In right-wing "exclusive," Trump allies warn Seoul over "unfair treatment" of disgraced president Yoon Suk-yeol
It may be the MAGA right making the warning, but its repellent views are shared by the liberal imperialists from the Biden administration. Korean War scholar Bruce Cumings gets the last word.
WASHINGTON - One of the most distinguishing and disgusting aspects of the American attitude towards South Korea is its love for pro-American, pro-Japanese fascists.
From Park Chung Hee to Yoon Seok-yeol, the message from American leaders is the same: these are our boys - so leave them alone, even when they attempt to seize power in a military coup that is stopped by the courageous actions of South Korea’s democracy-loving citizens.
The latest example of this historical trend is illustrated by the photo above from a recent meeting in Washington. It shows South Korea's new National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac with Fred Fleitz (left), a former CIA officer and vice chairman of the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute, and Steve Yates, a former aide to Dick Cheney and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Heritage, of course, is the notorious crypto-fascist “think tank” that wrote most of the policy agenda for Trump 2.0. The photo was provided to the ultra-right Chosun Ilbo by Fleitz himself.
Wi represents the left-liberal President Lee Jae-myung, who on June 4th soundly defeated Yoon’s right-wing party (see my South Korean Voters Say No to Fascism) and is now investigating elements of the South Korean military for their involvement in Yoon’s attempted coup last December. Lee, much like his progressive predecessor Moon Jae-in, is simultaneously trying to defuse tensions with North Korea with a diplomatic offensive that was just rejected by the DPRK as illusory “no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul.”
Now, apparently backed by Trump, a convicted felon, the MAGA right is pressing Lee’s government not to seek justice against Yoon, who took a hard line against the DPRK and is under investigation by a team of independent prosecutors and awaiting trial for treason. It is doing this despite President Lee’s clear mandate from the Korean people for his policies. According to The Diplomat, the centrist publication about East Asian politics, by mid-July Lee’s approval ratings in Korea had exceeded 60 percent, far surpassing his 49 percent vote share in his election. Here’s the analysis from Mitch Shin, its chief correspondent for Korea:
Following his victory in the snap presidential election on June 3, which was scheduled due to the impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol, Lee’s approval ratings have steadily increased. With Lee’s strong support base among the general public, the ruling Democratic Party’s approval rating has also increased. Meanwhile public approval of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), the former party of Yoon, has gradually decreased. The latest poll showed that 46 percent of the public support the DP while only 19 percent support the PPP.
Enter Yates, a well-known China hawk, who attended the DC meeting with Wi. “The perception that former President Yoon is being unfairly treated, persecuted, or given an excessive sentence would be viewed very negatively in the U.S.,” he told Chosun, South Korea’s largest circulation newspaper. “Although the situations differ, Trump also faced political persecution after leaving office. Many in Trump’s circle are closely watching South Korea’s political situation, especially the recent presidential election and its aftermath.” (Read the full Chosun Daily article here.)
That statement is a direct threat to Lee’s South Korea. And it is being repeated by the pillars of the US pro-fascist establishment, starting with Gordon Chang, the notorious red-baiting commentator for Fox and The Hill. I have no doubt that Trump’s CIA is extremely busy pressing the same agenda with as many South Koreans as it can find to manipulate. This is a subversion of Korean democracy and sovereignty and should be opposed by Americans of all political persuasions who prefer just diplomacy over empire.
Yet it’s important to remember that dislike of Lee and South Korea’s progressive forces is bipartisan and was fervently embraced by the Biden administration long before Trump came to power.
During his time in office, Yoon was highly unpopular not only for his authoritarian tactics but also for his pro-Japanese foreign policy. The disgraced president proved his loyalty to Japan and the US empire in 2022 when he signed onto a trilateral military “partnership” with Japan and the US at the behest of the Biden administration.
To join this de facto alliance, Yoon agreed to "settle" grievances over Japanese war crimes during World War II by agreeing that South Korea, and not its former colonizer, would pay reparations to the "comfort women" and slave laborers forced to work for the Japanese Empire. This was widely seen as a sellout and outraged Koreans, with some even branding him a national traitor for his actions.
