hankyoreh

The South Korea

If I were asked to name the single most shocking thing that I have personally witnessed during my career as a reporter, it would be the large-scale conservative demonstration that took place at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall in Sep. 2006. More than 50,000 people (according to police estimates) were at the demonstration, called the Public Assembly and Emergency National Salvation Prayer Meeting for the Republic of Korea, to protest the amendment of the Private School Act and to demand the end of negotiations for the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of the South Korean military.

Even now, after 10 years have passed, I still remember the American flags waved by the demonstrators. While people no longer blink an eye when people brandish the American flag at conservative protests, I received a major psychological shock at the time. Former defense ministers attended the demonstration and declared that wartime OPCON must not be transferred to South Korea for the sake of the country’s future.

Though I’m aware that the Korean War was only halted by a truce and that the military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula hasn’t ended, I still found myself shocked to see soldiers openly arguing that South Korea should not have operational control of its own military. The groups that organized the demonstrations (the Christian Council of Korea, the Korean Veterans Association, and the Korean Campaign Headquarters for Defending Private Education) reportedly sent a message translated into English to then-US President George W. Bush stating that they absolutely did not want the ROK-US Combined Forces Command to be disbanded and asking Bush to maintain the current OPCON rrangement.

I haven’t even been in Japan for one month yet, and the Japanese media is already dominated by news about rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The USS Carl Vinson, an American aircraft carrier, is moving toward the waters near the Korean Peninsula, and Donald Trump is even talking about the possibility of a military attack on North Korea, saying that “all options are on the table.”

The Japanese media are releasing a flood of reports predicated on war on the Korean Peninsula, under the name of a “contingency situation”. These reports are generally about the effect that this would have on Japan – about how Japanese living in South Korea could be evacuated if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula and about whether North Korea will directly retaliate against Japan. The Japanese government said that, once the USS Carl Vinson reaches the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula, Japan will negotiate with the US about joint operations involving the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. This suggests that Japan is hoping to use joint operations with the US military in the East China Sea to counter not only North Korea but also China. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abo said that in the event of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula he would enlist the Americans so that he could achieve his long-cherished goal of rescuing Japanese citizens who were kidnapped by North Korea. While there is no feasible way at present to bring the kidnapped individuals back to Japan without North Korea’s permission, if American troops landed on the Korean Peninsula in a war, Abe thinks that he could retrieve them with the help of the US military.

It may seem uncharitable for the Japanese to already be hatching plans that presume the possibility of war on the Korean Peninsula. But rationally speaking, this is an obvious move for the Japanese government, since its number-one priority is the interests of Japan and the Japanese people. But aside from the various restrictions of the alliances, the country that will be harmed directly in the event of an armed clash is South Korea, and not the US and Japan. The place where a war might break out is the Korean Peninsula, the shared residence of North and South Koreans. The people who could lose their relatives, loved ones and livelihoods if war breaks out are the Koreans who live on the Korean Peninsula.

Cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan exists not for its own sake but rather for the peace and security of the region. When we treat US relations as being sacrosanct, regard any opposition to the US as taboo and reject dialogue with North Korea, are we really making a wise choice that contributes to the safety of the people living on the Korean Peninsula? I feel strangely sad to see South Korean government officials going on about firm cooperation with the US when tensions are high on the Korean Peninsula.　

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]