Chalmers Johnson/Tim Shorrock on the Korean Crisis

CHALMERS JOHNSON , author of “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire” and Okinawa: Cold War Island,” is a specialist on the politics and economics of East Asia and a veteran of the Korean War. He said today: “Bush came into office saying that he did not want to negotiate with North Korea. Even under Clinton, the U.S. was failing to fulfill its agreements with the North Koreans. The U.S. has essentially caused the current crisis with its belligerent stance toward North Korea, including its rebuff of South Korean President Kim’s peace initiative (for which he won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize), the ‘axis of evil’ speech, the new National Security Strategy Directive of September 2002 endorsing ‘preventive’ war by the U.S., and the policy advocating the use of nuclear weapons in the interests of maintaining American hegemony. South Korea is a genuine democracy, created in 1987 when Koreans revolted against 25 years of American-supported military dictators. The U.S. still has more than 100 military bases in South Korea…. How would we feel if it were reversed? … Another source of resentment is the South Korean economic meltdown a few years ago, which was essentially caused by the IMF, largely controlled by the U.S. government. South Korea has recovered brilliantly but it still resents American interference and arrogance.” From the Institute for Public Accuracy

Also see Roh win underscores US-Korea rift by Tim Shorrock: “….In a debate this week, Roh noted that the 1994 crisis with North Korea, when the administration of Bill Clinton came close to launching a preemptive attack on the North’s nuclear facilities, was almost entirely a US affair. “We almost went to the brink of war in 1993 with North Korea, and at the time we didn’t even know it,” he said. “We don’t want to become spectators again. In the old days, we were not able to solve our problems ourselves. Now it is different. We should say with confidence what we want and what we demand……..” More: