S Korea fears US won’t protect it

NOW NORTH’S MISSILES CAN REACH US South’s media and experts fear it could cloud commitment to security alliance.

North Korea’s latest missile test has extended the range of its weapons to much of mainland US and raised a new fear in the South: would Washington protect Seoul when that could put American cities in danger?

The US is security guarantor for the democratic and capitalist South, where 28 500 US troops are stationed to defend it from Pyongyang after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a ceasefire instead of a peace treaty. But last week’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test put major US cities including Chicago and Los Angeles within range of a potential attack from the nuclear-armed North. Now South Korean media and experts fear that could cloud US commitment to the alliance.

“Would the Trump administration protect us from an attack from the North when doing so could risk putting the US in danger of a nuclear attack?” JoongAng Ilbo, a major Seoul newspaper, said in an editorial. It concluded gloomily, the answer “may not be yes”.

The North has for decades demanded the US sign a peace treaty with Pyongyang and withdraw its troops from the South.

South Korea’s top-selling daily Chosun Ilbo also questioned the US’s reassurances. It was “hard to expect the US to help the South” if that risked a nuclear attack on America, it said in an editorial on Monday.

South Koreans fear a pre-emptive strike by the US against the North, which could trigger devastating consequences even without Pyongyang resorting to nuclear weapons. It has massed conventional artillery within range of Seoul. The US has hardened its stance over the North since Friday’s test, with its ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, saying: “The time for talk is over.” – AFP