US troops in Japan and South Korea

[SunWuKong]

what are your opinions on the fact that the US stations troops in Japan and South Korea? should they keep being stationed there? should they go away? what effects do you think that has on the Japanese and South Korean government and people?

another question, do you think the South Korean people or country in general should be grateful and thankful that the US military has been there to make sure that North Korea does not invade? should they feel that they are in debt to the US?

[Danny]

Having grown up on an Army base in Korea (Seoul to be exact) I am saddened at the way the GI's have acted within the Korean community. I feel that in Korea's case the US troops should be there, but not in amount, nor in location. Keep them off the beaten path, farther south in the peninsula. Having them there gives them access to A lot of locations North Korea, China, Philippines if god forbid something occurs. Japan has no viable military to speak of. Economically it is better for the Japanese to keep the US Military there just becuase their own military is atrocious.

SHould they feel in debted to the United States? It really depends on who you ask. The older generation would say yes, the younger generation would probably say no. In debted in what respect is another issue. In debted that they are in the country and are helping the local economy, then yes, indebted as a military force that is on their land, no/maybe - it depends.

The Japanese on the other hand should just be counting their blessings the AMericans are there, they would not have had an economy as strong as it did in the 80's and into the 90's and now if it were not for the fact that the spent as little as they possible could in regards to home land defense. THEY should be indebted to the United States.

I am actually saddened to hear the the Seoul base is oging to close down, spent many years there and many fond memories.

[younggiftedandblack]

Danny,

What base did you hear was closing down? I'm putting in for Korea when I return home in a few months then with a follow on back to Japan. As far as the topic goes. Japan really doesn't have that strong of a force to stand up on it's own and like Dan said the military is a huge boost to the local economies.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by younggiftedandblack

Danny,

What base did you hear was closing down? I'm putting in for Korea when I return home in a few months then with a follow on back to Japan. As far as the topic goes. Japan really doesn't have that strong of a force to stand up on it's own and like Dan said the military is a huge boost to the local economies.

Not 'closing' but moving.... Yongsan is moving from Seoul down south somewhere and they are doing a troop reduction over the year.

Originally Posted by Shinran

This information is easy to obtain through the web. Please do research before making those statements.

Fourth on the list does not mean much... if you spend 98% of your money on one thing, 1% on another, .66% on something lese and .34% on something, it still does not mean you are spending anything on it....

I do agree with you on the fac tthat if you have ANY military installation, it should not be in a location that could be cultivated for the local countries economy. The naval bases, Zama and the others in that locale can be used better by the Japanese than being used as port for the Navy....

[Shinran]

Whatever you're smoking, please pass it this way.

Originally Posted by Danny

Having grown up on an Army base in Korea (Seoul to be exact) I am saddened at the way the GI's have acted within the Korean community. I feel that in Korea's case the US troops should be there, but not in amount, nor in location. Keep them off the beaten path, farther south in the peninsula. Having them there gives them access to A lot of locations North Korea, China, Philippines if god forbid something occurs. Japan has no viable military to speak of. Economically it is better for the Japanese to keep the US Military there just becuase their own military is atrocious.

SHould they feel in debted to the United States? It really depends on who you ask. The older generation would say yes, the younger generation would probably say no. In debted in what respect is another issue. In debted that they are in the country and are helping the local economy, then yes, indebted as a military force that is on their land, no/maybe - it depends.

The Japanese on the other hand should just be counting their blessings the AMericans are there, they would not have had an economy as strong as it did in the 80's and into the 90's and now if it were not for the fact that the spent as little as they possible could in regards to home land defense. THEY should be indebted to the United States.

I am actually saddened to hear the the Seoul base is oging to close down, spent many years there and many fond memories.

McArthur and the US drafted the Japanese Constitution to declare any offensive military units as forbidden and the Japanese can only have self defense forces (SDF). Yes, the Japanese units are pathetic compared to the crack US units we have overseas right now.



Amoung the major expese items of Japanese general account spending, defense spending is the fourth-biggest item...A big problem for the defense industry is that a growth rate of Japanese defense spending has began to fall after 1993. According to the statistics of the Central Procurement Office at Japan's Self-Defense Agency, defense spending for procurement has declined since its peak year of 1990.


