In the many discussions I have had as well as the plethora of articles and books I have
read since moving to Korea I have come to the conclusion that there are very few
empirical truths and few irrefutable facts. Mostly what I have been confronted with has
been opposing viewpoints that were to varying degrees of success argued either for or
against. Typically you have the American viewpoint on the one side, arguing that the
Korean people should be more appreciative for what the United States has done in
sending its soldiers and money there to defend them from North Korea and China. And
the South Korean viewpoint on the other hand tends to be one of seeing the Americans
almost as an invading force that imposed an artificial division between the Korean
people along the 38th parallel – an invading force who can do whatever they want to the
Korean people with impunity. Clearly both these viewpoints are a bit naive and need
further investigation. What I will address in the end however are a few of the ideas that I
do believe to be empirical and irrefutable. Namely that North Korean dictator Kim Jeong
Il is indeed evil; that the Korean people are vastly better off for having been influenced
by the American presence since the end of World War II; and that the US presence is still
needed in the region even if not necessarily for the normally assumed reason of
defending the defenseless South Koreans against the North and China.
Is it possible that two perspectives as those presented above, from the Americans and
Koreans, which are so diametrically opposed both be valid? I would submit that the
answer is yes. Americans who think that the Koreans owe us a lot have a point, though
the point is not true in exactly the way that they think it is. Part of the reason for the
differing perspectives can be traced to the inability of both groups to grasp things in a
historical perspective. Americans tend to view Korea almost as a place that didn’t exist
before 1950, and if our involvement in Korea started when the North Koreans invaded,
with Soviet complicity then America’s moral high ground would be unquestionable. The
problem is that this is not where our involvement started.
Many Americans fought and died in the Korean War, this is true. And though this does
not take away one bit from the sacrifices of those US servicemen we have to keep in
mind that the Korean Peninsula was not divided along the 38th parallel by the Koreans.
That was done by the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. This point
has often been brought to my attention by Koreans who argue that they owe the US
nothing. They argue that the Korean War would never have happened had it not been for
the meddling of the Americans and Soviets in the affairs of the Korean people. This is
actually a factually accurate statement. It is not, however, the whole truth. To look at
this one aspect of the Korean dilemma in a vacuum, separate from the realities of the
geopolitical situation at the time of Korea’s division would be not only wrong, but
irresponsible.
Douglas MacArthur remarked that "The division of Korea was one of the greatest
tragedies in modern history." A tragedy true, but it was intended to be a temporary
solution arrived at by the victorious allies. The Japanese had annexed the Korean
peninsula and were raping the country in more ways that one during the time that it was
a Japanese colony from 1910 until the end of World War II. Korea’s natural resources
were plundered to the extent that they are still recovering from the devastation. And
rape in a much more literal sense was going on in the practice of using Korean women
as “comfort women”, or sex slaves, for the soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army. The
allied victory of World War II brought an end to the slavery of the Korean people. The
debt they owe for this cannot be questioned by any rational person.
The fact is that the United States and Korea have a strong relationship that should be
nurtured and respected mutually. Korea is not the 7th largest trading partner of the
United States and has the 11th (or 13th depending on your source) strongest economy in
the world and our military alliance has brought relative peace to this region since 1953.
At the time of the Korean war North Korea was actually more affluent that South Korea
and even several years after the war South Korea was on about the same fiscal level as
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. To think that the “Miracle on the Han River” had nothing to
do with the US/Korean relationship is just ignorant. This is the first of the empirical truths
that I believe exist in the ROK (Republic of Korea. “Welcome to the ROK” is often heard
when you first arrive there).
