It’s even sadder when you realize it’s going to be a cold day in Hell before American foreign policy makers get thier heads out of their asses.

If Korea sides with Japan again, I think Korea and Japan might.

who would win such a war?

Taking troops out of Korea may even shorten the wait to 3 years.

I find it tough reading. It seems to suggest that if USFK left then Korea would need to ramp up its military spending so that it could unilaterally defend itself from an attack by China. That’s just impossible.

Take Finland for example. Post 1945, one could have argued along similar lines that Finland needed American troops or at least NATO membership to protect it’s market economy and democracy from the USSR. But it didn’t.

Korea is in a much stronger position than Finland was in the Cold War and China has shown less agressive intent towards Korea than the USSR showed towards Finland.

If the Taiwanese can deter the PRC with only vague assurances from the US, then I suspect the Koreans can as well. I also see no real reason why the Chinese would want to shoulder the burden of occupying a collapsed North Korea. But maybe you disagree?

Arguably what is most responsible for the rapid increase in Chinese military spending is their observation that the world’s number one military spender has military outposts all around them.

. . . The article posted from the Joonang daily was indeed fair, however, anything authored from the enemy’s propaganda machinery will be met with disbelief from those whose views are the heartbeat of the protests. This includes, the Donga ilbo, Chosun ilbo, and even the English dailies; Korea Times, and Korea Herald. These organizations are all somewhat complicit with the enemy, 2MB and the GNP.

Yes. This time, Korean netizens have attempted to target the three largest papers as being unreliable and “not with the people”, which is to say there is a far more organized attempt to co-opt the dominant media outlets. This is part of what I have observed as being an on-going war of propaganda in Korea. I only wonder who has been teaching the super-nationalistic leftist these sly tricks.

I note a continued theme, that of the safety of things Korean vs. the tainted goods from the West (America in particular). One can find the same ideas in political blogs that are pro-North Korea:

. . . (Pyongyang) also lacks the billboards that not only pollute our vision but our minds. This absence not only makes the city unique and stunning. It speaks of a unique cleanness of the beliefs and values of north Korean society. . .

The quote was taken down from “nodutdol.org”, which was mentioned in an earlier open thread. This “purity vs. impure”, “us vs. them” theme keeps cropping up in different keys and tempos.

American “Madcow” and LMB = impure, ? = pure

. . . The Koreans writing for the AP and Rueters have done an excellent job of covering South Korea’s ass.

I agree with “usainkorea” here. I noticed that the initial report on the gas rebates had an important change in the first title used so that it was less alarming.