Professor Akira Hattori

Fukuoka University

January 2000
I'm not totally against US military bases in Japan. It's really a good idea, but they should be in a remote location. Here's why:



Research conducted by a group called Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence shows that U.S. troops in Okinawa have committed more than 4,700 reported crimes since 1972, when Okinawa reverted to Japanese administration. Many of these were crimes of violence against women. In Korea, too, the number of crimes is high. A particularly brutal rape and murder of a barwoman, Yoon Kum Ee, in 1992 galvanized human rights advocates to establish the National Campaign for the Eradication of Crime by U.S. Troops in Korea in order to document these crimes and help victims claim redress.http://www.incite-national.org/involve/military.html



This information is easy to obtain through the web. Please do research before making those statements.

[SunWuKong]

Originally Posted by Shinran

McArthur and the US drafted the Japanese Constitution to declare any offensive military units as forbidden and the Japanese can only have self defense forces (SDF).

this is a good point. the choice was taken out of the hands of the Japanese government, not that it wasn't justified, in light of what happened in WW2, but it also meant that the US had an obligation to defend Japan.

so is it time the US leaves Japan and let it defend itself? (i'm sure China and the Koreas would say no to that.)

[Tao]

Originally Posted by SunWuKong

so is it time the US leaves Japan and let it defend itself? (i'm sure China and the Koreas would say no to that.)

i dunno. i think china would like it if there was a lighter US presence in the east

[SunWuKong]

Originally Posted by Tao

i dunno. i think china would like it if there was a lighter US presence in the east

not at the expense of a stronger Japanese military force. the CCP complains everytime there's even a slight suggestion of Japan expanding its military.

[DaBestSpooner]

Originally Posted by Danny

The Japanese on the other hand should just be counting their blessings the AMericans are there, they would not have had an economy as strong as it did in the 80's and into the 90's and now if it were not for the fact that the spent as little as they possible could in regards to home land defense. THEY should be indebted to the United States.

Actually Japan's military spending ranks higher than Israel, France, Korea, and the UK.

http://www.aneki.com/military.html (current)
http://www.govspot.com/know/militaryspending.htm (1995)
http://www.policyalmanac.org/world/a...omparisons.pdf

[BeTheReds]

I think both SK and Japan are perfectly capable of defending themselves now.

SK should be somewhat greatful for the American presence in their country, but I also feel that it isn't needed any longer.

[Leviticus]

Originally Posted by BeTheReds

I think both SK and Japan are perfectly capable of defending themselves now.

why do you think that?

[BeTheReds]

Originally Posted by Deuteronomy

why do you think that?

Japan has its "self defense force" which in actuality is a military, and quite a large one, the only thing is that they don't want to deploy it anywhere because they'd rather tell the world that they are a peaceful nation and let the USA shell out cash to protect them and their interests while hypocritically chastizing the US for not going along with the Kyoto Protocol for image reasons.

The US troops in Korea number 37000 if I am not mistaken, and serve no purpose there now other than to be a sacrifice and a reason to deploy a huge military force there in the event that war breaks out and they are wiped out immediately. The South Korean military is every Korean man serving 2years and 2 months of his life, esentially the size of the population of South Korean men between the ages of 18-20 give or take a few.

Both are complete military forces with up to date technology.

Furthermore with all the anti-US sentiment among South Koreans and Japanese whenever anything military comes up, it's high time America stepped out of there and let them take care of themselves.

If Bush wants more troops for Iraq, there are 37000 of them in Korea sitting on their ass doing nothing, and the Korean populace thinks that they don't want them there.

[younggiftedandblack]

Originally Posted by BeTheReds

If Bush wants more troops for Iraq, there are 37000 of them in Korea sitting on their ass doing nothing, and the Korean populace thinks that they don't want them there.

They're moving some units from SK to Iraq.

Those bases aren't closing down no time soon. Kadena AFB on Okinawa just got a 50 year extention. People are making too much $$$ by having them to completely close them down.

[achtungbaby]

Hard to say since I'm not there and not seeing things first hand in regards to how the GI's are but as a Korean American, ideally I'd like to see less dependence on U.S. resources. I think you'd have to be completely naive to not consider North Korea a threat of some sort but everyone also knows that the U.S. has a vested, strategic interest in maintaining a military presence in the Pacific.

[BeTheReds]

Originally Posted by achtungbaby

Hard to say since I'm not there and not seeing things first hand in regards to how the GI's are but as a Korean American, ideally I'd like to see less dependence on U.S. resources. I think you'd have to be completely naive to not consider North Korea a threat of some sort but everyone also knows that the U.S. has a vested, strategic interest in maintaining a military presence in the Pacific.

Very very true, and as long as the Korean Government doesn't ask the USA to leave, the USA will stay there.