Nearly half of South Korean youths who will be old enough to vote in the country's next elections say Seoul should side with North Korea if the United States attacks the communist nation, according to a poll released Wednesday.
At the same time, 40.7 percent of the 1,000 young people surveyed said Seoul should remain neutral in the event of hostilities between Washington and Pyongyang, according to the poll by The Korea Times and Hankook Ilbo dailies. Only 11.6 percent said the South should back its longtime U.S. ally.
In 1950, North Korean Communists invaded South Korea with support from Mao's Red China and Stalin's USSR. They slaughtered countless South Korean civilians and took over most of the country. But the US, and its UN allies, landed at Inchon and beat the Communists back all the way to the Yalu River.
Then, the Red Chinese counter-attacked en-masse. The end result was over 50,000 American military personnel dead before a cease-fire was finally reached, dividing Korea into two parts at around the 38th Parallel.
And for 53 years (and counting) since, the US has stationed tens of thousands of soldiers in South Korea to act as a "disincentive" to another invasion from the North. The US has sent billions of dollars in aid to South Korea, and made defending South Korea a cornerstone of the foreign policy of every US administration, Republican or Democrat, for over half a century.
And this is the thanks we get?
It should be noted that the opinions of these young South Koreans did not arise from a vacuum. They were molded by the South Korean educational system, by their media, and by their political leaders.
And it is time the US said: Enough!
We have spent too much of our money, invested too much of our political capital, and risked too many of our lives to simply disregard this disdain from the South Korean populace. If they prefer North Korea to the United States, then they deserve to reap what they sow, over in Seoul.
I support a complete pull-out of US military forces from the peninsula, effective immediately. And if the lunatic Kim Jong-il decides to turn the South Korean capital into a lake of fire with his hundreds of artillery pieces stationed just north of the DMZ? Tough. We're sitting this one out.
Have fun starving in the slave labor camps! Sorry, but I doubt they have wi-fi...
For more information see the story at Breitbart
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Rj,
Lots of the world feels this way about America. South Korean democracy, for example, did not arise because of the support of the US. The Americans stood aside while the institutions that now dominate South Korea arose.
I also hate to remind you that North Koreas are brother Koreans in the eyes of the South Koreans. You are not wrong in your recitation of what the United States has done to benefit South Korea. But, whatever Ameicans are or perceive themselves to be, they are not brother Koreans and blood is thicker than water.
A decision to reduce or remove American soldiers from Korea should not be taken in anger over a poll of college kids. It should be done with cold deliberate thought as to what benefits the United States most.
2 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, you have a very nuanced political mind and I like it!
3 - Yoon
Its very concerning. Most youth in South Korea don't even know that the North has more than 2000 artillery pieces aimed at Seoul with every fifth round being a chemical round... its very interesting to see that they would believe that the North possibly posessing nukes wouldn't dare nuke South Korea.
Its stupid. It was the Americans that supported South Korea. It was the Americans that halted the North Korean invasion. It was the Americans that funded the South Korean government from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Why don't people realize that? Oh and before you bash out, i'm a South Korean national too.
4 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Unfortunately, Yoon, the world does not go round on extended gratitude. Usually, the standard is, "what have you done for me lately?" The youth of your homeland do not differ from most people that way. It may cost them heavily in the end, but they won't learn till they have to pay at the "cashier."
And then it may be too late.
5 - Yasis
USA helped divide Korean peninsula. During Korean war,USA massacred south koreans.
If USA did not intervene in Korean war, korean peninsula would have been unified long long time ago.
It is only right that the south koreans support their blood brothers in the north.
It is thanks to Kim Jong Il's wise leadership that North Korea managed to deter a military attack by USA. Iraq was not that lucky.
I wish that korean peninsula can be unified soon and free of US troops, which is what most koreans want.
6 - ss
Back in the 80's Japanese college kids were asked the following question in a poll:
If Japan were to fight a nuclear war, would they fight it with the USSR or the USA. The majority of Japanese kids picked the USA.
