Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Recognizing South Korea

President Obama very publicly backed South Korea in the face of North Korea's hostility:

"On the Korean peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea, and insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons," Obama said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Recognizing South Korea's importance to us sends a message to the Pillsbury Nuke Boy.

The two Koreas will meet soon:

The two Koreas will meet at the border truce village of Panmunjom on February 11 for preliminary military talks to discuss last year's two deadly attacks against the South's Cheonan warship and the island of Yeonpyeong.

Of course, that bilateral meeting may be the most significant recognition. North Korea has long refused direct meetings with South Korea in order to emphasize Pyongyang's position that South Korea isn't a real country. They'd talk to us--for enough money--as it we were the true rulers of South Korea. No more, I guess.

Maybe the most relevant recognition is the North Korea realization that they are in a world of hurt and maintaining the fiction of a non-sovereign South Korea is a luxury they can no longer afford.