So, what of the other self evident truth I mentioned? Why I feel Kim Jung Il is correctly
characterized as a bad guy:
Why I care:
I was surprised when, talking to Koreans that I met while living in South Korea, and even
to one Korean American living near our nation’s capital, that many don’t see Kim Jung Il
as the bad guy that the United States characterizes him as. The arguments went from
the incredibly naïve, bordering on the insane, to the fairly well reasoned (though still
misinformed). What I heard most often was that Kim Jung Il is only a bad guy because
the United States makes him a bad guy; that all he wants is to “just get along” but the
United States keeps threatening him, and that South Korea is better off without the
United States meddling in their affairs.
I care about this issue because, although I often disagree with individuals that I met while
living in Seoul over the past three years (which is fine because it could be me that is
wrong), I fell in love with the Korean people. They are among the warmest, most family
oriented, most industrious, and most sincere people that I have ever had the honor to
live among. Many Americans who might have briefly visited Korea or even lived there,
perhaps as a service member, but did not make an attempt to understand the people and
culture might disagree with me, but a closer look at the “Land of the Morning Calm” as
the Koreans call their country will support my position.
I know that making generalities is generally (forgive the pun) a practice to be avoided but
allow me this one: If I have one observation that I made of many of the people that I met,
many I became quite close with, tended to be somewhat politically naïve. Perhaps this
stems from the fact that they have only been a true democracy for about 20 years. This
is a matter that the Korean people need to address as well as one that the American
people need to be aware of.
And this issue is important to me because it is due to the evil nature of the North Korean
regime that we are faced with one of the greatest dilemmas we have ever faced. We are
faced with two options on the Korean peninsula. The two options that are readily
apparent are both unacceptable.
First option is to do nothing and let North Korea develop and produce nuclear weapons
unhindered. Kim Jung Il promised to drop his nuclear ambitions as part of a deal made
with President Clinton. This was in exchange for massive food aid. He got the food (and
fuel) but kept developing his nuclear weapons in secret. This we cannot tolerate. The
Kim regime in North Korea has demonstrated it’s willingness to use any means available
including kidnapping, drug trafficking, murder, blackmail and the proliferation of any
arms that he can produce and others are willing to buy, to maintain his grip on power in
the North. He currently has delivery platforms capable of reaching US territory such as
the taepo-dong 2 missile. So, to do nothing is not acceptable.
The second option is to make a preemptive strike against the facilities in North Korea
that are known to be used for producing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This
might seem like the right course of action until you consider the geopolitical situation
with South Korea. It is an almost certainty that North Korea would respond to an
American attack by attacking South Korea. This eventuality would be much worse than
most Americans are aware! Most of Seoul, South Korea’s capital, is within artillery range
of North Korea which has the capability of showering approximately 500,000 rounds of
artillery per hour during the opening phase of an attack. The population of the greater
Seoul metropolitan area is now around 18.9 million people and most of these people
would not be able to get out of Seoul during this artillery barrage and the ground attack
that would follow. Keeping in mind that South Korea is one of our closest allies we
cannot overlook the secondary and tertiary effects that a US attack on North Korea would
have on South Korea as well as Japan. This course of action too is unacceptable.
Still don’t think Kim is a bad guy? His corrupt government is responsible for the vast
majority of illicit drugs that are smuggled into South Korea and Japan. When Japan tried
to stem the tide of illegal drugs North Korea threatened war calling it an illegal embargo
of North Korean goods. His citizens are starving – to the point that many have resorted
to cannibalism – yet he spends over three quarters of a million dollars each year on
expensive, imported liquor. North Korean agents infiltrated into South Korea and
attempted to assassinate the South Korean President. They did kill the president’s wife.
I firmly believe that, as is so often the case, the majority of both Koreans and Americans
understand the realities but are a very silent majority. There is a very vocal minority in
Korea that pushes for a US pullout from the area. Never mind that much of the support
for these activities can be traced straight to North Korea and that most of these
protestors seem to be among the most ill-informed people one could ever have the
chance to talk to. I would put many of these anti-American activists into the same
category as the bigots in America who complain and make demeaning racist remarks
toward Korean immigrants. Both groups are ignorant and reflect the worst in us. Luckily
they are few.