The split between the Republic of Korea on one side, and the United States and Japan on the other, has become glaringly apparent at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
ROK President Moon Jae in has broken with Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe in pursuing direct outreach to the DPRK—the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a.k.a. North Korea.
The US and Japan have responded with snubs, sitdowns, and calls for engagement to be abandoned after the Olympics and a return to an exclusive policy of harsh sanctions and coercion.
American pundits are mystified why South Korea isn’t lining up with the United States and Japan on North Korea policy.
Well, it’s because the U.S. strategic position in Asia is founded on backing Japan… to the detriment of Korea. And that policy is in trouble.
American obliviousness was summed up by a comment on NBC’s Olympic coverage that aroused fury in South Korea.
As the Japanese team marched into the stadium, Joshua Cooper Ramo, NBC’s designated Asian know-it-all, declared:
“Japan, a country which occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945. But every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural and technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation."
Korea Times covered Ramo’s remarks under headline: NBC analyst under fire in Korea for ignorant comment .
Ramo by the way, is a big shot at Henry Kissinger’s consulting company, a protégé of Time Magazine (and Broadcasting Board of Governors jefe) Walter Isaacson, and a Mandarin speaker.
He ought to know better. But apparently he doesn’t.
This isn’t just ancient history. It’s white-hot current politics, and a Korean craving for justice for the suffering they endured at the hands of Japan…and America’s continuing collusion with Japan in denying it.
South Korea’s estrangement from the United States as collateral damage of America’s fatal and persistent tilt toward Japan.
And it’s getting worse.
And US-Japanese collusion has deepened with the administration of Shinzo Abe, a conservative and historical revisionist determined who wants to celebrate Japan’s imperial achievements in the 20th century, not apologize for them…and has positioned himself as America’s indispensable ally as the U.S. struggles with its declining clout in Asia.
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