Recent scrutiny of U.S.-Japan base realignment and Okinawan anti-base opposition has overshadowed U.S. military issues in South Korea. As others have argued, the struggle in Okinawa represents only one facet of the larger global struggle against U.S. bases.3
Maritime security has been a top issue in Northeast Asia recently. The sinking of the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, was a major agenda item at the annual summit that South Korean conducted with Japan and China on Jeju Island last month. Jeju Island is important for another reason. The South Korean government is planning to build a naval base there.
Sanctions can’t truly be targeted. If they’re directed at Burma’s generals, they just pass them along to the people. In fact, the most dire human rights violation in Burma is crushing poverty.
The future is no longer in plastics, as the businessman in the 1967 film The Graduate insisted. Rather, the future is in China.
The 1980 citizens’ uprising in Kwangju marked not only the beginnings of a steady struggle towards democracy, but also the growth of anti-American sentiment in South Korea. Six weeks following the assassination of dictator Park Chung Hee on October 26, 1979, a group of army commanders led by Lt. General Chun Doo Hwan, the chief of military intelligence, took control of the military and were clearly intent on seizing total power. Peaceful anti-government protestors, mainly comprised of students and workers, openly opposed Chun through street demonstrations and direct appeals to the United States. Publically, the Carter administration criticized the authoritarian policies of the South Korean government and championed international human rights. In practice, the actual decisions made by Carter’s administration reveal a different story.
Instead of a torpedo, was the Cheonan sinking the result of grounding, a collision, or friendly fire?
The Obama administration never warmed to Hatoyama. But it was the Okinawa base issue that sealed the deal.
The full-page ads in The Washington Post seem so reasonable. The military contractor Pratt & Whitney has been arguing that America doesn’t need to spend $485 million to develop a second engine for the F-35 jet fighter. It’s a compelling argument. We’re in a serious economic crisis, so why on earth would we build another jet engine when the first one is sufficient?
Last week marked the 30th anniversary of the Kwangju Citizens’ Uprising in South Korea, a pivotal event that inspired the Korean democratic movement through its ultimate victory in the late 1980s. In Kwangju, where hundreds died in the uprising, the event was marked by solemn remembrances and the presence of political leaders from both left and right, including representatives of President Lee Myung-bak, South Korea’s most conservative leader in over a decade. But the event drew hardly a passing glance in the United States, which is South Korea’s closest ally.
Thimphu, the capital of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan, wore its culture on its sleeve for the 16th South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit at the end of April. The uniform architecture of the buildings and colorful flags fluttering on both sides of the streets welcomed delegates from the nine member states (Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan) and the nine observer states, including China and the United States. Bhutan’s display of its culture was a strong assertion of its sovereignty, as well as its distinctiveness from neighbors India and China.