Continues from Part I, “The Jeju Naval Base Another US Base in Korea: Strategic Threat to China I”: http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/03/16/emergency-report-the-entry-to-jeju-island-by-3-american-vets-for-peace-members-were-denied-forcibly-deported-by-s-korean-authorities/
Introduction to Part II
Prof. Bruce Cumings, the Chicago University Professor, the world’s most renowed and recognized Korea scholar, author of “The Origin of the Korean War” had a telephone interview with Ohmynews.com in Korea from his trip to Japan on February 22, 2012: The following excerpt is a translated summary from the Hankyoreh interview in Korean into English. His interview though must have been conducted in his native tongue, the English: http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001700222
The title of the interview article was:
“Obama and MB (Lee’s first name acronym) Good Friends? Bullshit! If a war broke, US will use the Jeju naval base anyway.”
Prof. Cumings, in his most recent interview with a Korean media, raised his voice with emotionally-charged critiques on the Jeju US naval base. He said in the interview the following: “The US military bases in South Korea will be of course used against its war with China. If a war broke between US and China, the Jeju naval base will be also mobilized in that war with China upon their disputes over Taiwan.”
He continues, “If Jeju base is being drawn into US’ war with China, then the latter may have no choice but to attack the Jeju military base. This is a very dangerous situation. The US, while it’s leaving from Iraq, is instead now concentrating its military manpower onto Asia-Pacific region. Why? Of course, it’s all about China. The Jeju naval base will be used for America’s continued military encirclement strategy against China. No question about it!”
“The US’ present policy to construct another US military base in Jeju is a dangerous one. I fully understand why Jeju people is so much concerned. The Pentagon has never stopped to encircle China militarily since the collapse of Soviet Union in early 1990s,” said Cumings.
Again he highlighted: “Even in Australia, recently US built its new military base there. President Obama visited there recently. All these new military developments would certainly make many Koreans deeply concerned about their deteriorating security sitation. Why does Korea have to be drawn into US’ military conflicts with China? China is the largest trading country with South Korea. Their relationship has been quite good. Then why?”
Prof. Bruce Cumings, Chicago University in his interview in Tokyo, Japan. (Ohmynews.com)
According to Feb. 23rd Hankyoreh report a popular Korean daily newspaper in Seoul, Mr. Bruce Gagnon who is Secretary General for <Global Network against Space Weapons and Nuclear Energy>(GNSWNE) which “organized an international solidarity conference where more than 150 peace organizations from around the world participated in to oppose a US naval base in Jeju” from Feb. 24 to 26 said the following:
“I called South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. to let them know we support the Jeju villagers who oppose the construction of Jeju naval base. Then a Korean Embassy official replied to my call in the following way: “Don’t call us! Call US gov’t instead! They are the one who demand to build the Jeju naval base!”
Part II: The Jeju Naval Base Another US Base in Korea: Strategic Threat to China
VI
For the sake of our global readers who may not have enough information about the shameful history of South Korea’s neocolonial relationship with US, the first section VI of this Part II article on the issue of Jeju US naval base is going to briefly explore the deeply indoctrinated “pro-US anti-North sociopolitical culture” in South Korean division politics.
As noted in Part I, the pro-US anti-North sociopolitical culture has thoroughly dominated over the entire South Korean population ever since the “US Occupation Army” in September 1945 imposed “American Military Government” over the then “supposed-to-be-just-liberated” Korean people from almost a half a century-long colonial enslavement by the brutal Imperial Japan.
The Pentagon’s “Full Spectrum Dominance” over the entire South Korean society therefore has already begun way back more than 60 some years ago. This sociopolitical and military background for over 60 some years has resulted and rigorously cultivated a severely perverse pro-US, dependent and thereby very flunky mentality among many population in the South.
This sometimes almost like a psychopathic mentality of extreme dependency and irrationality is the root cause and the sociopolitical and psychological ground for the construction of ANOTHER US MILITARY BASE on Korean soil.
Therefore, the Jeju US naval base issue isn’t an all-of-sudden issue at all.
The Island’s precious and unique beauty which has been designated by UNESCO for a “World Heritage Site” is another issue here.
An important thing we need to pay attention is the deeply pervasive “pro-US division politics” as the most dominant sociopolitical norm like the final arbiter has become furthermore entrenched with the evermore (intentionally!) DEMONIZED North over the years.
Therefore, the extremely irrational pro-US and anti-North hysteria isn’t an accident either.
It’s been relentlessly imposed upon the whole South Korean population by both the ruling elites and the corporate media, i.e., their unofficial mouthpiece.
For the continued US military presence as the de facto dominant power on Korean soil, “the enemy” of the South had to be constantly created by any means necessary.
