[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR]Korea’s defense for Korea

The flurry of anxious articles about the state of the U.S.-Korea alliance reveals how little attention influential Koreans in the government and the media have given to the alliance during the past 50 years.
Insistence that the alliance is a “partnership” and demands a more equal “relationship” show how little the advocates understand their position vis-a-vis the United States in security matters. What do the Koreans bring to the alliance besides their need for security? Koreans demand operational control during wartime, yet balk at taking responsibility for ten functions the United States proposed to turn over to them. Korean legislators demand that the United States leave its soldiers within the range of North Korean artillery, but what do they offer in return? Certainly not the lives of their own soldiers. The deployment to Iraq has been purposely delayed for over six months.
The negative Korean reaction to General Campbell’s attempt to find a rationale for the alliance in suggesting that Korean forces might work with U.S. forces in peacekeeping efforts within the region proves that Koreans are incapable of understanding the nature of a true alliance. The defense of Korea is a Korean problem and the burden should be borne by the Korean people.

by Robert Gilbert