The US was the force that kicked the North Koreans out of South Korea in the 1950s. The United military command is the most likely reason. I don’t know for sure though.
BrainGlutton - my understanding is many who want the US to pull out are young people. the older generation generally support the US. And the younger generation strikes me as alot more naive about what the North Korean regime is actually like than their grandparents and parents.
On the 14th of August, Chosunilbo reported a rather disturbing opinion poll, it was reported that Gallup Korea polled 833 Koreans between the ages of 16 and 25, 66% have indicated that they would side with North Korea if a war broke out with the United States
I can see why they would be mad (if the US was divided into an eastern and western US and the Africans wanted to invade the western part while I lived on the eastern part it woudl bother me) but it shows how naive and/or amoral the average young SK person is on the NK/SK issue if they would side with the most human rights unfriendly country on earth. The North intentionally starve their own people, blackmail their neighbors, have kidnapped endless numbers of people in SK and Japan, have concentration camps, force abortions, etc. etc. etc.
China is motivated to prevent an actual outbreak of NK-SK hostlities, knowing that a battle-ravaged South Korea would eventually crush the north and thereafter push for massive reforms, normalization of relations and eventual reunification, thus bringing closer to China’s borders a regional economic and military powerhouse destined to become increasingly aligned with Japan. Ultimately, the NK-SK situation is a lopsided battle of attrition that sees the north slowly falling into a death spiral while the south prospers, grows stronger and marches into the future.
Sounds like posturing, but worth a read: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:ZR8WLXaTHQwJ:mondediplo.com/2003/02/08korea+“south+Korea”+clinton+attack+on+north+korea&hl=en
“According to General James Grant, responsible for military information in Korea 1989-1992, US advances in precision-guided munitions make it feasible to destroy 10,000 artillery tubes that North Korea has embedded in mountains north of Seoul. These were previously impregnable, and were North Korea’s guarantee against an attack from the South. If this is true, in the absence of credible security guarantees, the generals in Pyongyang would move to a more reliable deterrent.”
The lede of this piece is pure drivel–reconciliation :rolleyes: --but what else would one expect from Le Monde?
For the record, I think invading North Korea is a VERY bad idea. For one thing, I will almost certainly die if we do, as I have the unique privilege of flying in a low, slow, unarmed, very heavy modified C-130 that will be in the thick of it if it goes down. Second, South Korea will pay a very heavy price, and it’s not worth destroying one of the more vibrant economies in the world to depose a despot (if you learn nothing from Iraq, it’s that thinking you know what’s best for someone else leads to disaster). Third, it is almost completely isolated, and so I believe that the government will collapse on its own accord eventually.
Given enough time, the problem will go away. I’d like to see it happen in a relatively peaceful manner, like Germany 1989. I don’t see the need to change the status quo and get thousands (or even millions) of people killed to change a relatively stable situation that has remained so for over 50 years.