[KS] Re: Still Invaded Economically and Culturally

michael Robinson mrobinso at indiana.edu
Mon Jul 31 13:06:02 EDT 2000


Dear List:

this discussion of a "unified" North and South armed forces seems a bit
premature.  Certainly one to think about if there ever is a collapse of the
North.  But the assumption of a "unified" anything at this moment awaits a
tourturous number of years of negotiations.  It took 55 years to re-open the
train line after all.

MRobinson
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----- Original Message -----
From: kushibo <jdh95 at hitel.net>
To: <korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk>
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2000 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: Still Invaded Economically and Culturally


> Robert Armstrong wrote:
> > My question is; when Korea does unify, where do all the troops go?
Right
> > now there is somewhere around a million men facing each other in the DMZ
> > area and the rear areas included would obviously bring that force number
up.
> >   The large submarine navy of the North's along with their gun boats and
> > missile boats, South Korea and her small navy of submarines and surface
> > vessels, the large airforces of both countries, not to mention the
rocketry
> > of North Korea's.  Will China be happy with a shift of the troops to the
> > Chinese border?  Will the Russians be happy when their weakly guarded
border
> > with the North Koreans is suddenly facing not the small backward rear
units
> > but a large force of men.  Don't forget Putian had made the comment that
> > unless Russia is careful, the maritime provinces will become Korean,
Chinese
> > or Japanese, (I am pretty sure he meant that ethnically but who knows).
> > Will Japan be relieved to have the combined navies of the North and
South
> > now as a potential to their own valued sea lanes, let alone a nice bit
of
> > open land to test their missiles, and with South Korean technology?
Will
> > the generals in the North and the South be willing to be relieved of
their
> > power when a restructuring of the military would come about?  I am tend
to
> > doubt that.  Any suggestions what they will do with the military?
>
>
> As my cousin Bob likes to put his own spin on the oft-quoted Korean adage
of
> the pacific nature of the Choson people: "The Koreans are a peaceful
people;
> they only invade themselves."
>
> My point being, China doesn't have much, historically speaking, to fear
from
> Korean invasion forces, so they probably aren't too worried. Korea and
China
> have virtually no border disputes, not disputed islands, as they do with
> some of their southern neighbors. The same is true with Russia.
>
> Russia (and China, near Taiwan?) has island disputes with Japan (and so
does
> Korea). The US vacating Okinawa, the Japanese main islands, and Korea
would
> mean a likely build-up of Japanese defense forces, which would be a threat
> to Russia in the Kurile Islands, and a threat to anyone who was invaded by
> Japan in the middle of the last century, during the lifetime of many
people
> on this list. Korea poses no such threat. And Japan poses little such
threat
> as long as the US is the proxy for their defense.
>
> As for the newfound might of a unified Korean military, wouldn't the South
> be inheriting (I'm assuming a Southern absorption of the North) a fleet of
> rust buckets and underfed draftees armed with what amounts to muskets? My
> guess is that the gov't of the day will mobilize many of the troops from
> both sides in FDR-esque New Deal-type publics work projects. And they may
> just decide to end the draft system, letting millions of young men stay in
> school.
>
> Japan's worries would make them more likely to encourage a continued US
> presence. The US is acting quite a bit like a dorm mom.
>
> K U S H I B O
>



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