The Return of Comrade Chung!
Comrade Chung has returned from the state of seclusion with which he’d graced us all since his humiliating defeat last spring. The most recent sighting was at Cheongbuk National University (Korean link):
The Sunshine policy and the North Korean nuclear are separate matters, not related to each other. America’s U.N. Ambassador said, “The North Korean regime should be changed,” but I think that doesn’t solve the problem, and North Korean regime change should not be the goal of alliance between South Korea and USA.”
Which is beside the point. As much as I wish it were otherwise, neither the United States nor the U.N. Security Council seeks regime change. The issue here is enforcing a U.N. Resolution. Comrade Chung, preferring to set himself up against America as opposed to the U.N., also sets up a false choice between overthrowing the North Korean regime and defying a resolution aimed at controlling nuclear proliferation and punishing highly dangerous behavior. Had Chung carried out the Sunshine Policy with some sense of reciprocity, that behavior might not have occurred at all.
When Chung speaks of the alliance of course, he ought to recall that its foundation is the Mutual Defense Treaty. That treaty (see Art. III and understandings) does not technically require either party to come to the other’s aid except in the event of an armed attack on other. If that means that there’s no obligation of anticipatory mutual defense, then it follows that the USFK isn’t obligated to keep its troops in Korea. But if there is such an obligation, then South Korea should not tolerate threats to the security of the United States any more than the United States should tolerate threats to South Korea. South Koreans like Chung may feel that North Korea is no threat to them. That’s their right, but then you have to wonder why the alliance exists, and why the South Korean Defense Minister was tugging at Rummy’s pant leg last week.
On the other hand, if the North were to attack South Korea, does anyone think that we’d carry out OPLAN 5027 without toppling the North Korean regime?