The Death of an Alliance, Part IX
I guess the next step is for South Korea to start calling itself the Outer Koguryo Semi-Autonomous Zone. This story from the Chosun Ilbo is almost too amazing to believe:
Military exchanges between Korea and China will intensify to a level similar to those between Korea and Japan, the defense ministry said Monday.
“China, more than any nation, wishes for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, so we plan to strengthen our military exchanges with China, including making defense minister meetings a regular occurrence,” Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung told reporters. “There is a need to raise the level of military cooperation between Korea and China to at least that shared between Korea and Japan, and it’s worth thinking about plans to help stability on the Korean Peninsula with China’s assistance.”
All hail the Peoples’ Co-Prosperity Sphere! If the voters let Roh get away with that one, Korea might be in store for a for its next bout of colonial domination. Needless to say, Korea might find its access to sensitive U.S. technology summarily severed–something that should have happened over the Kaesong Industrial Park a year ago.
UPDATE: Perhaps I’m overreacting to a transparent negotiation / political ploy (which, I’d add, is likely to backfire in Washington). The Sino-Korean contacts being discussed for now are at a very high level. What’s really frightening here is Roh’s delusional view of China’s intentions. In fact, China wants a subsidiary “Inner” Korea and a Finlandized “Outer” Korea, and they’re fairly close to achieving that goal. China wants to be able to use Korea to wrong-foot the U.S., Japan, and Russia, while gaining propriety over trade with both Koreas. Doing that requires Korea to be neither united, free, nor (in the case of the North) prosperous. Could Washington be faulted for concluding that Roh is about to pull a Nasser, or is this just me being reeled in by the Chosun Ilbo’s pre-election alarmism?
UPDATE II: Opposition Grand National Party Rep. Park Jin thinks this is a bad idea:
The government’s vision of becoming a “power balancer” in Northeast Asia is a “dangerous idea” that will undermine national interests and eventually bring about
the potential isolation of the country in the region, an opposition lawmaker said Tuesday. . . .“I’m deeply concerned about the concept of the nation becoming an `anchor’ in the region,” said Park, who is a member of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly. “Any unilateral attempt to change the existing trilateral framework for the regional security, including the U.S. and Japan, will never serve national interests.”
Given the timing, one suspects that the ruling Uri Party thinks this is a good idea politically. How the voters respond may determine whether Korea spends the next several decades under Chinese domination. I don’t claim to know how they will respond, but I can say that if a cheap political stunt like this one–brought to you by another GNP’er, as it happens–works, then Korea’s outlook is bleak indeed. Note to the GNP: hire Karl Rove to teach you message control and Tom Delay to help you enforce it.