FOR hundreds of years Korea was China’s vassal state. Then it came under the heel of imperial Japan at the start of the 20th century. After Japan’s defeat in 1945 the Soviet Union occupied northern Korea. That led to the creation of the implacably hostile North Korea, an existential threat to the South ever since. America has acted as the South’s guarantor, keeping tens of thousands of troops there since the Korean war ground to a bloody halt in 1953. The South swings between resenting the American presence and worrying that it might come to an end.
South Korean officials, in short, have long had plenty to worry about. But their angst these days is unusual in its intensity. Life in Seoul may be carrying on as normal, with pop-up food stalls doing brisk business and rock bands performing lustily in open spaces, but the nuclear-armed North, 60km (35 miles) up the road, is looming especially large in policymakers’ minds.
The threat from the North has always been tangible. For years, its commandos would slither across the demilitarised zone to launch unnerving attacks, such as the one in 1968 that targeted Park Chung-hee, South Korea’s strongman, in the...Continue reading
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