Henceforth, this “manufactured enemy,” i.e., the “North Card” had to be constantly reminded. The work of nonstop indoctrination, through their ruthless demonization campaigns against the North, upon the mass population is done by both South Korean regimes and their mainstream media, of course fully assisted and directed by US media as well.
VII
Since 1945, throughout the whole Division History, using the “North Card” has meant FABRICATING political surprises/incidents such as the South Korean “Cheonan naval vessel sinking incident” in March 26, 2010 and then “blame the North.”
This is, of course, another typical US propaganda campaign to further isolate by demonizing the North. It was simply another typical infamous “false flag” incident just like the “Gulf of Tonkin Incident” in 1964 in Vietnam.
The red-baiting is “the act of accusing, denouncing, attacking or persecuting an individual or group as communist, socialist, … or sympathetic toward communism,” according to the Wikipedia.
The South Korea is probably one of the worst cases in terms of the most victimized society by the constant threat of “red-bating” under the pro-US anti-North sociopolitical and cultural environment where the pro-US ideology is so much pervasive and dominant to the bone among many South Korean population.
Thus, being labeled as pro-North in South Korean division politics is just like a sociopolitical, at times a legal death sentence.
Labeling someone else as pro-North is a form of vicious demonization in South Korean politics which still takes place till this very day.
The combination of pro-US and anti-North ideology is notoriously irrational, as said before often looks psychopathic thereby often look “insane” or “mentally sick.”
This sort of extremely dysfunctional pro-US anti-North society has therefore prepared the South become a perfect heaven for the continued US military presence on Korean soil for over 60 some years.
As introduced in the beginning, on February 22, 2012, one of the most respected Korea scholars in the world, Prof. Cumings reiterated his warings and critiques on the Jeju US naval base.
What Bruce in Chicago said and what the other Bruce the French from the GNSWNE shared with the world is a plain TRUTH, FACT, i.e., probably one of the most shameful scenes in the way that South Korean Embassy personnel said in his telephone reply to a foreigner regarding the Jeju naval base: HOW ABSOLUTELY COLONIALISTIC or HOW MUCH ENSLAVED South Korean regimes’ relationhships to US, particularly during Lee regime last 4 years?
The issue of construction of Jeju US naval base in this 21st Century should be looked into from the above-argued backgrounds of South Korean history, particularly from its very tragic and psychopathic anti-North pro-US sociopolitical, cultural and psychological background.
VIII
Under such sociopolitically, culturally and ideologically irrational and often psychopathic circumstances, the North often has become the most convenient, available and useful pretext mostly to justify all sorts of sociopolitical and military evils in South Korean society.
This means last over 60 years the “North had to be constantly DEMONIZED” for America’s two most fundamental sociopolitical, military and ideological agendas:
1. The continued US military presence as the de facto ruler over the whole Korean society;
2. The continuation of pro-US (this means the pro-Japan as well!) political power groups to occupy South Korea’s economic, sociopolitical, military, educational, cultural and religious power houses.
This manipulative anti-North psychopathic political game under US-dominated South Korean division politics continues till this very day, particularly when the South is moving into another major, probably one of the politically most crucial elections in recent years, the April General Election.
Again, as highlighted before, as it’s been that way all along in all major South Korean elections in the past, today’s division politics is nothing new either.
The upcoming April General Election is one of those many past elections where the numerous US-led anti-North demonization campaigns had been injected right before the major elections.
This time in April, the US-led anti-North demonization campaign is about the so-called “North Korean political refugee in China” issue.
The US-directed cunning but very much sophisticated injections of “North Card” seemed to have never missed any elections in the past, particularly whenever that ideologically manipulative card was badly needed in order to help those pro-US division forces like Lee regime to win the elections.
Therefore, like the past, America’s immediate goal today is same as before in order to save the deeply troubled pro-US flunky Lee regime from his seemingly almost irrecoverable political crises in the upcoming April election.
IX
This year, however, what is distinctively different from the past’s division politics is the “China Card.”
For the first time ever in its major election season, South Korean regime, though fully supported, directed and controlled by US, has dared to inject the China Card into its dirty division politics in conjunction with the Jeju Naval Base issue, particularly in the context of US/West-originated theory, the so-called “China as a Threat.”
It’s such a dangerous, foolish, and self-inflicting approach to IDENTIFY the supposed-to-be one of the most important allies and the physically most closest neighbor CHINA AS A NEW ENEMY in addition to AN OLD ENEMY, THE “NORTH KOREA” by letting US build its another aggressive strategic military base in Jeju Island which is only less than 1 hour away from China’s southeastern provinces even by commercial flights.
The Lee regime has thrown his own nation, Korean peninsula and the whole NEA region into a surely disastrous course of collision with China.
It’s like a dangerous gambling. It’s like a kid playing with a dangerous fire craker. It’s like Lee’s betting his whole nation and the whole NEA region for such a dangerous gambling which is destined to make everyone disastrous, Koreans the most.
