The United States-led and UN-approved alliance won the Korean War.
The American-South Koran alliance is strong:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that South Korea will take a larger role in defense against North Korean aggression as Seoul has pledged to up its investments in military capabilities and bolster defense spending.
Hegseth said he is “greatly encouraged” by South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back’s commitment to increase defense spending and make “greater” investments in the country’s military ability, including “critical” missile defense and space capabilities that “our forces need to preserve the peace and prevail, God forbid, in war.”
South Korea is much less a desperate defense of the DMZ issue than it is a power projection platform issue.
The Korean War is the original "America doesn't win wars anymore" conflicts. But as time has gone on I have shifted from seeing the war as a stalemate that left the pre-war status quo intact along largely the same line. Now I see the war that created a free democratic country that is so prosperous and capable of high-technology weapons that it will help us restore our shipbuilding capabilities.
Heck, even Vietnam should get another look. And don't even get me started on Iraq.
With South Korean pledges, South Korea will be a power projection platform able to provide alliance security rather than being a pure consumer.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
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NOTE: I made the meme using a 2024 image from NASA.