American experts leaned towards historical explanations, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, WWII...
Japanese experts had another explaination.
Back in those days we still believed Japan had all the tariffs and America was just a big free open market, giving it's jobs away, but as it turns out...
All the robust Asian economies voluntarily limit the volume of goods they ship to America. For the governments of China, Japan, SK, etc. this is just good policy. After all, if you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, no more golden eggs.
But ambitious youth in these highly competitve countries (meaning'it costs ALOT to live well there)view this situation as their own governments selling them out to appease the lazy Americans.
All they can really do about it is lean towards politics that will piss us off. So every few years you get a poll like this from Japan, South Korea, etc.
If you want to be deeply offended, knock yourself out.
I wouldn't make more of it than it is, though.
7 - ss
Oh, and as Yasis demonstrates, there is a radical element in SK society looking to exploit this sentiment.
Yasis:
2 million people have starved to death in North Korea as aresult of draught and economic sanctions. It's hard to praise the 'wise leadership of Kim Jung-il.
Unlike most Americans, I'm shocked and appalled that we routinely inflate relatively minor threats like Kim Jong-il to justify policies (sanctions) that have such devastating effects. But the fact still remains, if Kim wasn't an egomaniacal idiot, 2 million N Koreans would be alive today.
8 - Eric Berlin
RJ, if you reference a "poll," please tell us which poll and link to it if there's a link!
9 - Yasis
Well, Kim did ward off a USA invasion. Iraq did not.
Economic wise, yes, nothing good to say.
10 - RJ Elliott
Eric:
My original post contained a link to the poll article right at the top of the page, and also clearly highlighted those portions of my post that were quoted directly from the poll article.
But, for some reason, the "editor" decided to bury this link at the bottom of the post, and removed any indication that the first two paragraphs were quoted directly from the linked article...
11 - Mash
I think it is clear that a majority of Koreans dislike the US. A fifty-year presence in their country is sufficient.
They should be allowed to go their own way without our help, which they find so burdensome, and see if they like having Chinese hegemony better than our crude caucasian influence.
Besides, we need the troops we have in Korea to defend ourselves and our allies -- a group which obviously no longer includes Korea.
12 - Yasis
''Besides, we need the troops we have in Korea to defend ourselves and our allies''
LOL.
13 - RJ Elliott
At what point should the US leave South Korea to fend for itself, if not when nearly 50% of the young people in that country prefer a Stalinist slave-labor death-camp to us?
Should the US stay there forever? Only if we believe we are an empire. And I don't believe we are, or should be.
South Korea can deal with their sole neighbor by themselves, as far as I'm concerned. Have fun!
14 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
RJ,
The issue here has nothing to do with America being an empire (which it is, whatever your perceptions may be).
It has to do with America's efforts to stop a different empire - one which Americans believed to have died.
A Eurasian Empire with Russia and China as the chief partners, seems to be under construction. Its cast and countenance differ significantly from the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist construct that preceded it. Its ambitions may not be as far reaching.
But it is there, nonetheless, and it has inherited the nuclear power of its Marxist-Leninist-Maoist predecessor. This is the reason that America should not rush to run from South Korea.
America only appears to be ther "sole superpower" on the planet. Those days are rapidly coming to a close...
15 - John J. Ubele
[Entire racist comment deleted]
16 - flynbuck
i cannot believe the South Koreans do not
want our military there to rape women, kill
kids, and not be prosecuted under Korean law.
don't they know we Americans are always right!
oops, i almost forgot as an American i must get
in the last word! you can deal with N. Korea
by yourselves, have fun!
p.s. why do i get all these emails to pray for our troops in Iraq? i am for praying for our troops, but why don't they ever mention to pray for Iraqi civilians? we do like these people since we are liberating them? then why no prayer
requests?
see ya later, hypocrites!
17 - SA
I don't believe that the Korean youths hardly speak for the older Koreans on the issue of whether or not to side with the US in the event of a war. I'm sure as they become older and more informed about the issues facing their country and the harsh realities that will take place in the event that the US presence is removed, that they more than likely will have a change of heart.
