|
|
| |
SPEAKING
FREELY
Time for the US to leave
Korea
By Thaddeus A Hoffmeister
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have their
say. Please click here if you are interested in
contributing.
WASHINGTON - As a former active-duty soldier
stationed on the Korean Peninsula, I, like many
Americans, applaud the decision to reposition US troops
in South Korea. After more than 50 years (this July 27
marks the 50th anniversary of the Korean Armistice), the
US Department of Defense has finally decided to take a
fresh look at an old problem.
Currently, the US
troops in South Korea, positioned in a defensive
posture, are serving as nothing more than a tripwire.
This Cold War strategy presumes that, in the event of an
attack by North Korea, the US will suffer a sufficient
number of casualties to trigger its entry into war on
the side of South Korea. However, most military experts,
including the current commander-in-chief of US Forces
Korea, General Leon J LaPorte, believe that the tripwire
theory is bankrupt. Furthermore, reliance on this
strategy places US service members in an untenable
position and sets them up for failure.
For
example, if North Korea with its million-man army were
to head south, the approximately 37,000 US service
members in South Korea would most likely suffer an
extraordinarily high casualty rate. This rings
especially true when one considers that close to half of
the US troops stationed in South Korea are assigned to
the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) in various places at or
near the border separating North Korea from South Korea,
in area known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
The wartime mission of the 2ID is to repel an
attack by North Korea. However, the 2ID must divide its
resources among three possible invasion routes leading
to Seoul (about 50 kilometers from the DMZ). Also,
movement among units within the 2ID is difficult because
of the nearby mountainous terrain. Therefore, by
attacking via one invasion route, North Korea could
quite possibly face only a third of the 2ID while the
other two-thirds could be easily pinned down by
artillery fire - with more than 13,000 artillery pieces
on the DMZ, North Korea could rain as many as 500,000
rounds an hour on South Korea.
In addition to
the problems raised above, keeping troops in South Korea
and especially on the DMZ has done little to improve
America's reputation among younger Koreans or the
international community. The US has received worldwide
condemnation and a continued loss of its prestige for
refusing to sign and ratify the Ottawa Convention
(land-mine treaty). The US, by most reports, would have
signed the treaty as land mines are not an integral part
of the US military, save for the heavily mined DMZ.
Absent an exception for South Korea, the US was
reluctant to sign the treaty for fear of putting its
service members in an even more precarious situation.
As for South Korea's so-called 386 generation
(the 3 stands for their age, as most are in their 30s;
the 8 is for the 1980s, when they attended college and
South Korea went from dictatorship to democracy; and the
6 is for the 1960s, when they were born), most see the
continued presence of US troops as proof that South
Korea is still unable to protect itself and or as
evidence of a conspiracy with Japan to prevent
reunification with North Korea. With respect to those
South Koreans who are in their 20s, a South Korean
Gallup Poll this year for the Chosun Ilbo, one of the
country's three major newspapers, found that more than
75 percent of those polled expressed dislike for the
United States. While there is some support for US troop
presence in South Korea, it is limited and comes from
the older generation that vividly remembers the Korean
War, and from certain South Korean politicians. These
same politicians want US troops to remain on the DMZ but
removed from the capital because the US headquarters at
Yongsan occupies prime real estate in downtown Seoul and
is also the area where most problems with the civilian
community arise.
Those in favor of keeping US
troops appear to have ignored South Korea's
modernization. For instance, South Korea's economy is 25
or 30 times as large as North Korea's. In addition,
despite North Korea spending 30 percent of its gross
domestic product on defense, the South Korean Army
(560,000 personnel) is more modern and can adequately
defend the country until reinforcements arrive. It will
be these reinforcements who turn the tide of any
potential war, not the small number of US troops
currently assigned to South Korea.
With North
Korea rattling its nuclear sabers, now may not be the
best time to withdraw troops from South Korea. However,
the United States, in the near future, must cut the
umbilical cord.
Thaddeus A Hoffmeister served with the
United States Army in South Korea from 1998-99.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online
feature that allows guest writers to have their say.
Please click here if you are interested in
contributing.
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
