Friday, January 03, 2003
- North and South Korea, the U.S. and Japan
by Paul Arenson
In the following articles we learn that despite the fearful rhetoric coming out of North Korea, most people in South Korea view George Bush as a “trigger happy man”. We also learn that “72 percent of Koreans oppose the US-led war on terrorism, with only 24 percent in support; in Japan, those figures were almost reversed, with 32 percent opposed to the war and 61 percent in favor. Of all the Asian countries polled, South Koreans also had the highest number of people, 73 percent, who reject the view that US foreign policy considers the interests of other countries” (see Tim Shorrock in the next article).
Here in Japan the media focuses exclusively on the plight of the relatives of the kidnapped people’s familes. using that as a backdrop to support a more militarised Japan, a Japan that supports the Bush policy of belligerence, that tacitly even supports the U.S. policy of “endorsing ‘preventive’ war” and the “use of nuclear weapons in the interests of maintaining American hegemony” (see Chalmers Johnson below). Isn’t it time for people in Japan to ask why so many South Koreans, who have had many more relatives kidnapped by North Korea than Japan, oppose ‘trigger happy’ Bush and missile defense, while so many here do not oppose the creeping militarism of their government in support of the American war machine?
Posted by paularenson