Why South Koreans Think of the United States as a Global Bully

Anti-Americanism became a powerful force in the Republic of Korea (ROK) during the 1980s. It has reached new levels of intensity since the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. A major catalyst was President George W. Bush's State of the Union address four months later when he named North Korea a member of an “Axis of Evil” that included Iran and Iraq . His inflammatory remarks infuriated many South Koreans because Bush's public statement of hostility toward North Korea contradicted President Kim Dae-jung's “Sunshine Policy” of seeking engagement with the DPRK.

In October 2002, the Bush administration intentionally reignited the nuclear crisis with North Korea. The revival of anti-Americanism that followed provided the latest example of the destructive consequences of an historic pattern in U.S. policy of subordinating Korea 's interests in pursuit of American goals elsewhere in the world. Ironically, in 1882, the United States was the first Western nation to sign a treaty with Korea pledging that in the event “other powers deal unjustly or oppressively with either government, the other will exert their good offices . . . to bring about an amicable arrangement.” Thereafter, U.S. leaders never made much of an effort to learn about Korean history or culture, resulting in actions that have injured the Korean people.

In 1905, Washington did nothing when Japan annexed Korea. That same year, President Theodore Roosevelt, in the Taft-Katsura Agreement, approved Japanese hegemony in Korea, in return for Japan 's acceptance of American domination over the Philippines. President Woodrow Wilson's unwillingness at the Versailles Conference after World War I to insist on restoration of Korea's sovereignty only confirmed and deepened the feeling of bitterness and betrayal among the Korean people. When the United States declared war on Japan in 1941, Koreans welcomed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's declaration of Korea 's independence as a war aim.

Unfortunately, Japan's defeat would bring not Korea 's liberation, but military occupation and artificial division. A few key U.S. policy decisions after World War II have infuriated even moderate Koreans for more than five decades. Roosevelt's support for a postwar trusteeship in Korea heads the list. Also, Koreans have never forgiven the United States for dividing their country in 1945 and indeed blame the Truman administration for Korea 's partition. Many South Koreans view U.S. military withdrawal from Korea in June 1949 as an act of abandonment that invited the North Korean invasion one year later. Though grateful for U.S. intervention, anger and disappointment have lingered because Washington refused to fight for reunification.

Washington's apparent support for military dictatorship in the ROK has been a second reason for South Korean anti-Americanism. Some believe that the Central Intelligence Agency was complicit in General Pak Chong-hui's overthrow of the ROK's first democratically elected government in May 1961. Thereafter, $12.5 billion in U.S. military and economic aid helped to keep Pak in power. The Carter administration applied pressure for democratic reform after Pak's assassination in 1979, but Ronald Reagan's election as president in 1980 ended this brief shift in policy. Persistent U.S. indifference about democracy set the stage for the most incendiary event fueling South Korean anti-Americanism. In May 1980, ROK forces suppressed anti-government protests at Kwangju, killing about two hundred people. Pointing to U.S. operational control over ROK troops, dissenters charged that Washington “master-minded” the “Kwangju Incident.”

Progress toward democracy after 1987 shifted the focus of animosity toward the United States in South Korea to protesting the presence of U.S. forces, which constitutes the third reason for anti-Americanism. A 1988 poll of university students found that nearly half thought that the presence of U.S. forces made “the division of Korea permanent.” After German reunification in 1990, South Koreans increasingly blamed Korea 's continued division on the U.S. presence in the ROK. Making matters worse were treaty terms that denied the ROK criminal jurisdiction over U.S. servicemen and their dependents in South Korea. This issue reemerged as an intense source of anti-Americanism on June 13, 2002 when a U.S. soldier driving a 50-ton armored vehicle during a training exercise north of Seoul struck and killed two young schoolgirls.

Perceptions of American racist attitudes are a fourth reason for anti-Americanism in the ROK. Many South Koreans think that U.S. officials have treated Korea as a dependent state and engaged in behavior reflecting attitudes of racial arrogance, superiority, and contempt. Hostility toward the United States because of racism was intense during the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Not only did American Olympians behave badly, but South Koreans thought that television coverage either ridiculed or ignored the performance of their athletes. They found particularly humiliating non-sports coverage of sweatshops, prostitution, and foreign adoption of Korean children.

More recently, anti-Americanism flared with renewed intensity in September 1999 when the Associated Press reported that during the first month of the Korean War, U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of innocent civilians at No Gun Ri. President Bill Clinton worked hard to pacify South Koreans who saw racism in the U.S. government's refusal to compensate survivors and families of the victims. For most South Koreans, No Gun Ri has become “Korea 's My Lai.”

Whatever progress the Clinton administration had made in reducing anti-Americanism in South Korea through showing respect for Korean interests ended abruptly when George W. Bush became president. His determination to force the ROK to adopt a policy of confrontation toward North Korea connected with every reason for anti-Americanism. The most dramatic display of resentment came in December 2002 when South Korean voters elected No Mu-hyun as president because he refused to “kowtow” to Washington and advocated cooperation with North Korea .

It is no surprise that so many South Koreans have defended North Korea 's resistance to American dictation since the nuclear crisis renewed in October 2002. The Bush administration seems unconcerned that more than 25 million of the total South Korean population of 47 million reside within seventy miles of the demilitarized zone. During 2003, the United States pressed for international sanctions against North Korea, while the ROK government negotiated cooperative ventures with Pyongyang . Meanwhile, South Koreans watched a series of movies projecting a positive image of North Korea, while depicting the United States as an evil force in the world.

Incredibly, the Bush administration continues to inflame anti-Americanism in the ROK. In November 2003, Washington affirmed plans to move U.S. troops from the demilitarized zone to south of Seoul, prompting charges that the United States was planning a preemptive attack on North Korean nuclear facilities. Then came a new outburst of angry anti-Americanism when the Bush administration pressed Seoul to deploy ROK combat troops in Iraq . Young South Koreans believe the arrogant behavior of the United States reflects its desire to achieve global hegemony. Countless people in other nations would agree, explaining why so many direct their anger not at extremist groups who commit acts of violence against the innocent, but against the United States and its “War on Terrorism.” South Korean anti-Americanism demonstrates that this apparent disconnect results from the worldwide perception that the United States is a global bully.