- Tweeter
republish
The South Korean military has said that the US military base in Yongsan, located in the heart of Seoul for decades, would move in 2021, to the port of Pyeongtaek facing the Yellow Sea. If this move of American troops had been planned for a long time, the South Korean government seems to want to accelerate it.
With our correspondent in Seoul, Frédéric Ojardias
For the press, the announcement of the South Korean government is the sign of a quarreling dispute between South Korea and its US military ally. It should be noted that 28,500 American soldiers are deployed in South Korea, a presence that dates back to the end of the war, in 1953.
These American bases in Korea - along with those in Japan - are for the United States a crucial element of their strategy of containment of neighboring China, and of all their security architecture in Northeast Asia.
The US base of Yongsan is a huge garrison in the heart of Seoul and its move to the port of Pyeongtaek facing the Yellow Sea and facing China, has been planned for a long time. He will transform the capital.
But what is surprising is this abrupt announcement by the South Korean presidency, which has declared that it wants " a faster return than expected of the territories occupied by 26 US bases in Korea ". An eagerness seen as a very un-diplomatic way to put pressure on the American ally ...
Put pressure on the United States ... for what purpose ?
The alliance between the two countries is weakening. Washington has been an affront to the recent South Korean decision to withdraw from a military intelligence exchange agreement signed with Japan. In the growing trade conflict between Seoul and Tokyo , the United States seems to be taking sides with its Japanese ally.
And US President Donald Trump insists that South Korea pays more for the presence of his army. The negotiations are starting soon, and they will be tense. Trump wants to spend this annual contribution of $ 860 million to $ 5 billion, which annoys the South Koreans, who think pay already quite expensive.
An editorial of the Korea Times newspaper accuses Trump of " mercantilism " and describes US troops as " mercenaries ". And his author concludes that, while the trade war between China and the United States is prolonged, " the pax americana [in North-East Asia] is disappearing ".
The weakening of US " leadership " benefits neighboring countries
It is also striking that in the current conflict between South Korea and Japan, it is not the United States, but China who wants to play the role of mediator: Beijing organized a trilateral meeting in late August to try to appease the crisis . Crisis that Washington, yet ally from Seoul and Tokyo, is unable to resolve.
And Donald Trump, who understands the gravity of the North Korean military threat, who mocks the South Korean president's focus, who criticizes the military maneuvers that his own country is organizing with South Korea, is starting to annoy even the South Korean conservatives, usually fiercely pro-American .
This disintegration of the Pax Americana in the Far East also seems to benefit North Korea, which fired with impunity a series of new missiles this summer . Pyongyang has always sought to weaken the military alliance between South Korea and the United States, and that's what Donald Trump is doing.