I lived in South Korea in 1994. I was an English teacher in a city called Suwon, about 45 miles south of Seoul, the capitol and ten minutes north of Osan Air Force base. The city would have undergone massive artillery barrages had the North Koreans invaded.
It was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced in my life. You could taste the fear in the air. I had only arrived in Korea two months before and my Korean language skills were not so hot. But I could get the jist of the television commentary just fine. Panic, in a word. My roommate and I watched AFTVK (Armed Forces Television Korea) frequently. The American commentary was much more sober than that of the Koreans but the reality of the situation came through very clearly. The South Koreans called reservists up, I saw some of the troop carriers headed north. But the crisis had not reached its most dire point yet.
One afternoon before my last class started, myself and the rest of the teachers were watching TV. I didn't really understand what they were saying when all of a sudden everyone got up and said it was time to go home.
"What?" I said. Our director said, "you go home, get some food and no come back to work until situation changes. You call family in America and maybe find way to go home, very soon."
"What are you talking about? What is the problem?" I asked.
Mr. Kim replied, "probably to be a war. Go home if you must."
My roommate did fly to Japan to sit the crisis out, but I stayed.
I went home after Mr. Kim told us to go. I did not call my family. I did not want to worry them. I found someone to drive me to Pusan in the event of an invasion by the North. I knew it would be pretty easy to find a ferry or just a boat, any boat to Japan from Pusan.
All of this planning took about three hours. Then I went to get some food at the store.
It was empty.
There was no food, not even ramen noodles. So I went back to my flat and begged my landlord for some food, rancid kimchi and peppered cucumbers is about all we ate. He shared what he had with me for three days until President Carter arrived in Pyong-yang and defused the crisis.
Just as quickly as it began, it was over.
Did the Clinton Administration get snookered? Maybe. But I know this: had there been a war in Korea that year it would have wrecked the economies of Asia in a way unimaginable, it would possibly have radicalized the Chinese and forced the Japanese to re-arm. Remember that economic and stock market boom? Buh-bye.
I am not a pacifist. There is a time and a place for the use of force. Nations have interests and they must be defended. Did the Clinton Administration make mistakes? Yes, of course. But it is arguable that Bush 41 made just as big as a mistake leaving Sadaam in power as the Clinton Administration did in Korea. Their mistake was this: they did the best they could with what they had.
You won't hear many partisan Republicans talk about this. Nor will you hear them even try to justify Bush 43's arrogant deceit of Congress by withholding the information about Korea until after the vote. There is something deeply disturbing about this administration. I have tried to be objective. But this time, the lie is just too big. And the partisans are spinning away without ever having experienced the real fear of invasion. They do not know what they are talking about. They never will.
I am disgusted.
Posted by Sean-Paul @ 10/18/2002 06:56 PM
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