U.S. Presence in South Korea

Chalmers Johnson’s commentary on North Korea, “A Spark That Might Ignite” (Dec. 20), is ill-timed and ill-advised.

Johnson’s assertion that the downing of a U.S. army helicopter by North Korea may be an incident that may ignite a full-scale war is a grossly exaggerated fear. Furthermore, his call for the withdrawal of the American ground troops from South Korea before they become “hostage” to “hair-trigger” hostilities is reckless and dangerous. His apprehension may stem from his lack of understanding and appreciation of the genesis of the artificial division of Korea by the former Soviet Union and United States at the end of the World War II. Hence, the United States has borne a moral and political responsibility in the Korean problem.

The fact of the matter is that the presence of the American ground troops in South Korea for the past 41 years has played a crucial role of preventing possible outbreak of another Korean war ever since the signing of the armistice agreement in July of 1953. Their military and psychological impact should be neither underestimated nor ignored.

Given the history of enmity and mistrust between the two Koreas, it would be ill-advised and irresponsible for the United States to leave and let the two well-equipped armies totaling more than 1.5 million people confront each other across the demilitarized zone.

Although the Korean peninsula has not yet seen the end of the Cold War, there have been some encouraging movements for the past several years in the direction of detente and peaceful cooperation, namely, South Korea’s normalization of diplomatic relations with two archenemies, Russia and China. At this critical juncture, it is extremely important that we do not send wrong signals to the North Korean leadership as they are engaged in the succession process following the death of their paramount leader, Kim Il Sung.

For the United States and South Korea now, it is critically important to maintain a steady course along with Japan to encourage North Korea to faithfully implement all the provisions of the U.S.-North Korea nuclear agreement in exchange for economic assistance and diplomatic rapprochement. However, the question of full diplomatic recognition and ambassadorial exchanges between the United States and North Korea should proceed along with meaningful progress in North-South dialogue for peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Meaningful progress must include reunification of separated families between North and South Korea, mutual verification of non-nuclearization, economic and cultural exchanges, and an eventual peace agreement and disarmament.

HOGAN YOON

Rancho Palos Verdes

Hogan Yoon is a retired Korean foreign service officer, and served as ambassador to Finland, Portugal and consul general and concurrent ambassador to the United Nations.