As for the need to support one's "blood" brothers in the north, why is that so desireable when the north, during the war, was efficiently erradicating all southern resistance in the form of a slaughter of its southern "brothers"? Let us also look at the evidence which clearly shows that the northern "blood" brothers seem to have some difficulties improving the overall quality of life of their own people. This may or may not be deliberate, but why would anyone want to find out? Let history teach us that with experience comes wisdom. Lets remember that.
18 - Nancy
I suspect the preference for NK comes from a natural basic human instinct: I'd rather be killed by a fellow American than a foreigner, etc. Something about if ya gotta go, at least it's one of your own doing it for you? Just a thought.
As to the American 'empire', I think Ruvy has it right: like it or not, that's what our fearless leader(s) have set it up to be in the last 100 years. I for one am sick & tired of the US government sticking its nose into everybody else's business around the world, trying to subvert this government & that election. Who appointed us God & Universal Cop? I don't mind helping others in distress, like the tsunami people, but we have no business interfering in other governments unless they are directly & actively hostile towards us (i.e. Japan in WWII). Let someone else play SuperCop. I suspect when China grows up & kicks us out of the #1 spot, they won't waste their time rushing to hand out humanitarian aide or trying to keep the little guys around the world from getting slaughtered; that doesn't seem to be anything they care about.
19 - Park
Yasis,
If the Americans wasen't there, there would have been a unified korea, true. But then it would be united under Kim's rule from the Soviet Union acquiring all of instead of half of the korean penninsula and I bet that in the 90's, many more koreans would have died from the famine due to
mismanagement, most likely 5 million.
Also, how can South Koreans support their blood brothers when the North threatened to turn Seoul into a "sea of fire"?
If South Koreans don't want US troops, then why don't they vote to kick the Americans out? Or do they want to?
And yes, I am Korean.
20 - Nancy
I suspect, like most of the world, S.K.s hate Americans, but love the money the troops bring to their economy, hence no plans to tell them to leave. If the US ever did pull its troops from bases around the world, a whole lot of countries would probably be in big economic trouble all of a sudden, just like when a base closes in the US.
21 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Park, you wrote,
Also, how can South Koreans support their blood brothers when the North threatened to turn Seoul into a "sea of fire"?
clip
And yes, I am Korean.
That is a question you can explain better to outsiders like me who honestly do not know. I can guess that blood is thicker than water, but it is only a guess. You would have a better understanding than I could ever pretend to.
22 - Jane
This article is completely focused upon the US poitn of view of things. To be frank, US does not care of what happens if they see no benifit. They do not care for Korea and it is about time they left it be. Faimly business should be family business and others have no right to interfere.
23 - John J. Ubele
Why did you delete my comments? I think that was pretty racist and closed minded of you. Am I not allowed to post here because I'm white?
24 - Tully
You know something, I always read comments by people saying that America did so much for Korea while Korean did nothing, when Korea was the second third largest military ally in Vietnam!!! YES LOOK IT UP! I'm a history major at UPEN and all of us were shocked to find out that the Koreans were the second most effective fighting force in Vietnam. Things like Rok marines, Tiger Division, and others come to mind. Some say they were better than the American forces(I doubt it tho). These people were heavily affected by that war, just like our fathers and uncles.(my dad fought in that shitty war) So yes the US did help SK during the Korean war, but they returned the favor during Vietnam.
25 - Korea
Did any of you know that America's military is stationed in south korea for one reason? Money. America is a money hungry country that will do anything to make a little bit of money from wherever they can. America only has 30,000 troops stationed in korea, korea having 600,000. However, the american soldiers use about the same money getting drank, raping women, killing children, as the 600,000 korean soldiers get. They receive $1/day. Also, american soldiers are stationed in korea voluntarily. America needs to be less selfish. All Korea is doing is trying to make peace with N. Korea. That is all.