OPPRESS ME, PLEASE

Korea's New Wave (SUKI KIM, 5/10/03, NY Times)

Young South Koreans have no recollection of the war. What they remember are the American-supported military-backed dictators who ruled through the late 80's and exploited the North Korean threat to silence anyone who disagreed with them. As a result, the younger generation distrusts the government. Young Koreans believe that the Korean War was never truly a civil war, but rather a proxy conflict for the cold war enemies, and they blame the United States for standing in the way of re-unification.

Their picture of one happy Korea fails to consider Kim Jong Il's propensity for nuclear weapons and his monoculture of the Great Leader. Now North Korea, where some two million people have died from starvation, is seen as the poor sibling, whom the rest of the world has abandoned because of America's hostile policy. This sympathy has little to do with Kim Jong Il's regime and more to do with a desire to be independent of the United States.

President Roh's wavering stance toward America since the election is not giving them confidence, and President Bush's "axis of evil" rhetoric is aggravating the wound. We will see if next week's meeting does much to reconcile this younger generation. The problem is that young South Koreans have been taught not to listen. The disillusionment stems largely from the legacy of the Korean War and America's role in perpetuating it.

Are we to assume they'd feel better about us if they were starving along with their poor siblings? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 10, 2003 7:59 AM