Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • Debbie Young
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

Should the U.S. Cut Japan and South Korea Some Slack?

August 31, 2017 By Richard C. Young

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen reviews Japanese Self Defense Force troops during a welcoming ceremony at the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo, Japan, on July 15, 2011.

For generations now the United States has implemented policies limiting the armament of Japan and South Korea. Each is now an ally, but limited by military weakness. What good is having an ally that’s so weak they can’t contribute to their own defenses? Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, has written in The National Interest that it is time for America to stop subsidizing the defense of these countries. Instead, America should encourage South Korea and Japan to defend themselves. Doug writes:

The United States has been complicit in limiting its allies’ armament. Indeed, the “Peace Constitution” imposed on Tokyo formally bans a military. Thus, Japan deploys “self-defense forces,” a quaint interpretative subterfuge that America’s Supreme Court justices would appreciate. Only after much torturous debate did the Japanese government decide to contribute to peace-keeping operations and offer aid to American ships under attack. Still, Tokyo has studiously avoided acquiring weapons that theoretically have “offensive” uses.

The ROK’s constitution does not bar the government from arming itself, but Seoul agreed to treaty limitations on the range of its missiles and granted Washington formal control over its military through the Combined Forces Command. Moreover, threats from the Nixon administration caused South Korean president Park Chung-hee to shut down the country’s nuclear-weapons program a half century ago.

However, an increasing number of people in both Japan and South Korea have grown uncomfortable with the presumption that they should remain militarily vulnerable, if not quite helpless, and rely upon the United States. In recent years North Korea’s weapons development and China’s greater assertiveness have increased Japanese and South Korean support for doing more militarily. Voices have been raised in both nations even favoring development of a countervailing nuclear deterrent. Polls suggest that a majority of South Koreans support doing so….

Now, both the ROK and Japan appear determined to abandon past military constraints imposed by the United States. With Washington’s support, Tokyo has revised its guidelines to expand allowable Syrian Democratic Forces operations. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe backs revising Article Nine of the constitution, which formally bans possession of a military, though the political complications of doing so are many. And newly installed Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera expressed his interest in studying “if our current missile defense is sufficient.”

Before his appointment, Minister Onodera led a parliamentary committee from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which recommended developing the capability to launch preemptive attacks, most importantly against North Korea, if necessary. Prime Minister Abe said that Japan was not “planning any specific deliberations about possessing” such weapons, but that Tokyo needed to improve its defenses “given that the security situation surrounding Japan is becoming increasingly severe.”

Read more here.

#CatoConnects: A Peek into North Korea

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for my free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • Japan and South Korea are a Puzzle America Shouldn't Have to Assemble
  • South Korea Will Use Missiles to Destroy Northern Artillery
  • U.S. Flexing Muscles in South Korea
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Richard C. Young
Richard C. Young
Richard C. Young is the editor of Young's World Money Forecast, and a contributing editor to both Richardcyoung.com and Youngresearch.com.
Richard C. Young
Latest posts by Richard C. Young (see all)
  • Donna: The Queen of Louie’s Backyard, Key West - March 27, 2023
  • Biden’s Fake Democracy Summit: Hungary and Turkey Snubbed - March 24, 2023
  • DONBAS: Russian Tanks Face Gauntlet of Death from Javelin Wielding Ukrainians - March 24, 2023

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • America’s States Rights Revolution
  • The Butterfly Effect and Chaotic Markets
  • My Key West Garden Office
  • Hillsdale College: What College Is Meant to Be
  • Joel Salatin and Alfie Oakes, America’s Food Kings
  • To Me There Isn’t a Better Way to Live
  • Paris, The Palace Hotels: Part I
  • The Breakfast of Champions
  • Democracy: The Most Dangerous and Insidious Effect of Majority Rule.
  • Who’d be Nuts Enough to Have Put Money into SVB?

Our Most Popular Posts

  • Pushing Back at ESG
  • Are You Fairly Wealthy? I’m Listening
  • Who'd be Nuts Enough to Have Put Money into SVB?
  • Your Survival Guy’s BEST Insider’s Guide to Key West
  • Freefalling at Stanford
  • Cheap Reliable Heating – a Life Saver
  • The Kings of Onlywood, Key West, Florida
  • For the Health of the Planet
  • Biden's Fake Democracy Summit: Hungary and Turkey Snubbed
  • Get Well Soon Taki

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • “You Just Have to Be Willing to Move Defensively”
  • Americans Are Fleeing Bank Deposits
  • If You’re a Highly Effective Person, We Should Talk
  • Trouble Now Brewing at Deutsche Bank
  • Is Vanguard Voting Against Your Political Beliefs?
  • Are 0DTE Options a Threat to Markets?
  • “I Need Preservation of Principal and Growth”
  • Are You Fairly Wealthy? I’m Listening
  • Treasury Studying How to Increase Deposit Insurance
  • Your Survival Guy’s BEST Insider’s Guide to Key West

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • “You Just Have to Be Willing to Move Defensively”
  • Did SVB Fail Because of Climate Change?
  • If You’re a Highly Effective Person, We Should Talk
  • What’s Happening to Charles Schwab?
  • Prepare for the Predictable
  • Is Vanguard Voting Against Your Political Beliefs?
  • Call It the Difference between Normal and Crazy
  • “I Need Preservation of Principal and Growth”
  • DEMOCRATIC SENATOR: Biden’s ESG Veto “Absolutely Infuriating”
  • Are You Fairly Wealthy? I’m Listening

The PRC Aims to Make Taiwan a Pariah Nation

“You Just Have to Be Willing to Move Defensively”

Donna: The Queen of Louie’s Backyard, Key West

Biden’s Fake Democracy Summit: Hungary and Turkey Snubbed

Freefalling at Stanford

If You’re a Highly Effective Person, We Should Talk

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives