How Long Should U.S. Troops Stay in Korea?

Brad De Long delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU
Mon May 22 10:42:44 PDT 2000



>Brad DeLong wrote:
> ----------
>
> Surely U.S. forces are worth maintaining in South Korea as long as
> North Korea is ruled by, in Eric Hobsbawm's phrase, "totalitarian
> megalomaniacs"?
>
> Defense Secretary William Cohen announced in 1998 that the US
>intends to keep its soldiers on the Korean peninsula after any
>reunification. What do you think his motive is, Brad?
>
> Seth

I would hope that our forces would stay as long as a democratically-elected Korean government wishes them to stay...

I think the case for keeping troops to deter North Korea is overwhelming. If South Korea were still a military dictatorship, then I would think that after the fall of North Korea's government the U.S. should get its troops out: it's not worth annoying the Chinese army.

But South Korea is (and Taiwan is!) now political democracies. And the principle that democracies should be defended against attacks from non-democracies is a very attractive one...

Brad DeLong



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