육.이.오. (6.25) - 59 Years Ago Today

Today is the 59th anniversary of the start of the Korean War and so I thought that I would comment on an article I read on a Korean newspaper website (Chosun Ilbo). I thought that, given the current state of international affairs, I would comment also comment on what I think is wrong with on the Korean peninsula and what I think we need to do to resolve this problem.

So, in this op-ed(http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/25/2009062501072.html), the writer points out that a 2002 poll showed that "only 31 percent of South Koreans said the war began with an invasion from the North." There is NO DOUBT that it was North Korea that began the war, despite what North Korean propaganda says. Yet you have less than one out of three South Koreans that actually admit that?!? I don't really know what else to add to this except that South Korea's love of their brethren to the North knows almost no bounds. Many seem to be completely unable to accept any fact that harms the inevitable reuniting of the Korean peninsula.

I think that America has much the same problem that Koreans have. Koreans believe that because of the similar heritage they share with North Korea, they should be united despite any political, social, and clearly economical disparity that stands between the two countries. To hell with all of those problems; let's just unite now! The US has a similar problem, but in the opposite direction. Ethnic groups within the United States are so united and believe that they should be separate and distinct in the country despite the political, social, and economical similarities that we all share. Ethnicity is one way of identifying oneself, but we are more complex than that.

So, what do we do about North Korea? I am fairly conservative, but my views on this are probably somewhat distinct from many of my fellow conservatives. I think that we should isolate ourselves from North Korea. First, we should pull all of our troops off of the Korean peninsula. South Koreans constantly complain about the USA and hold anti-American rallies on a regular basis. Give them what they want (even though the majority don't really want it) and let's leave. Move all of our troops to Japan. We can still offer to support South Korea in the event of a North Korean invasion, but we need not be on the peninsula. Second, we give no aid, don't meet with, and don't even really deal with North Korea. We deal through China. We tell China that if it does not clamp down on North Korea, we will economically take actions against China (such as banning certain imports or adding tariffs). China needs to export into the US and if we put a little pressure on, China will likely fold and pressure North Korea.

This takes away the power of North Korea's rhetoric about US imperialist forces waiting to strike North Korea. South Korea's political anti-American views will be hampered, and China will be forced to deal with North Korea and not simply look the other way.

But those are my thoughts. Who knows what will happen?