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Comment by pjc50 | Hacker News Reader

It's a personal shakedown. What they're actually asking for is this: https://www.theverge.com/news/737757/apple-president-donald-...

Being an unreasonable, unmeetable deal on paper is just a feature. You're not supposed to meet the text of the deal. You're supposed to get under the table and ask "how can we facilitate this?" while palming a hundred dollar bill. It's like a police shakedown in less stable countries.

A more serious question for Korea is the US military protection against North Korea and/or China. They may yet end up in the unthinkable alliance with their historic enemy, Japan.

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Lee Jae-myung is seeking closer relations with the PRC. I view it as part of the missing context to this spat. These events preceded the US administration's actions.

https://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?Seq_Code=18451...

Historically he has had bouts of anti-American rhetoric.

The same can be said with the Korean liberal/left parties in general, to varying degrees.

So while he is currently presenting himself as more of a centrist and pragmatist, it remains to be seen if he remains so.

Conspiracy theorists on the Korean right claim it is Trump that is playing into LJM’s hand in providing an excuse to pivot to the PRC.

I have to ask: given how powerful the US is... which party outside of the US doesn't have some anti-American rhetoric?

In fact, France is the US' oldest ally and its best known president in the 20th century is largely remembered for making sure to remain militarily independent from the US.

As things are going China could protect South Korea from North Korea as well as the USA. Also SK wouldn't be in the immediate wrath of China during an conflict escalation between USA and China. Practically SK should have a strong negotiation position against the blackmail demands of Trump. Trump is bringing his enemies closer together and starting to loose allies to the other side too.

The PRC would be delighted to see South Korea enter the Sinosphere and abandon the US. If nothing else, China would see it as a return to historic norms where most of East Asia serves as tribute states to the Chinese empire.

But also likewise, Korea holds historic antagonism towards China, arguably just as much as it does to Japan. Most of the population would hate such a relationship, and despite some in the left thinking otherwise, most South Koreans still see the US as the favorable partner over China.

But with China’s continued rise, and the US seemingly evolving (irreversibly?) into the MAGA Empire, that perception isn’t guaranteed to never change either. The PRC isn’t doing itself much favors in courting its neighbors, so it’ll become a game of who is worse.

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