Korean Job Discussion Forums

[catman]

I've read the claim several times that the majority of South Koreans want the US troops out. However, I have yet to see a source backing that up. I'm guessing most of these polls would only be published in the SK media and may never be translated.

The election results have not indicated such. Two straight conservative Presidents now. Even Present Roh didn't want the troops gone.
Thus, I am skeptical of the claim.

[jvalmer]

I'd say the vast majority of the +60 crowd want US troops to stay. They've seen what the Norks can do, and it's savage, and would take the imperfect SK capitalist system over NK's any day of the week.

As for those under 40-ish, well most have been constantly taught be very liberal left-wing teachers that everything that happened in the past 60 years doesn't matter if they aren't happy. Do they want US troops go? Not sure if it's a majority, but I'd say a lot do.

[Stan Rogers]

To be fair nobody wants a foreign army being in their country. It's viewed by most Koreans as a necessary evil based upon the circumstances given the circumstances.

[Leon]

[Steelrails]

Any numbers you get on this will be wildly skewed based on what outlet is conducting the poll and whose agenda is being served by them.

[slothrop]

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[EZE]

When you hear Iraqis saying they want the American armed forces to leave Iraq, they mean it. When you hear Afghans saying they want the American armed forces to leave Afghanistan, they mean it. When you hear South Koreans saying they want the American armed forces to leave Korea, it's only their pride talking.

[young_clinton]

[catman]

[Leon]

[rkc76sf]

Look back at 2002, the series of events that led to Roh being elected to president.

First, Korea finished 4th in the World Cup (won't go down that rabbit hole) and Korean pride was sky high.

Another significant event happened during the World Cup that was put on the backburner until later- the schoolgirls being run over by a military vehicle (bridge layer).

After the world cup, Korea was skyhigh with nationalist fever. The left used this as an opportunity to make the accident a political issue. Koreans saw what happened, through the biased media, and rallied against U.S. forces. President Roh used this anti-American wave to be elected to office, succeeding yet another left winger, Kim DJ.

I was here in 2003-2004 and I remember Donald Rumsfeld calling Korea's bluff and threatening to withdraw all troops (one Brigade would be called to deploy to Iraq in May). After this, Koreans cooled their heels and thought better about U.S. forces leaving.

It's not the first time Korea has had blazing Anti-Americanism, look at Kwangju in 1980, look at Jimmy Carter's threat to pull all US forces from Korea in the late '70's. Every time Korea says they don't want us here and we threaten to leave, they change their tune. They don't want us here, small reason why, but they need us here and that's a big difference.

[Smithington]

U.S. forces should have been out of here yesterday.

[CentralCali]

[Steelrails]

[Jake_Kim]

It's actually not a problem of the ratio between pro- and anti-U.S., you can't draw a clear line between two camps among Korean population.
There's this superficial nationalistic reason Koreans would say they don't want American troops on Korean soil. It hurts Koreans' collective ego that a sovereign nation has to have a major presence of foreign military, especially when the alliance is more of dependence than of an equal footing like, say, USAF presence in England.
On the other hand, Koreans are pragmatic enough to accept that it is beneficial to Korea to be able to 'tap into' American reinforcements' firepower in case of emergency, by keeping one American foot on the peninsula. This is of course the well-known concept of 'trip-wire'. Otherwise, more investments in the military have to be made, government coffers would bleed. That's where the U.S. complains about Korea's 'free-ride' on defense.
One persistent incarnation of this issue is the zig-zag over the wartime operational command of the combined forces. On the other hand, there's an inside joke among the Koreans - most of whom served as conscripts in the Korean military one way or another - that their distrust in the officer corps and senior NCOs in the Korean military is so widespread from their experience that it's better to let the U.S. take command than to go into a war alone under Korea's own chain of command.
Nevertheless, you shouldn't expect to hear such a self-deprecating perspective in your casual discussion with any Korean, since there's that Korean ego being at stake.
In summary, Koreans haven't figured their **** out yet, either on the alliance or on the contingency plan with the NK regime or on the bigger picture of regional balance of power. They understand the status quo, they're comfortable within it at the small expense of pride, so they'll keep tiptoeing with this dilemma until a big external change or shock takes place.