In light of many war threats from North Korea, the US and South Korea decided to conduct a drill. They followed through with it on Monday, and during the drill, a South Korean helicopter dropped into the sea. There were a total of 3 people on the helicopter, all of whom appear to be ok. This was the closest South Korea and the US have gone to the east coast of North Korea. Earlier this week, South Korea also released an emergency plan to assassinate Kim Jong Un if necessary. They are thinking out and planning for every possible situation.
Many people, such as Donald Trump, claim that we (the USA) need to be paid by countries like South Korea since we spend so much money protecting them from North Korea. However, by stopping North Korea, it is not just South Korea we are protecting. Especially as North Korea actually believes that the US is a worse country (they put the US as last place when they ranked the countries based on their happiness level) and more of a threat than South Korea. Another thing that people such as Trump believe, is that China should be taking responsibility for North Korea. The biggest problem with that statement is that China actually likes and takes care of North Korea, kind of like it's their ugly little sister.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/25/politics/us-south-korea-naval-show-of-force/
North Korea is just plain weird! I mean, who on earth thinks that people are happier there than here? Only the North Koreans.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I didn't put this in the post, because it's just my opinion, but assassinating Kim Jong Un should only be done if absolutely necessary. Because the people of North Korea believe him not only to be their beloved ruler, but literally think of him as a GOD. If the North Korean government is destroyed, our plan would be to combine the two Koreas, because otherwise the people of North Korea would continue believing the Kims were a family of Gods. If they mingle, then eventually—and it would probably take a long time—North Koreans would be able to realize that they were under a dictatorship and they were NOT happy. If South Korea is responsible for the death of their God, it would, I think, start a 2nd Korean war and someone would just take the place of Kim Jong Un as the next "president" (dictator) of North Korea.
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ReplyDeleteI think that it is wise to put a price tag on our military aid in South Korea. It's not cheap to defend another country, and even if they're our allies it's not like they could do a whole lot for us if Canada went into a crazed dictatorship. South Korea is not part of the U.S. so it's just not worth protecting... for free. Even if we we are indirectly protecting ourselves. You have to think about how much harm we're actually preventing, and whether or not that harm is going to happen now, or later. Protecting South Korea also is contributing to our national debt, and if we charged money for our help that could get us out of it. South Korea is just not worth it.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see where you're coming from, and I agree with you to a certain extent. However, posting our military in South Korea doesn't just protect us and South Korea, but potentially the whole free world from the threat of the DPRK. If the South Korea didn't have a huge force, how easy would it be for China and North Korea to gain up on and completely swallow them? We do not want more of the east to be communist land.
DeleteIf Canada went into a dictatorship, we would have many countries fighting with us because of the protection we provide them with. If we started charging countries for our service, most countries would probably prefer to institute conscription or a draft. I do think it is fair, when they ask for our service, to ask for something in return though.
I’d also like to point out that South Korea is not in any way lazy as far as providing military. They do not provide for other countries, because as a country with less than 50,000,000 people and with the neighbor they have, of course they would not be able to help other countries. But they have the 7th biggest military in the world, with 630,000 soldiers actively participating. They also have a mandatory 2-year service for all adult men ages 18-30. They are providing just about as much as they can without taking away the rights of their citizens.
And, yes, it is contributing to our debt, but there are many things we need to change to get out of debt. Fixing our military spending should not be our number one priority. I agree that with some countries we could slowly withdraw our military or start charging them—it is not fair that other countries don’t have to spend much on military because of our alliance—but we are partly responsible for the events going on in the Korean peninsula. At this time, it would not be appropriate to withdraw our military or fine them for our services.
I would also like to say that I also see your point. A country exists for the citizens who live inside, or maybe even outside the country. We should not be concerned about other countries unless they effect us in some way, and even then you have to consider how valuable that country is, and if their problems are too expensive to solve.
ReplyDeleteMany of the countries we are helping are not in a position to help us if another country declared war on us. The only way Iraq, Israel, and many other countries would be able to help us, is if their conflicts ended first, and they won't. Iraq's problems probably won't end until the war in Syria does, and anything we try to do to help the rebels is just matched by Russia. Basically unless we dump tens of billions of dollars in completely eradicating other countries problems we would only have help from countries in Europe like the UK, or France, and they would do it for other reasons, because we are not protecting them.
We also have many technological weapons that many countries do not have, so there would be reason to start paying us.
Even if South Korea is doing nearly everything they can it's not our responsibility to reward that by helping them. It would be enough for us to bond with all of the other big countries, and threaten to put sanctions on china if they in anyway aid North Korea to take over South Korea. I also think it would be enough to respond to North Korea rather than prepare for something that might happen, because it is just too expensive. Thank you for taking the time to respond to me!
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ReplyDeleteAfter a little research, I found out that Korea actually does pay the United States. They paid nearly $700 million last year, and $867 million the year before to cover the US military costs. This doesn't change my opinion, though.
ReplyDeleteIf a dictator-run country was a threat to us, many countries we are currently helping would probably try to help, even if they couldn't as far as military aid goes. Tons of countries we have helped in the past would be willing to help as well. Countries we are helping now will feel inclined, if/when their battles are over, to help us in the future. Japan and Germany, if we went to war, would help us for sure, per the same defense treaty that says we will provide their military as long as both parties agree.
There are some special cases, such as countries in the middle east. They probably won’t be in a position to help us for a long time, if ever. But they provide us with oil in exchange for our military aid.
As I said before, I think it’s fair to ask some countries to pay, but it should depend on some things—like you said, if they affect us, and if so how much. The threat of North Korea affects us significantly, and even if we threaten China, it doesn’t provide the same security that having troops in South Korea does.
Thank you for stating your opinion! It's good to hear both sides. :)
I guess this comes down to a matter of opinion about how much protection we're actually getting when we post our military in other nations, and how much help we'll receive from countries that we have helped significantly. Thank you for your opinion. I enjoyed this friendly debate.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you for a polite discussion. :) I can tell you have really strong base for your opinion and it was really fun to debate.
ReplyDeleteJoshua and Avonlea, I just want to tell both of you that I'm really impressed with your thoughtful opinions and the respectful way that you debated here.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we should be the ones in presidential debates!
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