MacArthur Backlash Update

A group of Korean-Americans has sent a pointed message about the MacArthur statue:

A group including Washington State Senator Paull Shin on Monday delivered the signatures of some 8,129 Korean Americans opposing calls to topple a statue of U.S. general Douglas MacArthur in Incheon to Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye.

The signatories said today’s Republic of Korea would not exist without the sacrifices of Allied forces led by MacArthur in the Korean War. If Incheon City cannot defend the statue, it should be moved from the city’s Freedom Park to the War Veterans Memorial in Washington, they said. They warned every time anti-American sentiment is voiced in Korea, it affects Korean Americans.

Park pledged to defend the statue. “Young people in the Allied forces shed their blood to defend freedom in Korea, and if Korea forgets that fact, it will forfeit the trust of the international community,” she said.

Christine Ahn was out with a bad case of han and was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the ruling Uri Party explains that it’s all in their heads:

Ruling Uri Party chairman Moon Hee-sang said Sunday the dispute over a statue of U.S. general Douglas MacArthur in Incheon was “a clash between civic organizations,” but some media outlets and conservative forces blew it out of proportion for reasons of their own. They “sow distrust and friction between Korea and the United States on the pretext of being concerned about the Korea-U.S. alliance,” he said.

One of those competing “civic organizations,” on whose views the chairman offers no opinion, believes that the right outcome for the Korean War would have been Korea unified under a Stalinist dictatorship, and that the ROK is an illegitimate Yankee puppet. Beyond that, I’d only say that alliances are about defending common interests and values, which are . . . .