An Alliance? – Page 5

January 8, 2008

The Restoration

No one should take pleasure in seeing another person worry about losing his job, but there is much to celebrate about how Lee Myung-Bak’s new administration is shaping up. Some doubt is now cast on earlier reports that the UniFiction Ministry would be abolished, although it’s clear that its size and influence will be reduced dramatically. Its days as a foreign policy player are over, and the the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) will regain its foreign policy...

An Alliance?/Appeasement/U.S. & Korea

December 19, 2007

U/S Lawless’s successor has Senate confirmation hearing

I’ve linked John Shinn’s advance Q&A below, and although I don’t have time to graf it, Shinn is saying — emphasizing, really — that he plans to drive on with USFK restructuring. He also sounds agnostic on North Korea’s commitment to disarmament. Read the whole thing here (it’s a big pdf).

An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military

September 24, 2007

Some USFK Stats and History

A few days ago, a reader asked me how much the presence of the USFK cost American taxpayers. This is a research project I’ve taken on before, only to be confronted by few answers from credible sources. You’re about to see what I mean here. Writing for the Nautilus Institute, Selig Harrison claimed in 2001 that the annual cost was $42 billion per year. Another Nautilus alum, Doug Bandow, claimed in his recent Korea book that withdrawing from the...

An Alliance?/History/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military

September 13, 2007

What the Bush Administration Really Thinks About ‘The Spat’

Commenter Michael Sheehan dropped a link to a must-read by former senior NSC advisor Michael Green, on Roh’s bumbling open-air negotiation with President Bush last week. Green also thinks that Roh knew what he was doing, that he did it for domestic political reasons, and that he set his own goals back in the process. In other words, typical Roh: Watching the exchange later on YouTube.com, I felt great sympathy for my former national security colleagues in both countries, since...

An Alliance?/Diplomacy/U.S. & Korea

September 7, 2007

The Death of an Alliance, Part 67

[Update: As I had figured, only video really does it justice. Just watch the body language and Bush’s expression. And for that matter, Roh’s. Roh certainly has used his presidency to perfect a sublime aura of idiocy. It’s hard for me to imagine that South Korean voters will be impressed if their media ever decide to cover this story. There definitely isn’t much love in that room. Click the image. Update 1 continued below, with an AP report that does...

An Alliance?/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea

September 1, 2007

Ransom Is Material Support for Terror

[Updated, edited, and bumped, 9/1] With friends like these …. Thanks to the weakness of the South Korean government, it’s a great day to be a terrorist. I second what other Korea bloggers are saying about the Taliban’s victory over South Korea. The Nomad: “[W]hen Canada criticises you for being soft on terrorism, you’re in big trouble.” Andy Jackson quotes the Taliban thusly: “We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this...

An Alliance?/Terrorism/Iraq

August 2, 2007

Double Extortion

Yesterday’s report that a hostage rescue operation was underway in Afghanistan turned out to be premature, but spin operations in Seoul are sharply accelerating. In a South Korean election year, it couldn’t be more predicatable that its unpopular and desperate leftist government, far-left “civic” groups, and certain media are looking for a way to make the Taliban’s kidnapping and murder of 23 Korean hostages America’s fault. It remains to be seen whether the greater South Korean public will buy this....

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Terrorism/Iraq

July 3, 2007

Anju Links for 7/3

Forgive the light blogging of late, the result of competing obligations, a bigger project I hope you’ll see here soon, and frankly, a lack of interesting fodder in the news recently. * When I read that South Korea was already preparing to ship fuel oil to North Korea (see also), even before Yongbyong is shut down, I thought that seemed a bit overconfident. AF 2.0, as explained by Chris Hill to the Congress, specified that the first 50,000-ton delivery...

An Alliance?/Anju Links/Appeasement

June 2, 2007

U.S. to Hand Over Nine Army Posts to S. Korea, Including Sears, Edwards, and Essayons

The U.S. and ROK governments have agreed on the handover of nine more U.S. bases, further reducing our footprint in South Korea. The process was concluded Thursday as a joint committee under the South Korea-United States status of forces agreement (SOFA) approved and signed the agreement on the relocation of the bases, the ministry said. …. The relocation of the bases are part of a long-term, multi-billion dollar project to realign and move the U.S. forces in South Korea further...

