chinese support on Israel

[kauffner]

Originally posted by takeo
I think if North Korea has inferior military power than the South, why can't they defend themselves? The US-presence would sure not prevent much damage and when necessary they can very quickly interfeare from japan.

The idea is to deter North Korea. It's easier on their pride to back down before America than before South Korea. If the U.S. withdrew, Korea and Japan would have to build up and a lot of people worry about how China would react. Japan filling the gap left by an American withdrawal is certainly the last thing Koreans want to see.

Koreans want the U.S. here. The U.S. wants to keep troops here. That should be good enough for you. About 60 percent of Korean college students support the U.S. presence and the number is probably higher for the country as a whole. Also, I find it very odd that you apparently prefer U.S. troops to be stationed in Japan rather than in Korea. I don't see the logic in moving soldiers away from where the fighting is likely to be.

[Morpheus]

The only fighting South Korea will see in the near future will be the world cup !!!

I hear you have some troubles with organising the events??? LOL

- Food and mouth disease?
- son of the president arrested (fraud?) ???
- tickets are not ready yet ??
- rioting police???
- hospitals are striking??

I knew we had to organise the world cup in France again

[Skogan]

I was in Korea in the late 80's and early 90's when I was in the U.S. Marine corps. It was my impression the the support for a U.S. presence there was inversly related to the distance the person lived from a military base. The closer they were, the less they liked it. Mostly because a base in your home town means your daughters will grow up to be bar girls and you will have to put up with lots of rowdy drunks fighting and such. At anyrate, the objection was much more practical then philosophical.


Skogan

[takeo]

I think too there will not be any war soon (unless the US attacks north-korea of course). The North is not in a position to attack the south, even if it wished so.
it's even more unlikely that China will attack South-Korea. I don't think anyone should replace the Americans, certainly not the japanese of course.
The fact is that the US-troops in South-Korea are a serious treath to the north, which will prevent any moderation of the regime there (which still puts "american aggression" in the middle of their propaganda) and will undermine the "sunshine policy" of the southkorean president.
withhout american presence the main obstacle is gone for new and better relations between the two Korea's.
You say that koreans want the Americans to stay, could be, but all the koreans i spoke to want them to leave, also i saw on television a lot of protest against us-presence, so clearly not all Koreans are happy with American presence, as also skogan indicates.

about the education system in China: i don't think your sources are correct, even in remote areas as xinyang the big majority of the youth goes to school untill 17 years old.

"China is walking into the same path. Economy reform apply first. Political reform applies second. Eventhough, the ruling class won't accept reform. The pressure from middle class will override the personal interest of the ruling class. If ruling class wants to stay in power and priveliages, they have to apply democratic reform"

I think China and Asia in general are no western countries, people seem to think more collectively than in the West, also there is a smaller Middle class (however that's not the case in Singapore). Sometimes a middle class can be satisfied with a dictatorship that garantees their rights.
I doubt the meaning of multi-party-elections in countries where the big part of the population live in poverty, and have no education or political conciousness. in most Asian, African and latin American countries you will see that elections are usually won by those with the most money or those who controll the media or the military, even MORE so than in the US or Western Europe, where people have generally more information, individual identity and know what the elections are about.

[christian]

Originally posted by kauffner

The idea is to deter North Korea. It's easier on their pride to back down before America than before South Korea. If the U.S. withdrew, Korea and Japan would have to build up and a lot of people worry about how China would react. Japan filling the gap left by an American withdrawal is certainly the last thing Koreans want to see.

Koreans want the U.S. here. The U.S. wants to keep troops here. That should be good enough for you. About 60 percent of Korean college students support the U.S. presence and the number is probably higher for the country as a whole. Also, I find it very odd that you apparently prefer U.S. troops to be stationed in Japan rather than in Korea. I don't see the logic in moving soldiers away from where the fighting is likely to be.

Ha ha. Worry about China threat! Do you know how much money S.Korea is investing in China? I bet you will have a hard time convince those s.korea investor, that China is a threat. Or else, they wouldn't invest an "enemy" country.

I bet you will be harder to convince the Taiwanese, not go to China. My uncle is flying from Taiwan to China all the time. I have to do business with the Taiwanese people that stationed in China.

Many S. Korea is much more knowledgeable than average American experts in east pacific coast. They know the threat theory is y US wants to start another Cold war.

The only invasion right now is world soccer. !!


Kauffner,
Are you a proffessor in Seoul university?
Impressive.

[kauffner]

christian: I think you misunderstand. I don't mean that the Chinese military is a threat to South Korea. I mean that China may react strongly if Japan builds up its forces and becomes more assertive. I am not sure that I buy this theory myself, but it is a common argument made in favor of continued U.S. military presence in East Asia.

No, I don't teach at Seoul National University, but at another university in Seoul. (Seoul is a big city with many universities.) I don't want to post the name of the school in public and non-Koreans wouldn't recognize it anyway.

[NewsGuy]

This discussion is continued Here.