9 Comments

A part of the problem is the long standing hostility between S Korea and Japan. Back in the day they had to be at opposite ends of Pearl Harbor during RIMPAC.

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And sometimes we need to remind them they have a mutual enemy that is far closer to them than we are.

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My Dad and two Uncles fought in that war; all came home, fortunately. There's an excellent site "The Korean War Educator", which has a lot of great information on the "Forgotten War".

Perhaps with the movie "Devotion" out (really good movie BTW, though as usual the book by Adam Makos is even better) people will be drawn to learn more about the valor and sacrifice of our people.

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The Koreans I have met were Good People. It was worth the war to keep them free. We need to build a multinational organization, to keep them so.

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This piece identifies an obvious truth which had not previously been so obvious to me. Thanks.

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Excellent piece to get us pondering.

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You are dead on on your analysis of South Korea. It should have been included in a closer Western Alliance a long time ago.

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If Japan and S. Korea could have more of a rapprochement than they have so far, the Quad could become the Quint.

Because they're going to need a bigger boat...

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Honestly, although I see a lot of calls for Japanese-South Korean rapprochement, I find it really hard to see unless Japan changes their behavior. Abe Shinzo for example, was relatively despised in Korea for his denial of Japanese war crimes during WW2 towards Koreans. In addition, a substantial portion of historical Korean legends have been forged in defiance of Japan, such as Yi Sun-Shin. It's Japan's job to make amends, not Korea's.

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