In South Korea, only a democracy since 1987, a “reverse January 6” has happened. Instead of storming the legislative building to undermine democracy and interfere with the results of a free and fair election—as in the United States and Brazil—protesters helped South Korean lawmakers swarm past armed troops to end President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived attempt at martial law.

It is hoped the perpetrator of this power grab to exterminate the young democracy will be evicted, in one way or another, from office in short order.

In any case, such political instability should raise questions about the continued stationing of 30,000 U.S. troops on South Korean soil. They may have been needed after the Korean War (1950-1953) to prevent North Korea from invading the then-poor South Korea again. However, South Korea has undergone an economic miracle in the ensuing seven decades while the communist and chronically destitute North Korea has undergone periodic famines.

South Korea now has a GDP that is 60 times that of the North........

© Eurasia Review