Does History Repeat Itself?

                                         Does History Repeat Itself?

 

                                                                   By Lee Hyon-soo

 

Relying on a peace agreement with the Taliban signed in February 2020, the United States is pulling its troops completely out of Afghanistan, leaving behind all their mighty weapons. In the belief that Afghan soldiers were well-trained by the U.S. forces and better armed than the Taliban, the U.S. policymakers thought that Afghanistan would be well-protected after the departure of their troops. It did not take long to prove them wrong.

 

Immediately after the U.S. troops departed, the Taliban reneged on the peace agreement and launched an all-out attack. Lacking the will to fight, Afghan soldiers threw away their weapons and fled or surrendered. And nobody would or could stop them. They saw no reason for risking their own lives to defend their corrupt and inept government in Kabul. As a result, the Afghan government crumbled like a house of cards. And the Afghan president and political leaders ran away shamelessly to other countries, leaving innocent, defenseless citizens to the tyranny of the Taliban.    

 

Have we not seen something like this before? Yes, that is exactly what happened in South Vietnam in 1975. Now many people seem to wonder whether South Korea would follow in the footsteps of South Vietnam and Afghanistan.

 

To dispel such doubts, the U.S. government publicly stated that South Korea is different from Afghanistan in many respects and that it has no intention of pulling its troops out of South Korea as long as the U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty remains in force. We have no reason to think that the U.S. government will betray us irresponsibly.

 

The problem is that there are quite a few left-leaning, radical politicians and activists in South Korea who argue that a peace treaty should be signed between South and North Korea and that the U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty should be cancelled. Although they are very vocal and make newspaper headlines, they are in the minority now. However, in the unlikely event that they have it their way, there would be no basis for U.S. troops to stay in South Korea and most likely the U.S. nuclear umbrella will also be withdrawn.

 

Does anyone in his right mind believe that a peace treaty between South and North Korea will guarantee a permanent peace on the Korean peninsula? What if North Korea reneges on the peace treaty for whatever reason and threatens to use nuclear weapons against South Korea? As South Korea is defenseless against nuclear attack on its own, some may argue that it is better to surrender and survive than to suffer nuclear holocaust. In this scenario, we would have to live just like our brethren north of the 38th parallel. Are we prepared to do so?  

 

History shows that a peace treaty is not worth the paper on which it was written in circumstances where the countries involved do not have the will or capability to defend themselves. Surely we cannot rely on the goodwill of our opponent and let our guard down.

 

South Korea has come a long way over the past 70 years or so economically and politically, and we have to do everything possible to protect our achievements. We have so much to fight for.

 

Note:  This essay appeared in the August 27, 2021 issue of The Korea Times.