By So are these Korean politicians saying the Coast Guard isn’t capable of defending Dokdo from survey ships and right wing Japanese politicians that try to stoke tensions by visiting the islets?:
The government showed a cautious attitude toward the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) chairman Hong Joon-pyo’s suggestion on stationing Marine Corps to the eastern islets of Dokdo.
Hong called on the government Sunday to substitute the current Coast Guard with Marines in order to reinforce military power in the islets and the eastern sea. Hong also claimed that high-level government officials including foreign minister Kim Sung-hwan and defense minister Kim Kwan-jin had concurred with his idea.
Yet the cabinet and the respective ministries responded with discretion.
“I think he said what a party chairman could say,” said an official from the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae. “Regarding this problem the prime minister already said during a parliamentary interpellation session that it will be reviewed in the long-term. This is the government’s stance.”
Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said in April that it is worthy of reviewing the dispatch of powerful troops to the islets. [Korea Times]
Sending ROK Marines to Dokdo would be a waste of a military resource that is needed to defend islands in the Yellow Sea that are under legitimate threat of being militarily taken over by a foreign nation. Any politician that would want to pull ROK Marines from defending territory under legitimate threat from North Korea to Dokdo is in my opinion more concerned with promoting themselves than the security of the nation.
9:34 am on August 15th, 2011 1
Does the GNP leader want to continue appeasement toward Pyongyang while starting a shooting war with Japan? Because that’s what it sounds like…
1:00 am on August 16th, 2011 2
How about sending their kids to the military for starters?
2:34 am on August 16th, 2011 3
Send the ROKMC to Dokdo, because everybody knows that it’s the JGSDF bombing the ROK with artillery and mortars annually and not the good friends at the DPRK’s KPA.
2:51 am on August 16th, 2011 4
P.S. I wonder how many ROKMC they can put on the islands. They’re less than 60 acres in size, mor or less, about the size of a very small farm in the USA.
4:47 am on August 16th, 2011 5
#4
The island will accommodate a long-range SAM or AShM battery if someone tries hard enough.
Though I believe they have a lot more pressing use against that big squat pig of a menace from the North.
4:58 am on August 16th, 2011 6
Is it just a coincidence that this is going on at about the same time Russia wants South Korea to build a pipeline through North Korea?
5:03 am on August 16th, 2011 7
@TD
I think so. What’s their possible relationship?
8:00 am on August 16th, 2011 8
K,
Haven’t you learned anything from the Roh years?
8:35 am on August 16th, 2011 9
Why don’t you enlighten me yourself instead of asking me unhelpful diagnostic questions?
8:50 am on August 16th, 2011 10
General Category of Feigned External Threats as a Political Smoke Screen?
10:17 am on August 16th, 2011 11
#10,
In a general but not necessarily unspecific way, yes.
10:18 am on August 16th, 2011 12
#9,
Clearly, you haven’t been following Korean politics for very long.
3:31 pm on August 16th, 2011 13
Errrr…
considering that K’s native language is Korean…
4:44 pm on August 16th, 2011 14
I’m sure someone would have suggested this again without the gaspipe thing. It has happened before. Even during Roh’s administration.
8:18 pm on August 16th, 2011 15
#13,
If there was a distinct correlation between native tongue and one’s interest in politics, a greater number of people would vote during elections.
8:23 pm on August 16th, 2011 16
teadrinker – is chickenhead placing false hope in the idea that Americans can keep “the country they know and love” by engaging in politics and voting?
8:54 pm on August 16th, 2011 17
Well to satisfy TD’s question,
I tend to think that I’m as knowledgeable about Korean politics as any average Korean. In some aspects, I suspect better.
And I suspect some lawyer would have proposed sending a military detachment to Dokdo again sooner or later for as long as Japan kept claiming ownership over it.
5:38 am on August 17th, 2011 18
#17,
That’s not saying much. The average anything is very unremarkable.
6:06 am on August 17th, 2011 19
#18
I was trying to be humble.
To speak freely, in general, I believe I’m better equipped than you to understand Korean politics.
Now stop tirelessly asking me useless questions.