Washington risks alienating Korea
The United States should have called a spade a spade.
As a pivot in the trilateral alliance with Korea and Japan, the U.S. was expected to take a neutral position on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's lack of unelaborated remorse about the victims of its imperial rule on the 70th anniversary of its surrender at the end of World War II.
Instead, it issued a welcoming statement by Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council (NSC), an integral part of the White House. In a four-sentence statement, Price welcomed "deep remorse" by Abe for the suffering caused by its imperial ancestors; valued Abe's promise to promote international peace and called Japan a "model" for other countries to follow.
First, this compliment doesn't jibe with President Barack Obama's stance in support of former "comfort women" or sex slaves forced to serve imperial Japanese soldiers, voiced during his visit to Korea in April last year.
"Those women were violated in ways that, even in the midst of war, was shocking," he said at that time. "And they deserve to be heard. They deserve to be respected. And, there should be an accurate and clear account of what happened."
Making matters worse, the NSC statement comes to Korea as a slap in the face at the peak of strong public condemnation for Abe pushing for a "normal state" by trying to rearm itself and skirting away from its responsibilities as the nation that started the devastating war.
We can only fathom the U.S. wants to use Japan as its key deputy in its hegemonic competition with China, but are wondering whether the U.S. is willing to take the risk of alienating Korea and pushing it closer to China.
The U.S. stance may as well give its critics here a chance to take the case and push their claim that the U.S. uses Korea as an expendable pawn rather than an indispensable ally. Most key U.S. visitors, Obama included, proposed "Gatchi gapsida" or "Let's go together," but the NSC statement in Abe's support raises a question ― Is that proposal still valid or has the U.S. withdrawn it without Korea's knowledge?
More worrisome is the fact that there is a pattern of the U.S. taking sides with Japan.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman urged Korea to forget the past atrocities committed by Japan and get on with the future. When it triggered strong public antipathy here, the U.S. backtracked and said that was Sherman's personal opinion.
Korea has given the benefit of the doubt to the U.S. when its actions cast doubt on the state of the alliance. It is well remembered more than 60 years after U.S. soldiers shed blood to defend it against the communist invasion at the start of the 1950-1953 Korean War. Abe, by the way, wanted to prevent current and future generations of Japanese from repeating apologies for their ancestors' sins because 70 years have passed.
Korea feels indebted to the U.S., but that does not mean that Korea enjoys being taken for granted by its trusted ally, especially when the issue involves Japan.
Besides, China can always be a tempting option for Korea. We do not want the U.S. to take sides with Korea over Japan, but serve as a fair and honest broker to help defuse Seoul-Tokyo relations which, at the moment, seem to be some sort of ticking time bomb.
The United States should have called a spade a spade.
As a pivot in the trilateral alliance with Korea and Japan, the U.S. was expected to take a neutral position on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's lack of unelaborated remorse about the victims of its imperial rule on the 70th anniversary of its surrender at the end of World War II.
Instead, it issued a welcoming statement by Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council (NSC), an integral part of the White House. In a four-sentence statement, Price welcomed "deep remorse" by Abe for the suffering caused by its imperial ancestors; valued Abe's promise to promote international peace and called Japan a "model" for other countries to follow.
First, this compliment doesn't jibe with President Barack Obama's stance in support of former "comfort women" or sex slaves forced to serve imperial Japanese soldiers, voiced during his visit to Korea in April last year.
"Those women were violated in ways that, even in the midst of war, was shocking," he said at that time. "And they deserve to be heard. They deserve to be respected. And, there should be an accurate and clear account of what happened."
Making matters worse, the NSC statement comes to Korea as a slap in the face at the peak of strong public condemnation for Abe pushing for a "normal state" by trying to rearm itself and skirting away from its responsibilities as the nation that started the devastating war.
We can only fathom the U.S. wants to use Japan as its key deputy in its hegemonic competition with China, but are wondering whether the U.S. is willing to take the risk of alienating Korea and pushing it closer to China.
The U.S. stance may as well give its critics here a chance to take the case and push their claim that the U.S. uses Korea as an expendable pawn rather than an indispensable ally. Most key U.S. visitors, Obama included, proposed "Gatchi gapsida" or "Let's go together," but the NSC statement in Abe's support raises a question ― Is that proposal still valid or has the U.S. withdrawn it without Korea's knowledge?
More worrisome is the fact that there is a pattern of the U.S. taking sides with Japan.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman urged Korea to forget the past atrocities committed by Japan and get on with the future. When it triggered strong public antipathy here, the U.S. backtracked and said that was Sherman's personal opinion.
Korea has given the benefit of the doubt to the U.S. when its actions cast doubt on the state of the alliance. It is well remembered more than 60 years after U.S. soldiers shed blood to defend it against the communist invasion at the start of the 1950-1953 Korean War. Abe, by the way, wanted to prevent current and future generations of Japanese from repeating apologies for their ancestors' sins because 70 years have passed.
Korea feels indebted to the U.S., but that does not mean that Korea enjoys being taken for granted by its trusted ally, especially when the issue involves Japan.
Besides, China can always be a tempting option for Korea. We do not want the U.S. to take sides with Korea over Japan, but serve as a fair and honest broker to help defuse Seoul-Tokyo relations which, at the moment, seem to be some sort of ticking time bomb.
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