Seoul Needs Deeper Interdependency With US
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Seoul should work together with Washington to build so-called strategic interdependency to respond to the rise of China and militant Japan, said an international relations expert Monday.
At a policy forum held in the National Assembly, Prof. Hong Kyu-deuk of the College of Political Science and International Relations at Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul said the two governments should join hands particularly in three areas ― threats to human security such as terrorism and natural disasters, collaboration projects to facilitate free mobility of goods across Asia, and regional peace.
``The Korea-U.S. alliance has been considered for a long time as a crucial instrument that can help tackle the security threat posed by Pyongyang over the past decades. But it is time for the two sides to look beyond the North Korea factor when it comes to the goals of the alliance,'' said Hong.
Hong said several factors such as what he called digital populism, the rise of China and militant Japan call for Seoul and Washington to modify their traditional alliance.
Observing that crowds who joined the anti-U.S. beef rallies came to the streets because of misleading information regarding mad cow disease on the Internet, Hong said the phenomenon hinted that nationalism associated with anti-U.S. sentiment has the potential to derail the Korea-U.S. alliance.
``Some expressed the view that North Korea would not use nuclear weapons against South Koreans, although they may use them against the U.S. or Japan. The biased view resulted in the general public's negative perception of the Korea-U.S. alliance,'' he said.
The professor argued that the rise of China, a strong Japan and the arms race between them could also be a stumbling block to security on the peninsula.
``Some say that the presence of two powers could broaden the choice that Seoul can make as we can take advantage of the ongoing competition, but I don't agree. The competition could pose a threat to Seoul in the future,'' he said.
Hong divided the Korea-U.S. alliance after the 1950-53 Korean War into three phases _ the patron-client relationship that lasted during the Cold War era from 1953 to 1989; the post-Cold War alliance from 1990 to 2007; and a new alliance for the future.
``Between 1953 and 1989, Seoul was heavily dependent on the United States as the latter was the main provider of security,'' he said.
``The relations, however, saw an adjustment period during the post-Cold War era, which lasted from 1990 to 2007 as the Korean economy had fast grown through industrialization. Seoul sought to remodel the Korea-U.S. alliance in a manner suitable to its economic influence in the global economy, and this caused the two sides to see decreased trust of their counterpart,'' he said.