11AAAAnnnnttttiiii----AAAAmmmmeeeerrrriiiiccccaaaannnniiiissssmmmm iiiinnnn SSSSoooouuuutttthhhh KKKKoooorrrreeeeaaaa,,,, KKKKoooorrrreeeeaaaannnn ccccuuuullllttttuuuurrrreeee aaaannnndddd tttthhhheeee tttthhhhrrrreeeeaaaatttt ooooffff wwwwaaaarrrrMisun HwangHelen KimEDGE, Winter 02-03March 11, 200322The Spread of Anti-Americanism in South KoreaThe U.S. military presence in South Korea has prevented a possible NorthKorean invasion since the end of the Korean War. Although it is true that the U.S. helpedsplit Korea into two, the U.S. role as a peacekeeper in the post-war era should not beforgotten. Nevertheless, the anti-American sentiment is spreading in South Korea forthree main reasons: human rights violations by the American soldiers stationed in SouthKorea, the unjust Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA),and the reckless and aggressive nature of the Bush administration. Compared to Clinton’smoderate policy on Korea, pursuing Bush’s aggressive foreign policy will only provokeNorth Korea and will inevitably bring about another bloody Korean War. In addition,Bush’s ‘axis of evil’ remark and Jay Leno’s harsh comment1 on a Korean skater KimDong-Sung – that he must have kicked and eaten a dog out of frustration from beingdisqualified from the 2002 Winter Olympic event – have fueled the spread of anti-American sentiment already ruffled for the three reasons above. In order to prevent apossible North Korean attack, it is crucial to form a strong ROK-U.S. alliance that canonly be brought about by arresting the spread of anti-Americanism and by the U.S.adopting a generous approach in dealing with the North.Unless the human rights violations by the GIs are justly punished, the anti-American sentiments will persist and weaken the ROK-U.S. alliance by the U.S. losingthe support and the trust of Koreans. If the ROK-U.S. alliance weakens, North Korea willonce again attempt to usurp the Korean peninsula by force with no superpower present in 1 Jay Leno remarked, “he must have kicked a dog in frustration, then eaten it after losing the gold metal…” Inresponse, Kim Jong-Pil, a former prime minister of S. Korea stated, “[w]hat an ignorant son-of-a-bitch he is”33South Korea to diminish its possibility of victory. To deter such an invasion by the North,it is necessary that the upsurge of anti-American sentiment be calmed so that a tightenedbond between South Korea and the United States can form. In the late twentieth century,there have been frequent gatherings by human rights supporters and college students whodemanded rightful compensation and termination of crimes committed by Americansoldiers. On May of 2001, an anti-American festival named ‘Oh! No~USA Festival’ washeld at Seoul’s Kyunghee University and in a renowned town called Myongdong. Theconcert money will be used to help alleged victims of crimes committed by the U.S.soldiers and to fight environmental pollution near U.S. bases. “We want to let peopleknow the true face of the United States,” says a student activist organizing the event(Chang, 1). According to a December 2001 survey conducted by the polling firm ofPotomac Associates, “the majority of Koreans (59 percent) believe that the United Statesbenefits more from the relationship than does Korea…[and] virtually half (49 percent) ofthose surveyed concluded that they felt anti-American sentiments were growing”(Steinberg, 1).The current GI crime rate in South Korea proves why it is so hard to stop suchanti-American sentiment among South Koreans. In South Korea, crimes that arecommitted on average five times or more in a day by American soldiers go unpunished,not to mention numerous rape and murder incidents in which most criminals can flee andhide from the crime scene since they are not placed under Korean jurisdiction untilconvicted. The highly publicized brutal murder of Yun Keum-Yi on Oct. 28, 1992sparked the spread of anti-U.S. bases sentiment, and the frequent sexual crimescommitted by the GIs – mostly in GI Towns called Kijichons – have forced groups of (“Leno’s,” 1).44human rights supporters to carry out public demonstrations and protests. Resistance ofthese women victims, however, have deconstructed the U.S. hegemony. Liberatingthemselves from the binary notion of masculinity and feminity, of the powerful and theless powerful, these women have asserted their power by showing multiple sites ofresistance throughout the nation. The women victims of South Korea are now engagingthemselves in political action, just as thousands of ants march over and engulf what oncewas a huge bread – the United States. Their resistance, however, has not yet been able tocurb the number of crimes and justly punish those who commit crimes. Althoughdemeaning remarks and behavior toward Koreans by the U.S. soldiers can be notedfrequently, South Koreans have no legal means to prevent themselves from becomingsubjects of such discrimination. Unfortunately, the Korean government has no voice onthese “minor” crimes under the SOFA Agreement. It is also important to note that there isa new generation of victims called Amerasians – children born of Americans andKoreans – who live as outcasts due to their mixed race. In such a conservative societybased on the values of Confucianism, the Amerasians are oftentimes abandoned, leadpromiscuous lives themselves, or resort to becoming criminals.Together with human rights violations by the U.S. soldiers, the unjust Status ofForces Agreement (SOFA) has instigated people to take a negative stance on the U.S.military presence in the Korean peninsula. The loss of people’s faith in the U.S.’s role asa protector will inevitably lead to the weakening of ROK-U.S. alliance; however hard theKorean government may try to do otherwise, the voices of citizens, in the end, win thegovernment over. Since the U.S. military occupation after World War II until 1967, theROK had no sovereignty and had no voice even in the face of complete surrender of55jurisdiction. During the first U.S. military occupation of South Korea, the two nationsmade a promise that ROK surrender all rights and allow “the U.S. Armed Forces’exclusive rights to the military bases and facilities under the condition that the U.S. Armywithdraw in 1949” (“United States,” 1). The promise was obviously broken. Although theROK-U.S. SOFA Agreement was first established in 1967, it