But in Washington, which had put enormous pressure on Seoul and Tokyo to join the partnership, Yoon's capitulation to Japan was hailed as a profile in courage and a triumph of international diplomacy. Kurt Campbell, Biden's Deputy Secretary of State and the official most involved with the implementation of the alliance, even suggested that Yoon receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
With Yoon's fall from grace, it began to dawn on the Washington Establishment that the conservatives could soon be forced out of office and replaced by the left opposition (as they were on June 4th). Alarm bells began ringing in the New York Times and the Washington Post that American "security" was imperiled, not by Yoon's authoritarian actions but by the possibility of a democratic transfer of power to his leftwing critics.
The penultimate comment came from Danny Russel, the former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs for the Obama administration and a key analyst for the pro-empire Asia Society.
“If, as seems likely, the Democratic Party regains power, South Korea’s foreign policy seems poised to shift toward appeasement of North Korea, deference to China, hostility toward Japan, and skepticism of the United States,” Russel seethed to The New York Times in a story entitled “Impeachment in South Korea Has Cost Washington a Staunch Ally.”
That’s essentially what Chang, his rightist allies, and Trump’s MAGA people are saying today: anybody in South Korea who challenges US policy objectives can no longer be considered an ally.
Bruce Cumings on the US Role in South Korea
It’s an old story that goes back to 1945, when the US declared a US Army Military Government in South Korea, and continues through today, when the Pentagon still stations 28,500 US soldiers on Korean soil 72 years after the armistice that ended the fighting in the Korean War.
Korean progressives were reminded of that history in the waning months of the Yoon presidency, when Bruce Cumings, the University of Chicago historian famous for his path-breaking The Origins of the Korean War, recorded a statement of support and apology to the thousands of Koreans in the streets demanding Yoon’s impeachment and imprisonment. It was released on YouTube by the International Strategy Center in Seoul.
You can listen to the 3 minute clip above. His comments, however, need to be read in full, because they get to the core of how the United States has historically supported the pro-Japanese right in Korea, a topic I am writing about in my forthcoming book DMZ Empire. Here they are, as transcribed from his statement.
The US role in Korea has always been to promote Koreans who want better relations with Japan or are pro-Japanese. It started in 1945 right after [World War II] ended. Pro-Japanese traitors did a flip-flop and became pro-American toadies. The US hired just about every professional who was serving the Japanese in its American military government, especially in the forces of order - the Army and the police.
To give just one indication of this: in the fall of 1946 the US graduated a second military academy class. An American military academy [in Korea] - most people didn’t realize there was one. In that class were two friends - Park Chung Hee and Kim Jae Kyu. They both had been officials in the Japanese Imperial Army (and of course they weren’t friends on October 26, 1979 when Kim [then head of the KCIA] murdered Park.
I went to Korea for the first time in 1967 as a member of the Peace Corps. I still remember an official from the US Embassy talking about how the Japanese and the Koreans needed to get together and let bygones be bygones. These “friendly people off to the East,” he said. There were Koreans teachers there and they were appalled by this.
[More recently} Biden and his Secretary of State Tony Blinken loved President Yoon. The knocked up a quasi-alliance with South Korea to contain China. When there was a state dinner at the White House, Yoon crooned “American Pie” and everyone at the White House loved it. They just loved this guy and have been completely silent [about his military putsch].
I am unaware of any official statement from the US administration other than we’re watching what’s going on. They did not condemn the martial law declaration, which they certainly should have. As always when we scratch the surface, we find that American policy makers are working hand in glove with people like President Yoon and opposing progressive presidents like Kim Dae Jung and Noh Moo Hyun.
And so I would like to apologize to all of you for my country’s myopic policies. There isn’t any way South Korea can be in a tight alliance with Japan until Japan sincerely and honestly apologizes for its reign of terror in Korea [from 1910 to 1945].
I couldn’t agree more. Both the MAGA right and the Democratic Party liberal left should be ashamed of their backing of Yoon and their role in this historical travesty. 🌺