Comments on: Korea Continues to Delay Cost Sharing Deal

By: Camp Humphreys Delays to be Announced Next Month

Camp Humphreys Delays to be Announced Next Month — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:16:25 +0000

[...] then the delays have only increased and now the Korean government wants to spend even less money for the maintenance of the US-ROK [...]

By: ?? ? The Western Confucian: July 2008

?? ? The Western Confucian: July 2008 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:00:23 +0000

[...] South Korea’s Defense? “GI Korea” does a yeoman’s job in exposing a six-decade-old scam — Korea Continues to Delay Cost Sharing Deal. Our milblogger reports that as it is “the [current] money South Korea pays primarily goes to pay [...]

By: Documents Confirm Real Motivations of US Beef Protesters

Documents Confirm Real Motivations of US Beef Protesters — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:44:37 +0000

[...] these leftist groups could still try to exploit to drive a wedge in the US-ROK alliance is the cost sharing issue which has still remained unresolved. The anti-US motives of these groups will probably come out [...]

By: More Corruption Uncovered at Camp Humphreys Expansion Project

More Corruption Uncovered at Camp Humphreys Expansion Project — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:22:33 +0000

[...] the years of delays announced for the Camp Humphreys expansion it makes you wonder how many more corruption convictions will be [...]

By: More Corruption Uncovered at Camp Humphreys Expansion Project

More Corruption Uncovered at Camp Humphreys Expansion Project — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:22:33 +0000

[...] the years of delays announced for the Camp Humphreys expansion it makes you wonder how many more corruption convictions will be [...]

By: Why Do American Taxpayers Subsidize South Korea's Defense? by Joshua Snyder

Why Do American Taxpayers Subsidize South Korea's Defense? by Joshua Snyder — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:07:47 +0000

[...] Korea” of ROK Drop does a yeoman’s job in exposing just one aspect of the folly of Empire – Korea Continues to Delay Cost Sharing Deal. He makes the startling observation that “South Korea pays far less per year in USFK upkeep fees [...]

By: Korean Government Rejects Cost Saving Changes for Camp Humphreys Relocation

Korean Government Rejects Cost Saving Changes for Camp Humphreys Relocation — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:39:16 +0000

[...] only is the Korean government committed to delaying the Camp Humphreys relocation as much as possible now they want to keep it as expensive as possible: A government review [...]

By: shattered

shattered — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:08:14 +0000

“Korea must be made to accept responsibility for its own defense, or it deserves to come under the beneficence of the Dear Leader, and the quickest way to do that is to cut U.S. Forces in Korea to a very small planning staff headed by a single Brigadier General.”

I second that Lirelou!

I think the best thing to do, is a total pullout save for about 20 military advisers with one officer, maybe a capt. Then let it be known that the Korean quagmire is outside of the American protection sphere. Then send give free one way tickets back to Korea for any Kyopo that wants one. Lastly offer to let North Korea have the entire South Korea for Takeshima island.

By: lirelou

lirelou — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:58:09 +0000

After years of observing our government in action, I am convinced that burocratic inertia underlies many of our presumed strategies. We hung on to Panama long after the Canal ceased being of primary value to our economy or defense. We declared that our Philippine bases were irreplaceable, yet Pinatubo managed to get us out fast enough. We hold on to Puerto Rico at a cost of tens of billions in welfare and matching payments long after we should have mandated its independence, we remain in NATO despite the fact that the very reason for its existence has disappeared, and we hold on to bases in Korea that defy our original reason for establishing them, the hard lessons of 1941-42 in China and the Philippines, and the socio-economic development of Korea over the past 25 years. All of this convinces me that most of our administrations keep too busy handling the real or perceived crises of the moment, rather than implementing programs in support of a coherent long term strategy. Korea must be made to accept responsibility for its own defense, or it deserves to come under the beneficence of the Dear Leader, and the quickest way to do that is to cut U.S. Forces in Korea to a very small planning staff headed by a single Brigadier General.

By: The Western Confucian

The Western Confucian — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:53:19 +0000

Excellent post. I’d just say that the US side is more worried about losing its bases à la the Philippines 1991-2 than any sinking of the US-ROK FTA. As Chalmers Johnson points our on page 68 of The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic, “From the moment we turned Japan and South Korea into political satellites in the late 1940s, the United States has paid off client regimnes, either directly or through rigged trade, to keep them docile and loyal.” [Emphasis mine.] If the American worker need be sacrificed in order to maintain global Military Keynesianism, so be it say our leaders.

Ivan Eland put it best in Ungrateful Allies when he noted that “the formal empires of old were not cost-effective, according to classical economists,” and that the “informal U.S. Empire that defends other countries abroad using alliances, military bases, the permanent stationing of U.S. troops on foreign soil, and profligate military interventions is even more cost-ineffective.” Here’s more:South Korea is not the only wealthy U.S. ally to reap the rewards of a U.S. security guarantee, while not fully opening its market to the United States. Japan and most of the European NATO allies also do the same. The foolish U.S. policy of continuing to subsidize the defense of these now rich countries – all economic competitors of the United States – allows them to reduce the drag that added defense expenditures would impose on their economies. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy has to bear the costs of defending the world.