An Alliance?/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Military

May 7, 2007

So Much for ‘Hawk Engagement:’ Victor Cha Steps Down

The proponent of the “hawk-engagement” theory of North Korea policy looks to be the first casualty of the unraveling of Agreed Framework 2.0. The AP tries to shoehorn this into its standard anti-Iraq War meme, but it’s a strained fit for on Cha, an architect of a soft-line diplomatic approach that is clearly failing: Cha leaves amid concerns over North Korea’s failure to comply with deadlines to eliminate its nuclear weapons programs. [AP] Reporter Matthew Lee’s story is what you’d...

An Alliance?/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/U.S. Politics

May 5, 2007

Who Still Wants the Alliance?

Because of Agreed Framework 2.0, South Korea thinks it’s set for the duration of the Bush Administration — which it is — so it now feels free to demand our taxpayer dollars rather than ask for them politely. There are unpleasantries like Washington’s decision to sell off its ammunition stockpiles in Korea, but no matter; South Korea is certain war will never come (no, we still can’t leave). South Korea also feels free to ignore our requests not to give...

An Alliance?/Diplomacy

April 4, 2007

Richard Lawless Resigns

Lawless was responsible for pushing the South Koreans into USFK restructuring and cost-sharing agreements, and unlike years of predecessors, had been tough enough to sit down and negotiate as firmly as his counterparts. No one pushed Richard Lawless around. As a result, the Korean government and press were not fans. See, e.g., this picture the Joongang Ilbo printed. “Hulk angry!” Lawless cited personal reasons for his resignation, according to one official. He will leave his post in a few weeks,...

An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/U.S. Politics

March 31, 2007

An FTA Pre-Post Mortem

At this hour, it looks like free trade talks with South Korea are about to fail, despite their extension for another 48 hours. It may be a bit early for the Chosun Ilbo to have published this post-mortem, but any free-trade agreement we reach now will be unworthy of the name and hardly worth doing from an American perspective. Yes, I still believe an US-Korean FTA is a good idea, but it’s pretty hard to write a good one when...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics

March 25, 2007

Anju Links for 3/25: N. Korea Threatens to Do Us a Favor, Money We Can’t Follow, the FTA Circus, and S. Korea’s Slavery-Loving Unions

* No.Please.Stop. North Korea is threatening to pull out of the dreadful (for us) February 13th Agreed Framework 2.0 over the RSOI / Foal Eagle exercises. “This may entail such serious consequences as escalating the tension between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US and scuttling the six-party talks for the settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, arranged with so much effort.” [Channel News Asia] A KCNA statement wouldn’t be complete without a reference to...

An Alliance?/Human Trafficking/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA

March 19, 2007

Chipyong-ni It Aint

[See also: A very good, thorough ROK Drop post, and a dissent from Andy Jackson.] Reporting from Kurdish Iraq, Michael Totten says the only booms are economic, and that the Kurds are leveraging peace and prosperity into de facto independence. It’s a long, interesting, occasionally fretful post, and well worth reading. Along the way, Totten notes how Kurds view the South Koreans’ “sacrifice” for a democracy in Iraq: Iraqi Kurdistan is technically occupied by a foreign power, but this...

An Alliance?/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea

March 18, 2007

Ill-Gotten Gains: Who Still Remembers Resolution 1718?

[Scroll down for updates.] (d) all Member States shall, in accordance with their respective legal processes, freeze immediately the funds, other financial assets and economic resources which are on their territories at the date of the adoption of this resolution or at any time thereafter, that are owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the persons or entities designated by the Committee or by the Security Council as being engaged in or providing support for, including through other illicit means,...

"United" Nations/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Counterfeiting/Money Laundering/Six-Party Talks/WMD

March 14, 2007

Take the OFK Statesmanship Quiz

You are a major political leader of one of the world’s major industrialized democracies. An actor-turned-author publishes a book in which he photoshops the name of the country’s top newspaper into a picture of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Just to make sure there’s no room for ambiguity, he says, “I want to become a terrorist …. The newspaper is the sole monolithic monster remaining in [this] society.” As a statesman, your response is to: a. Jail the man...

An Alliance?/Democracy/Terrorism (NK)/U.S. & Korea/WTF?

Category: An Alliance?