There is a highly controversial issue on the Internet -Is South Korea a sovereign state?
According to the official statement, South Korea's sovereignty cannot be questioned. The 1948 Constitution of South Korea clearly stipulates that the sovereignty of South Korea belongs to all Korean citizensIn 1991, the Republic of Korea joined the United Nations, and its independence and sovereignty have been widely recognized by countries around the world.
But if you dig closely, you will find that South Korea's right to independence, equality, jurisdiction and self-defense seems to be all in the hands of the United States, not South Korea.
It is no exaggeration to say that even the South Koreans themselves do not quite believe that South Korea is a truly sovereign country.
For example, in April 2023, the Pentagon leaked some classified documents containing a large amount of content that has been eavesdropping and monitoring South Korea for ten years. As soon as this incident came out, the whole country in South Korea was in an uproar, and its people condemned the shameless act of the United States one after another.
But Yoon Suk-yeol** tried his best to cover up this fact, and Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the South Korean National Power Party, even defended the United States:
"The South Korean ** room belongs to the scope of illegal eavesdropping and surveillance by the United States", "The US investigation has not yet come out, and we should not rush to make a judgment, and wait for the United States to thoroughly find out the truth, and then ask the United States to apologize in a dignified manner." ”Kim Kyung-hye, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, was extremely angry after hearing this, and he questioned the South Korean authorities in public"What kind of attitude is this?The reaction of the room is really groveling, and it makes people wonder if South Korea is a sovereign country!”Looking back at the history of South Korea, we will find that the United States has always been the dark cloud that has pressed over South Korea's head, and since the founding of South Korea, the United States has penetrated into all aspects of South Korea's politics, economy, and national defense, so that South Korea is more like a huge "concession".
So, how exactly was South Korea parasitized by the US military?
To delve into the causes, we have to start with the war that frightened the world 70 years ago.
The formation of the US military in Korea
After the end of World War II, the Korean Peninsula was liberated from the colonial rule of the Japanese army, but peace did not come, but was forcibly divided into two parts under the intervention of the United States and the Soviet Union, that is, the later South Korea and North Korea, and the Korean Peninsula has been in a state of ** since then, which laid the groundwork for the later brotherly wall.
On June 25, 1950, the Korean People's Army crossed the "38th parallel" and the Korean War broke out.
In the early days of the war, the Korean People's Army had a clear advantage, capturing Seoul, an important South Korean stronghold, in three days, and had the potential to unify the Korean Peninsula.
The United States could not sit still, and under the pretense of "United **", the United States pulled 15 junior brothers to kill them, and reversed the situation with its absolute superiority in equipment.
At this time, the arrogant US military attempted to occupy the entire Korean Peninsula in one fell swoop and spread the flames of war to our borders.
In October, the arrogant US military crossed the 38th parallel and approached the Yalu River and dispatched planes to bomb China's Anton, thus seriously threatening China's territorial security. At this time of crisis, China resolutely decided to resist US aggression and aid Korea to defend its homeland and the country
We are all familiar with the story that followed - all 16** teams were listed on the list of defeated countries.
In this battle, the South Korean soldiers were subdued.
This made South Korea panic, and it had an extremely strong sense of crisis, and hugged the thigh of the United States tightly.
In fact, the United States was also anxious at this time, the situation of the Cold War during this period had become more and more intense, and the US military could not get out of the nightmare of China's Korean War for a long time, and they urgently needed to establish a base in Asia to expand their influence, and South Korea, which was willing to be the little brother of the United States, was the best choice.
Therefore, in October 1953, the United States and South Korea formally signed the "U.S.-South Korea Mutual Defense Treaty", and a large number of U.S. troops began to be stationed in South Korea in name only, and the U.S. military had the right to control the command of South Korea's wartime operationsThe time has come when the US military officially "parasitized" in South Korea.
By the time of Park Chung-hee, the U.S. military stationed in South Korea was able to further control the hanbok.
Park Chung-hee period
Park Chung-hee was a "Jingri" element before he became a **, gave himself a Japanese name called "Takagi Masao", and served in the puppet Manchukuo. After the independence of South Korea, Park Chung-hee was not only not liquidated, but was promoted in the army, and later became a South Korean **.
Due to the humiliating history of being invaded and colonized, the Korean people generally hated Japan, so after the end of World War II, Japan and South Korea did not establish diplomatic relations for a long time.
But after Park Chung-hee came to power, he made no secret of his initiative to show goodwill to Japan, when large-scale anti-Japanese demonstrations and ** in South Korea rose one after another, but they were all suppressed by Park Chung-hee one by one. The United States is not idle, saying that since Japan and South Korea are its little brothers, they must get along with each other and not make such a stiff fuss.
In June 1965, Japan and South Korea signed the Japan-South Korea Basic Treaty with the help of the United States, normalizing diplomatic relations.
In the 60s, the most troublesome problem for the United States was the struggle of the US military in the Vietnam War, and in order to strengthen the strength of the US troops stationed in Vietnam, the United States decided to transfer some US troops stationed in South Korea to Vietnam.
But Park Chung-hee was not happy, and he immediately said: The US troops stationed in South Korea have gone so much, what if North Korea suddenly calls?Isn't there a shortage of people, I, South Korea, am willing to send troops to Vietnam to help the United States participate in the war, but the scale of the US military stationed in South Korea must not be reduced!
In this way, 60,000 Han ** teams went to the battlefield in Vietnam before and after.
In eight years, more than 5,000 South Korean officers and soldiers were killed and more than 11,000 were injured.
