Thursday late afternoon, some of my friends and I went to see the Korean Ambassador to the United Nations give a talk at Baker Hall here at Rice titled, “Beyond the Alliance: The Future of Republic of Korea–U.S. Relations.” I’m glad we have events like this, but I also wish there were more of them as well.
It was really interesting. Mr. Hyun Chong Kim talked about how last year South Korea signed a breakthrough bilateral free trade agreement with the United States, and the positive impacts it will bring to both countries. He also talked about the eventual reunification of Korea, that the government is ready for it, and the role of the United States in stabilizing the Far East region, pacifying the two traditionally opposed nations of China and Japan. He praised the United States’ spreading democracy around the world, particularly in the Far East region, as well as affirming their Republic’s commitment to helping the U.S. in Iraq. (Of course, it would be in the interest of the South Korean state to declare commitment to the United States’ intervention in Iraq, since their own stability rests strongly on their alliance with the United States.)
I am not really in a position to be able to totally criticize someone of his stature, so I will not. Even so, I’d still like to point out some things with relation to the United States’ foreign policy.
I do believe the United States has a critical role in the Far East at this point. However, in fairly extensive agreement with Ron Paul’s foreign policy, I believe the prospects for the United States creating democracy in the Middle East are not too great—at least, with respect to using military force to do so. I don’t understand what makes us believe we can succeed with force there. I once believed it as well, but let’s face it. From a comparative politics point of view, I quite easily see that any government we put in place of another’s in the Middle East suffers an extreme crisis of legitimacy. The cost of creating an unlikely legitimate government is far too high. I believe that democracy has to, in some ways, evolve through their own cultures, from the inside out, not from the outside (us) in.
The United States’ situation in the Far East has been quite different in contrast with that of the Middle East. Mr. Hyun Chong Kim pointed to our success in making Japan a relatively peaceful, prosperous nation-state since World War II, as well as our continued success in preventing the Communists in North Korea from overrunning South Korea. Japan, however, is a unique case. We did not invade them with the idea of creating a democratic state. We defeated them in a military war (World War II), and created a new state in their old state’s place, but the background of Japan from the nineteenth century onward is different from any other Asian country’s. Already in the nineteenth century did they begin to have democratic institutions. They did not have complete civilian democratic institutions until we made them, but for a while, a semblance of democracy lived in Japan under the Meiji Constitution. This encouraged a little bit of a democratic culture. There has hardly been any in Iraq right now.
In South Korea, we defended an authoritarian government against another, North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China. South Korea is democratic now, but it is still a new democracy, only having elected its first civilian president in the 1990s—a change we did not force. I think we should remain committed to helping South Korea, but we should probably not be relentlessly attacking countries to “force” them into democracy when democratic culture and institutions do not exist. Simply encouraging it, though—and I do mean simply encouraging it—is probably fine.
We have stabilized the Far East by our presence stemming from the aftermath of World War II. China and Japan are not at war. Generally, North Korea keeps to itself. We do not, however, really have a place in much of the Middle East. In Afghanistan we pursue terrorists, but in Saudi Arabia we sit stationed as a result of old Cold War legacies, and in Iraq we topple a government and have problems creating a new, stable one accepted by the people there.
I am glad we are initiating free trade in South Korea and promoting prosperity in the Far East. We do need to be careful though. The Middle East is not just like the Far East. A military presence should never be taken lightly. We should also never forget social problems the various countries we are involved in face, even if it is not the direct realm of the government.
Let us also hope that the reunification of Korea will not be too turbulent. A lot of things on the international scene would be affected, such as having a strong U.S. ally, Korea, border China.
Finally, here’s a picture of some of my friends, some other Rice students, and I with His Excellency. I look a little angry (haha), but, oh well.
