There should be no surprise about this--"Long allied with U.S., South Korea now looks eastward to China"
BY TIM JOHNSON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
SEOUL, South Korea - (KRT) - Ask university students here about the practical way to get a job these days, and the answer comes back quickly: Study Chinese.
"A few years ago, the most popular major was English language and literature. Now, it's Chinese language and literature," said Kim Seoung-hoon, 25, a student at Seoul's Yonsei University.
Relations between South Korea and China were frosty barely a decade ago. But, in a remarkable turnabout, they now bloom on the economic, diplomatic and tourism fronts.
Trade between South Korea and China has climbed at least tenfold, to more than $60 billion a year, in the decade since the nations established diplomatic relations. The main destination for South Korea's exports used to be the United States. Now it's China.
South Korean companies poured $1.42 billion into China in the first nine months of this year to build auto, electronics and other manufacturing plants. Some 2,658 South Korean companies have operations on the mainland.
"The role of China is getting more and more important - but not large enough to replace the United States," said Lee Doowon, an economist who specializes in regional trade. "It is always good to have large, prosperous neighbors next door."
South Korea's thawed relations with China is often seen through the prism of its relations with the United States, which have grown somewhat testy. Some in South Korea resent U.S. pressure to deploy soldiers to Iraq, where 2,800 Korean troops comprise the third-largest contingent, behind U.S. and British troops. Others still simmer over a June 2002 accident in which two U.S. soldiers in a large Army vehicle in Seoul killed two teenage girls. The two were acquitted of manslaughter, sparking anti-U.S. protests.
Some young advisers to center-left President Roh Moo-hyun, who cut their teeth in anti-U.S. demonstrations in the 1980s, view China as a potential alternative to the five-decade-old U.S. dominance in South Korea.
"Some young guys in our ruling party have been saying, `China is our favorite,' but that is not true," said Moon Chung-in, a Yonsei University professor who advises Roh on regional matters. The U.S.-South Korean alliance, he added, "is the backbone of our development."
Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have been stationed in South Korea for the past five decades, providing a security umbrella that's contributed to the nation's prosperity.
But recent polls show that South Koreans, especially young ones, think the United States is a bigger security threat than neighboring nuclear-armed North Korea.
"The U.S. is looked at as a source of friction and an obstacle on the North Korea issue," said Lee Jung-hoon, a political analyst, noting that many South Koreans are unsettled by Washington's veiled threat to strike North Korea with force if it doesn't give up its nuclear program.
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