South Korea is really hard enough to "show loyalty".
However, the United States still lost the Vietnam War, and there was no time to "reward" South Korea's little brother, especially after Nixon took office, he readjusted its Asian strategy and announced the end of direct military support for its Asian allies.
Park Chung-hee** begged the United States for a while, as if he had lost favor, and finally the United States withdrew only about 20,000 troops stationed in South Korea in 1970 and 1971, and it was not until the Carter period that the United States further withdrew its troops stationed in South Korea on a large scale.
The remaining US troops stationed in South Korea unscrupulously became the local "emperor".
According to statistics, in 2021, South Korea apportioned 1The military expenses of 183 trillion won, equivalent to 88% of the salary of American GIs, are paid by South Koreans.
Atrocities committed by U.S. forces in South Korea
If Vietnam and Afghanistan are the "graveyards of great powers" that the US military fears, then South Korea is definitely a "military paradise" that every US military wants to go to.
*, drunkenness, drug abuse and other evil behaviors, South Korea** has always turned a blind eye, even if you want to, you can't manage it.
Especially during the period of Park Chung-hee**, the attitude towards the United States was very low, and in 1966, he signed the "Status of Forces Agreement in South Korea" with the United States.
One of the agreements on criminal jurisdiction is particularly glaring, and the general content is: The United States has exclusive jurisdiction over the US military stationed in South Korea, civilian personnel, and their families, while South Korea has no jurisdiction, and after the US military stationed in South Korea violates the law, it must be unconditionally handed over to the United States for handling as soon as possible.
In other words, in South Korea, we should also listen to the United States.
With the support of legal provisions, the US military is even more unscrupulous.
According to statistics, of the 23,723 cases committed by the US military stationed in South Korea from 1967 to 1978, South Korea waived 21,195 cases, and only 177 cases used the right to adjudicate.
In addition, American prisoners are held in places that "meet the standards of third-class hotels in the United States," while other South Korean prisoners are confined to cramped rooms with eight people.
You must know that during the period when Park Chung-hee was in power, it was a period when the gap between the rich and the poor in South Korea became more and more intense, and countless civilians could only live in the "moon house" without a roof (you can see the moon when you look up), and they were even worse than a prisoner, which of course caused a strong reaction among the people.
So wave after wave of anti-American ** demonstrations appeared, and Primaka's attitude towards this was nothing more than repression or repression.
Not only that, but in order to satisfy the "physical and mental pleasure" of the US military stationed in South Korea, Park Chung-hee even approved the legalization of public prostitution and built more than 100 comfort stations, more than 1Ninety thousand women work in comfort services, many of whom have been lured or forcibly abducted.
South Korea's Park Chang-won (the name is so appropriate) even publicly claimed that they conducted medical examinations for women to "better serve the U.S. military."
It's really boundless to kneel and lick.
In 2001, the United States and South Korea made some changes to the Status of Forces Agreement in South Korea, but the issue of criminal jurisdiction is still basically in the hands of the United States.
This is still an unequal treaty, as we can see in the case below.
In June 2002, on the highway in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, two 14-year-old South Korean girls were run over by a 52-ton heavy armored vehicle tank of the US military stationed in South Korea on the way to a class reunion.
Although the South Korean side later claimed that the accident was caused by the failure of the American GIs to follow standard operating procedures, the result of deliberate actions was not an accident.
However, in this regard, the United States took out the clause on jurisdictional immunity in the "Agreement" and claimed that South Korea had no right to try it.
Eventually, the U.S. military perpetrator was sent to a military court-martial, where he was found guilty of non-manslaughter and acquitted.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to carry out candlelight mourning activities, some people also vented their dissatisfaction for half a century to the US Embassy, and countless South Koreans handed over letters to Bush Jr.
In the end, Bush Jr. made a public apology, and the matter ended hastily.
The pain inflicted on the South Korean people by the US military stationed in South Korea is far more than that.
In order to defend against North Korea, the United States established the 23rd Biological and Chemical Battalion in South Korea, which is the only biological and chemical unit in the world that has conducted actual combat.
In 2006, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea tested the groundwater around the US military bases in South Korea, and the results showed that the soil pollution level of 24 bases exceeded the South Korean standard, and the groundwater pollution of 15 bases was serious
In 2017, South Korea's Ministry of Environment found that the benzene content of carcinogens in the water exceeded the benchmark value by 160 times.
Even more worrying is the fact that some pollution is irreversible or difficult to control.
[Summary].
In this way, the US military stationed in South Korea is like a parasite that eats away at South Korea's development.
In the past, there have been Roh Moo-hyun, Moon Jae-in and others who tried to take a tough attitude towards the United States to change the status quo, but they were all unable to do so under the obscenity of the United States.
What's even worse is that South Korea is now ushering in what may be the most **** in history - Yoon Suk-yeol.
As soon as Yoon Suk-yeol took office, he announced that he would conduct joint military exercises with the United States to consolidate the alliance between the United States and South Korea. As soon as this move came out, it immediately triggered a large-scale demonstration of tens of thousands of people against the United States, but their voices were still not heeded by South Korea, and the joint military exercises were carried out as scheduled.
We sympathize with the civilians who have been ravaged by the US military stationed in South Korea, and the brave men who dare to shout "Americans get out of South Korea", but we also have to sigh how fortunate it is to be born in a country with sovereignty, autonomy, dignity and independence!
There are many omissions, please correct the axe.
I'm Archives, looking forward to your attention!