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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (5237)8/21/2003 11:35:34 PM
From: Dayuhan  Read Replies (3) of 793640
 

How about the US doing some serious arm twisting on SK to get them to allow use of their territory?

American leverage over S. Korea is limited. It's not a third world country; they aren't dependent on our aid, or anything like that. The problem is that if we want to use their territory for a war, the price they could end up paying is very high, especially if the north uses a nuke.

Another problem is that we have no reason to assume that the North will sit there and watch us pour forces into S, Korea. If war looks inevitable they have every incentive to attack first: they have the forces in position already. Again, the price the south could pay for cooperation is very high.

The only real leverage the US would have would be a threat to pull out our forces there, and if the choice was between that and allowing us to use their territory as a base for war, they would probably let us go.

It also has to be remembered that S. Korea is a democracy, and their government is accountable to their people, not to the US. There is very little visible popular support in the south for aggressive military action.

The best alternative will be combined pressure from Russia, China, and the US, and that is starting to look more likely.
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