Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World

Doug Bandow

Jan 1996 · Cato Institute

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America's foreign policy and military deployments remain largely unchanged despite the end of the Cold War. The expensive U.S. commitment to South Korea exemplifies Washington's outmoded strategic thinking and could easily embroil the United States in another Asian war. Doug Bandow points out that the balance of forces has shifted dramatically since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Today South Korea vastly outstrips North Korea by every measure, with twice the population, 18 times the gross domestic product, and a huge technological advantage. The South has also lured away the North's military allies - China and Russia. South Korea can now defend itself without U.S. assistance. Bandow suggests gradually withdrawing all U.S. troops from South Korea and ending the security treaty. The latter step is crucial, for only then will the United States be free of entanglement in Korean affairs and able to demobilize the military forces now necessary to back up the treaty. Bandow proposes applying the same principle elsewhere in East Asia. The threats to Japan and America's other Cold War allies have diminished while the ability of those nations to defend themselves has greatly increased. America's role should be limited to helping repel a truly hegemonic threat. Washington would thus return to the foreign policy of a republic rather than an empire, risking the lives and wealth of U.S. citizens only when their own political community was in danger.