Listen closely to what U. S. officials like to say about America' s long security alliance with South Korea, where 28,000 U. S. troops are stationed in
Listen closely to what U. S. officials like to say about America’s long security alliance with South Korea, where 28,000 U. S. troops are stationed in bases around the country. Something in the language perpetually pops up:
“America’s commitment to defending our allies… remain [s] ironclad, ” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in Seoul in February.
Then, the following month, there was Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:
“The ironclad alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea has remained strong, ” he said.
And Vice President Mike Pence in Seoul said in April:
“The United States’ commitment to South Korea is ironclad and immutable.”
Notice a pattern there?
“It really is ironclad, you know? You know it is ironclad, ” says a sardonic David Kang, who heads the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California. “You know, in some ways if you have to say it too much, that means you’re a little worried about it — right?”
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and President Trump are meeting for the first time on Thursday. Despite commitments from both Seoul and Washington that the U. S-Korea alliance is as strong as it’s ever been, both leaders’ administrations are new and largely untested.
