SAYING "NO" PAYS OFF

South Korea is sending troops to Iraq to support the US regime change campaign. This is a huge loss for Kim Jong Il, and thoroughly discredits those who criticized the Bush administration's Korea policies.

In voting to send troops to the Gulf, South Korea is standing by the US not only there but also at home against North Korea. This marks a dramatic change from the past government of Kim Dae-Jong, whose collaborationist approach with the North essentially triangulated the dispute so that the South attempted to play the role of arbitrator between the North and the US. That was absurd and untenable; the actual on-the-ground problem between North and South Korea has always been the question of legitimate sovereignty, with the US providing the security for the free South against the Stalinist North. The days of "sunshine" have given way to the cold calculus of war, and an actual all-out war on the Korean Peninsula is less likely as a result.

Today's ROK move repudiates those who sniped at the Bush administration's Korea policy in demonstrating that firmness and consistency have all along been the proper response to a belligerent antagonist as well as weakening allies. In standing firm against the seemingly innocuous North Korean demand to settle the nuclear dispute via bilateral, as opposed to multilateral, talks, the US has over the span of a few months shown the ROK that it has a vital role to play, that the US won't give in to nuclear blackmail, and signalled to Japan that the US won't simply walk away from issues that affect the entire region. All by simply saying "No" without apology to Kim Jong Il. The Bush administration has also signalled to China that it won't be allowed to pawn off its troubled ally's behavior on the US. And China has reportedly started to make moves in the right direction to rein in its strange neighbor's more excessive mood swings.

Undoubtedly the war in Iraq has also played a major role in the turn of events in Korea. In acting to topple Saddam Hussein, the US is demonstrating to the world that it means business, still knows how to fight a brass-knuckle war, and will not accept the existence of rogue regimes that threaten the world's security. This lesson is perhaps the most important outcome of the ongoing war against the terror masters in Iraq.