedom for the 8th Army not to be bogged down in Korea. This week the US Air Force has been threatening to withdraw some of their planes if the Koreans can’t get their domestic political scene together to allow the USAF a bombing/training range here. Koreans tend to overlook that in the final analysis, the US does not need Korea’s permission to leave. The current ROK administration seems to be regularly creating convenient opportunities for the Pentagon to find reason to send its forces elsewhere.

From Plate’s LA campus perspective, the question may be asked, who lost Korea? In fact, we are seeing the the US at its own initiative, cynically loosening its commitment to Korea in consideration of its overall global priorities. Today, the overwhelming motivation is for the efficient deployment of military forces in the War on Terror. Tomorrow, it may well be to America’s advantage not to be too closely aligned with a contentious peninsula affixed to China that has historically been under Beijing’s close sphere of influence. The damning conclusion is that American leaders may have decided that Korea is no longer worth the headaches and heartburn. The Cold War is over. China is on the rise. Japan is drawing closer to America. A new order needs to be reconciled in northeast Asia without hanging on to a relic of Cold War politics. The only major concern is keeping Pyongyang from trading nuclear arms — if in fact they are capable of doing so.

So, my question in the future may be, who jettisoned Korea?

“I was just happy the summit concluded without Roh saying something suicidally stupid or Rummy bitch-slapping any South Korean officials.”

Why on earth is that? I tend to enjoy listening to Roh make a fool of himself and those Rummy bitch-slaps.