Freedom Isn’t Free . . . Anymore

NKZone is noting that there’s a small panic brewing in South Korea over the planned U.S. troop reductions. Disbelief has shattered the complacent confidency that America was in Korea for its own reasons–that Uncle Sugar would never leave.

My logical reaction is that this move is good for U.S. strategic flexibility, good for the war effort in Iraq, and good for South Korea, which will finally have its “independence.” Keeping that independence will require some sober maturity in its foreign policy and much more revenue for its own defense spending. My emotional reaction–I confess–is to savor this story like a bottle of strong, cheap red wine on a balmy evening in Capri. Savor the schadenfreude, sniff the cork, and quaff heartily.

During my years as a soldier in Korea, I met many kind people of varying political persuasions, but many others who were definitely not-so-kind. Regrettably, the impression that stuck most is of those who directed contempt, racism, and even violence toward us personally while perpetually expecting us to carry Uncle Sugar’s rice to their bowls. Kipling called it “the hate of those ye better, the blame of those ye guard.” Contrary to Confucian notions of collective blame, few of us had done anything to deserve being spat on or met with signs that said “No Americans.” Those simple acts of unkindness may have proved persuasive.

If their newspapers are any clue, South Koreans still don’t get it. Hankyoreh is in denial (not over the fact that we’re leaving; over the fact that 77% of the South Koreans don’t actually want us to leave), and the Chosun is just blaming it on Roh. Both sides fail to perceive the degree to which the majority of the South Koreans themselves brought this on themselves, or at least hastened it. They assume or hope, as the case may be, that nobody heard their adolescent cry for attention. If Americans are so mad, they ask, where are the riots? In fact, the people they pissed off–once the core of those who supported the alliance–aren’t exactly the rioting type. In this case, I suspect that those angry Americans were overwhelmingly Korean War vets and soldiers, and that they wrote their congressmen trainloads of mail. Although nobody’s bothered to publish detailed poll results, some evidence supports this view. If I’m right, South Koreans will continue to miss the point–that this isn’t a Yankee bluff or the failure of their politicians to wield influence and grease the right palms; it’s the result of a seismic bottom-to-top shift in American attitudes about Korea.

Now try telling your average group of South Koreans that the collective responsibility for America’s angry backlash is theirs alone, and that it’s going to cost them. They’d probably look at you like you’ve just declared that Korea isn’t really one.

Poor Korea. It’s about to learn that the true harbinger of independence isn’t a firebomb-wielding radical, he’s just a tax collector. As they say, freedom isn’t free. Not anymore.