For sure, his traitorous but another tremendously lucrative business project to construct a US naval base in Jeju is going to be, if proceeded by force as planned even if there are overwhelming oppositions not only from local villagers and a large population in Korea but also from international communities around the world, a self-destructive, self-ruinous and self-defeating course for both the nation and the region.
This is the very reason why so many Koreans both in north and south oppose the Jeju US Naval Base and strongly criticize Lee’s dangerous game. It’s been a well-known secret that he’s been trying to use both North and China cards simultaneously: First for his own political survival; Second for US’ military strategic interests in the NEA region., specifically targeting China militarily.
The equally traitorous South Korea’s pro-US corporate media like Chosun, Joongang, Dongha daily newspapers have also joined the regime to further inflame the situation by repeatedly employing the China Card.
They arbitrarily claim the Jeju US naval base is much needed in order to counter the evermore rapidly growing “military threat from China.” This is another form of demonization campaign against China with the above-mentioned groundless and fearmongering theory of “China as a Military Threat.”
However, in order to back up their shaky, insufficient and baseless rational against their most important neighbor, they now attempt to mobilize and further indoctrinate the innocent (but mostly already very much indoctrinated or brainwashed) Korean population with emotionally-charged but equally groundless and misdirected information.
In fear of evermore mounting adamant oppositions from all walks of life both in Korea and around the world, the US-directed Lee regime and their conservative media lately have accelerated to further speed up the construction process with the irrecoverable destructions of the UNESCO-designated World Natural Heritage sites: the “Gurumbi Rock,” the “Gangjeong village and its immediate beautiful seashore area” where US is going to build its another aggressive and destructive military base.
X
In order to divert international condemnations and domestic oppositions, the US-ruling Lee regime now intentionally connect the Jeju US military base issue with another presently very much controversial and emotionally very explosive issue between Korea and China, i.e., the dispute on the uninhabitable small rock/reef between Korea and China, called “Ioedo” in Korean, “Suyan” in Chinese.
In this article, however, the presently ongoing issue between two nations on the above-mentioned issue won’t be further discussed. This issue can be dealt in different time.
The key point here, though, why they all of sudden bring up this explosive Ieodo/Suyan dispute now in conjunction with the Jeju US naval base is, again as emphasized before repeatedly, the upcoming April General Election which the Lee regime must win.
The timing the US/Lee team brought both items together (Jeju the military issue, Ioedo/Suyan the could-be territorial issue, however, both the China Card anyway!) forefront NOW absolutely coincides with the timing of the embattled upcoming General Election in April 11.
As mentioned in Part I, the Lee regime now is in multiple political crises.
This politically very dangerous situation might have forced the US/Lee team even to bring another “MANUFACTURED ENEMY,” i.e., the “China Card” in addition to the usual, now somewhat worn-out one, the “North Card.”
In conclusion, the whole dispute around the Ieodo/Suyan reef in conjunction with the Jeju US naval base is part of the typical election politics by way of “manufacturing fears” such as Aesop’s fable story on the “shepherd and the wolf,” i.e., the “False Flag” tactic.
Again the key point in this Part II article I persistently argue is, unlike the past, this time we see a new phenomenon that the US/Lee team has applied a new tactic into their usual division politics: Adding China Card into the whole picture.
As well-known, China happens to be the US’ “prime target.”
Needless to mention, the whole scheme is the US’ new (?) Asia-Pacific strategy, as President Obama already outspokenly stated early this year when he visited Australia.
As well-publicized this another lackey US’ junior partner in the Pacific Ocean decided to let US build its new military forward base there which also targets China as well.
Together with the Jeju US naval base, the new Australian US military base is a tentamount witness to America’s centuries-old “divide and conquer” strategy in the context of whole Asia-Pacific region.
As everyone talks about now, America’s ultimate goal for the moment in this new and very aggressive Northeast Asia and Pacific military strategy by using at the moment their best lackey regimes both in Seoul and Canberra, of course together with the other all-time lackey in Tokyo, US seems quite determined not to lose its century-old privileged hegemonic dominance over the entire regions by subduing the evermore rapidly growing global power China by any means necessary.
The whole Northeast Asia and Pacific region, therefore, again due to those completely sellout pro-US flunky regimes like the Lee in Seoul, has been thrown into the brink of a nuclear war at all times.
The Jeju US naval base is not only the Korea-US issue but also the whole Northeast Asian, Pacific and even the world’s peace and security issues the global community together must pay attention to and urgently do something about it.
STOP the CONSTRUCTION of ANOTHER US MILITARY BASE IN JEJU ISLAND which is going to surely become the predestined DESTRUCTION of both Korean peninsula and the whole NEA and Pacific region!
Dr. Kiyul Chung, Editor in Chief at The 4th Media, is a Visiting Professor at School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.