A recent blistering criticism of the US-South Korean alliance from a highly respected expert, Maxine Laney, has raised serious questions about whether or not the connection is really strong enough to survive the US-Iran conflict and President Trump’s aggressive trade policies.
Laney, 98-year-old former US Ambassador to South Korea and former architect of the 1994 Nuclear Accord with North Korea, issued what can only be described as a call-to-action and a warning to South Korea and the World.
While attending a Pacific Century Institute event, Laney said that the US has effectively converted the alliance into a drawbridge that the US is in total control over. The entire relationship is one-sided. The only real winners in this arrangement are the US and North Korea. The rest of us should probably begin preparing to act without the US.
Laney then went on to observe that the ongoing war with Iran has further complicated the alliance and has created serious problems for South Korea, as most of its oil comes from the now-blocked Strait of Hormuz (70% +), which has caused severe fuel shortages in South Korea and reduced the number of Government Vehicle operations. Those issues could also affect the production of plastics and semiconductors.
In addition, South Korea has seen an abrupt and very steep decline in its helium imports from Qatar, which has led to a significant decline in the Korean economy. As a result of the US efforts to help the South Korean Economy, there has been a marked increase in the amount of US deployed military power to the region.
In addition to the tariffs on South Korean goods, there was also a televised raid on the Hyundai plant in Georgia, which aired widely across America. This caused more anger in South Korea than ever before because the conservative South Korean media called the raid “inappropriate between allies.”
South Korea is home to the largest American overseas military base and an important supplier of semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries, and shipbuilding technology (critical to competing against the Chinese) — this is not a good time to be creating tensions with our most important ally in Asia, since the Chinese will certainly be watching. As a result, officials in the U.S. are faced with the difficult challenge of determining how much longer the U.S. will have an alliance with South Korea.