Doug Bandow: It's time for South Korea to defend itself
[Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author and editor of several books, including The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington.]
In recent years South Korea has begun to develop regional ambitions. Seoul is creating a blue-water navy and deploying international peacekeeping troops. The Republic of Korea increasingly sees itself sitting alongside the world's most powerful nations.
Unfortunately, the ROK government appears to have neglected its most important duty: defending its people. Last March North Korea sank a South Korean warship. Days ago Pyongyang unleashed a deadly artillery barrage against a South Korean island.
On both occasions all the ROK did was fulminate.
Granted, in the first case Seoul cut off what little bilateral trade remained between the two countries and demanded an apology. In the second instance the ROK fired back. It also changed the rules of engagement for the future and planned to bolster its island garrisons. Still, the effect was about the same as just talking. Pyongyang responded predictably, blaming the South and threatening to rain destruction down upon its enemies.
Worse, as ROK President Lee Myung-bak publicly worried lest South Koreans "let our guard down in preparation for another possible North Korean provocation," his nation again hid behind Miss America's skirt. President Barack Obama sent an aircraft carrier strike group to demonstrate "resolve" and professed America's usual determination to stand by its helpless ally -- "shoulder to shoulder," as he put it.
It is a shocking situation.
Not North Korea's misbehavior...
Read entire article at American Spectator
In recent years South Korea has begun to develop regional ambitions. Seoul is creating a blue-water navy and deploying international peacekeeping troops. The Republic of Korea increasingly sees itself sitting alongside the world's most powerful nations.
Unfortunately, the ROK government appears to have neglected its most important duty: defending its people. Last March North Korea sank a South Korean warship. Days ago Pyongyang unleashed a deadly artillery barrage against a South Korean island.
On both occasions all the ROK did was fulminate.
Granted, in the first case Seoul cut off what little bilateral trade remained between the two countries and demanded an apology. In the second instance the ROK fired back. It also changed the rules of engagement for the future and planned to bolster its island garrisons. Still, the effect was about the same as just talking. Pyongyang responded predictably, blaming the South and threatening to rain destruction down upon its enemies.
Worse, as ROK President Lee Myung-bak publicly worried lest South Koreans "let our guard down in preparation for another possible North Korean provocation," his nation again hid behind Miss America's skirt. President Barack Obama sent an aircraft carrier strike group to demonstrate "resolve" and professed America's usual determination to stand by its helpless ally -- "shoulder to shoulder," as he put it.
It is a shocking situation.
Not North Korea's misbehavior...