The Death of an Alliance, Part 55: South Korea’s Ruling Party Blames America for North Korea’s Nukes

Update 10/15:   Correction — according to a newer poll, 43% of South Koreans are retarded.

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If you also watched the new “South Park” episode last night, you may still be laughing about it. I still am. It dealt with 9-11 conspiracy theories, and naturally, Eric Cartman acted as the surrogate for all that is irrational, prejudiced, and nasty (Kyle was the scapegoat, of course). I won’t spoil any of the plot twists, but there’s a scene in the beginning where Cartman, Kyle, and Stan are talking about 9-11. Kyle says that only a retard would believe in the conspiracy theories. Cartman answers that a quarter of the American people believe that 9-11 was a conspiracy. Can one-quarter of the American people really be retards?

Kyle: Yes, Cartman, a quarter of the American people are retards.

Stan: Yeah, at least.

It helps you put this into some perspective.

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow said Wednesday it was unfair that his country had been criticized in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear test. On a visit to the Grand National Party, the ambassador said according to a recent press poll, 30 percent of Korean’s believe that the North’s test was the fault of the U.S. But Vershbow insisted the U.S. did everything it could at the six-party talks on the North’s nuclear program. Party spokesman Na Kyung-won quoted Vershbow as voicing disappointment that people did not look at the entire series of events.

How can I possibly describe my reaction to this? Let me find exactly the right word. I am …

relieved.

Yes, relieved. Because if you compare that result to some of these results, we could have the makings of a tourist brochure: “South Korea — Now 20% Less Retarded!” Unfortunately, there appears to be substantial overlap between that 30% and South Korea’s current government. The foundation of the ruling Uri Party is the idea that appeasing North Korea would improve its behavior. Now that the Sunshine Policy has just suffered the mother of all sunburns, Cartman Uri must find a scapegoat:

[F]ormer president Kim Dae-jung and the ruling Uri Party continued to work out their theory that the U.S. was to blame for the test. During a talk Wednesday at Chonnam National University, Kim said, “Under the Sunshine Policy, was North Korea engaged in nuclear development?

Where does DJ think North Korea got its bomb(s)? Botswana?

With the U.S. refusing to even talk while bullying North Korea, isn’t nuclear development the only option left (to North Korea) to ensure its survival.

Why, yes, if you exclude instituting meaningful economic reforms, releasing the captive citizens of your neighbors, importing some food, getting out of the counterfeiting and dope rackets, complying with the NPT, letting in some food aid, and moving some of the guns away from the DMZ. Other than that, I suppose that’s your only option. The continuation of Moammar Khaddafy’s life term of office does present some problems for DJ’s theory, of course, but facts are simply inconvenient obstacles.

During an urgent plenary session at the National Assembly, Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook said, “I do believe that the U.S. sanctions and financial pressure on North Korea may be one of the causes for the nuclear test. The initial responsibility falls to the North, but it is hard to name any one country.

Next to DJ’s, Han’s drivel seems almost reasonable. How sad.

Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok told lawmakers Seoul “told the U.S. government that if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, the fate of the Korean people is at stake, and recommended that if at all possible the U.S. should hold direct talks with the North, but the U.S. refused to accommodate us.

B.S., from an accomplished provider of it (one, two, three, four links, and the latest is a gem: “”I apologize for the illegal remittance issue, which was caused by mismatch between law and reality.). We’ve held bilateral talks and multilateral talks, and we’ve specifically held bilateral talks about counterfeiting and sanctions. It is North Korea that has refused to return to the six-party talks for a year now. North Korea wants to keep cranking out supernotes, smack, and nukes with abandon, and we’re unwilling to just let them and “take one for the team,” some of whose members are sitting out the game. If South Korea wants to break the deadlock — at least when it comes to counterfeiting, the North’s excuse d’anee — it knows exactly how to do it.

Chun Jung-bae posted a notice on his website that read, “The Neocon-led U.S. policy on North Korea has not stopped the nuclear proliferation and is a clear failure. It is a result of ignorance of the precept that the carrot and the stick must be used together to bring about positive effects. Rep. Jung Chung-rae said Washington had “abandoned the spirit” of a statement of principles agreed in the six-party talks last year and thus shoulders a large part of the blame.

Ruling Uri Party Chairman Kim Geun-tae said, “The final result was the North Korean nuclear test, so the Bush administration’s hostile attitude and policy of not recognizing North Korea are clearly not working.

When I testified at the House International Relations Committee on September 27th, I accused the South Korean ruling party of using anti-American demagoguery for pecuniary political gain. That party is elected to the leadership of the South Korean government. These examples certainly would make a good appendix to that testimony.