WASHINGTON -- The United States has defended South Korea for 50 years. But newly elected President Roh Moo Hyun suggests that his nation might "mediate" in any war between America and the North. Whatever value the U.S.-ROK alliance once had has disappeared. The presence of 37,000 troops in South Korea is a Cold War artifact, resulting from the post-World War II division of the Peninsula and subsequent Chinese and Soviet support for North Korean aggression.
Today the Cold War is over, and China and Russia are friendlier with Seoul than with Pyongyang. Moreover, the South has raced ahead of the North, enjoying 40 times the gross domestic product, twice the population and a vast technological edge. North Korea's military is large, but decrepit. To the extent that the South's military lags behind, it is a matter of choice, not necessity.
Although no U.S. forces are needed to guard against the bankrupt North, they are ubiquitous, with some based in downtown Seoul. Thus occur purposeless violent altercations and tragic traffic deaths. After the acquittal in military court of two soldiers charged in the accidental deaths in June of two children, demonstrations erupted. Americans have been barred from restaurants, jeered and, in a few cases, physically attacked.