A True Ally to the United States

It has been 25 years since the end of the long Cold War that immediately followed World War II. The Cold War, which divided the post-World War II world in two, pitted free and democratic countries typified by the United States against communist and socialist countries typified by the Soviet Union. An East-West conflict arose across the world in which many precious lives were lost in numerous disputes. On the other hand, there is also the view that it led to many reforms and that the foundation of modern society was built by the Cold War. The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the two major powers at the time.

Looking at the modern era, the rise of China has made the United States and China the two major powers of today. What is unchanged since the Cold War is that the two major powers are a capitalist country and a communist country. Although it is a communist country, China is more like a dictatorship advocating communism. However, one major difference is that these two major powers have created their own partnerships and there are very few hostile altercations. There certainly are conflicts, such as clashes related to China’s actions in the South China Sea and its cyber-attacks. However, there is cooperation on economic fronts that suggest the two sides are treating each other like adults in certain situations.

On the other hand, there are many domestic and foreign problems with China: confrontations with the Southeast Asian countries that surround the South China Sea, the decline of the Chinese economy, friction with Western countries over issues such as intellectual property rights, and environmental problems such as PM 2.5 – the list goes on. Just looking at the large number of countries participating in the China-led AIIB development bank, one might be inclined to believe that there are many countries in China’s camp. However, these participants all have their own intentions. The purpose of development banks is to cultivate local industry in developing countries, so it is not hard to imagine why developing countries are participating. Furthermore, with the depreciation of the Euro, one can glimpse Europe’s desire to weaken the US dollar, if only a little. Ultimately, there is only one country actually in China’s camp, and there are no allies that substantially support China.

Under these circumstances, the country that is going out of its way to get close to China is the Republic of South Korea. Though unthinkable in the era of the Cold War, a democratic country is being accepting of a communist country. What is distinctive, however, is that China is a dictatorship that espouses communism. Korea’s actions are almost rebellious. It participated in China’s 70^th anniversary parade commemorating its victory in the war, but this must have been a political decision demonstrating opposition to the United States, which is supposed to be its greatest ally. There is growing concern, as reported in the July 7th “The National Interest,” that military actions by the ally-less China in the South China Sea have been met with continued silence from South Korea. Furthermore, the United States asked that South Korea deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), but there was strong opposition from China, and no official talks on the deployment between the United States and South Korea occurred, leading to an ongoing state of de facto rejection.

The United States’ Asian allies hold the key to President Obama’s Pivot to East Asia policy. Its only two Asian allies are Japan and South Korea. Its ties with Japan after Prime Minister Abe took office have steadily deepened economically, militarily, and diplomatically toward other countries. However, the United States’ other ally, South Korea, has not responded to its requests, though the United States is its greatest ally. At a press conference following a summit meeting between President Obama and President Park, President Obama stated, “we want China to abide by international norms and rules. And where they fail to do so, we expect the Republic of Korea to speak out on that, just as we do.” The United States is losing its trust and confidence in South Korea to the point that he needed to make this request in public.

The United States’ mistrust of South Korea stems from the attempted murder of the United States ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert. On March 5th, Ambassador Lippert was attacked by a knife-wielding Korean man at before making a speech at a breakfast meeting at the Sejong Cultural Center and sustained serious injuries. This incident was a failure to fulfill the obligation to provide the highest level of safety to foreign diplomats as prescribed by the Vienna Convention, and its victim was Ambassador Lippert, known for his pro-South Korean views and a diplomat from the United States, South Korea’s greatest ally.

But that is not the essential issue of this incident. It is the Korean practice known as “Patriotic Innocence.”

•  The man accused of attacking Ambassador Lippert had a record of six criminal convictions and had traveled to North Korea seven times. Although he threw a piece of concrete at the Japanese ambassador to South Korea in 2010, he was only punished with two years of probation and a three-year suspended sentence.
•  An Jung-geun, who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, is treated as a hero in South Korea and honored with the title of “Loyal Retainer.” In international sporting events such as soccer matches, when the opponent is Japan, South Korean spectators often hang banners and portraits of An.
•  In an incident as recent as last month, although there were fortunately no casualties, a 27-year-old Korean national bombed a Japanese shrine, and the Japanese police have just arrested a suspect.
•  Kim Koo was sentenced to death for murder and robbery, but because his victim was Japanese, the sentence was commuted. He then escaped from prison and served as the police commissioner, minister of the interior, prime minister, and premier of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
•  The military coup d’état carried out by the father of the current Prime Minister Park, Park Geun, is referred to in national textbooks as a “revolution.”

In South Korea, the underlying national identity is so strong that a murderer can be revered as a hero. This is rooted in the practice of “patriotic innocence.” Are there any other such democracies that revere murders as heroes and do not question them?

At the very least, judging from the South Korea’s tendencies to not respond to the requests of its democratic ally, the United States, and cozy up to the dictatorship of China, which deviates even from the definition of communism, it is time for the United States to rethink its alliance with South Korea.