Too Little, Too Late
There may be no better way to defeat a radical movement than to let it win an election. The radical is an inherently emotional creation, one ill suited to the objective analysis of facts that effective government requires. If democratic institutions can survive their tenure of office, they generally discredit themselves in short order. I can’t imagine a better illustration of this principle than watching a South Korean government with a 14% approval rating meekly promoting a military alliance and a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Watch this video. It plays like a eulogy.
HT: GI Korea.
After years of trading in and capitalizing on the hatred of America, what accomplishment of substance have the ex-radicals produced? Korea’s “assertive” new foreign policy has earned no respect from its neighbors, including the North Korean regime that ignored its pleas and flung missiles toward Japan, Russia, and Hawaii. There has been no reduction of military tensions, no disarmament, no reforms, no more summits, no improvements in human rights, and certainly no alteration in the status of the two barren rocks on which the preponderance of its diplomatic capital was squandered, and which one suspects would be forgotten if one of Kim Jong Il’s errant missiles obliterated them both.
South Korea’s future is now appreciably less secure from the predation of neighbors. Its plan to build an independent defense pursues a worthy goal, but is being executed incompetently because of suigenerous political forces, and wil thus fail to protect the republic despite its astronomical cost. South Korea’s alliance with the United States is dissolving, with the United States now openly threatening to withdraw its air force (and it would never leave its ground forces without air cover). The U.S. is forming a separate command designed mainly to provide air and naval support, another idea that was long overdue.
Despite all of this sacrifice to the mob’s demands, the government finds itself in violent combat against this most radical, pro-North Korean segment of its own political base, disarmed of the confident and objective use of measured force to restore law and order. The U.S. Army’s effort to restructure (read: reduce) its forces is flagging because Korean government lacks the spine to support it adequately. The government’s half-hearted promotion of the FTA has been vetoed by thugs in the streets, and as a consequence, there won’t be an FTA.
As anticipated, members of the Korean Alliance Against the Korea-U.S. FTA wielded 3-meter bamboo sticks against police and broke police car windows with iron pipes. They threw broken paving blocks at the police and mobilized fire and sand as protest tools.
They broke out of the area where they were supposed to have staged their demonstration, occupied roads and even blocked the Gwanghwamun intersection, where the law bans demonstrators from congregating.
And as previously noted:
A Swiss man and two friends were set upon by a mob of angry protestors who apparently mistook them for Americans on Wednesday. The group of 10, who were taking part in a Gwangwhamun rally to protest against an FTA between Korea and the U.S., approached the man and his friends shouting abuse in Korean, most of which he could not understand.
When the demands of the mob conflict with the interests of the nation, its leaders confront a choice: appease the mob, or lead the nation toward security and prosperity. One of those choices always requires betraying the other.
Anarchy is what the DPRK agents want and that’s what’s happening under guise of democratic movement inspired and tolerated violent protest. Hell “KCIA” has not captured DPRK spy rings ever since NO took over and putting Lee JS the leftist commie sympathizer as head of “KCIA” just tells you that NO and his cronies are busy emptying out confidential file cabinets to midget sugar daddy. No wonder US refuses to sell Global Hawk to ROK.
My fear is that GNP splits up before next prez election in Dec 2007 allowing PIG Uri to win another term (doesn’t matter who as they’re all leftist commies). I wouldn’t count out PIG Uri as with volatile ROK politics, 18 months is long time for interesting things to happen. If PIG Uri win then all bets are off for US and USFK should leave. ROK under another 5 years under PIG Uri means unification of sort under midget Kim’s terms.
You indirectly hit on something I’ve had in mind for a long time.
Roh is a symptom of a problem but not the problem itself.
Under the dictators, the society became used to ranting and raving in the street but having no change come. They understood the government wouldn’t listen.
When democracy did some, in the 1990s, they still had this understanding when it came to the US relationship:
the people could continue to boost South Korean pride by pissing on the US – with the understanding the Blue House would do what was best for the people.
In short, as long as the Blue House kept South Korea’s security interests at heart —-
—-it was OK for the universities (and lower) and other social institutions to echo the radical groups and beat up on the image of the US in Korea. It made Koreans feel better (in a masochistic sort of way) about having to “depend on” the US for its security and its consumer market.
But — in a democracy —-
you can’t count on the mob attitude not eventually effecting the politics and policies.
That is why I am not so sure The Roh Factor will end even if the GNP gets the Blue House the next election and Uri breaks up.
There are no shortage of Uri type thinkers in Korea. There are a lot of people in politics or ready for politics who cut their teeth in the 1970s and 1980s believing the US was a major problem in South Korean society.
That idea is the cultural norm now.
Once you get below age 65 or 70 – it is the dominant thought —-
with the difference between the radicals and the mainstream being what degree of passion and true belief they display.
The polls show the masses are shocked at seeing these ideas actually put into policy. —- that is the big change.
But —- I am afraid
since they do not see a problem with the ideas themselves —-
the likelyhood of another Roh or close to a Roh getting elected in the future is pretty high.
The GNP has power.
But I think the Roh phenomenon has power too.
It is hard to have one mind set you like to entertain routinely year to year — but don’t carry into the ballot box with you…..
We’ve seen small signs that a pro-US movement has finally felt the need to come out and engage in the debate with the norm, but it is just a trickle.
An attitude of, “Well, yeah. Uncle Sam sucks for us. But what can we do? We still need him….”
is not much of a defense, but that has been the dominant defense for the masses for a long time.
The Roh phenomenon took a very long time to develop.
The orgy of hate in 2002 might have helped a Roh get elected a little prematurely —-
but South Korean society has been building to a Roh government for decades.
When full democracy became firmly established in South Korea —
—-it was only a matter of time until a Roh became president.
And it will take too much time for enough debate about the nature of the US role in Korea to really sink into the society —- to prevent another Roh from being elected sometime in the next 10 to 15 years.
Thanks for the excellent post.