The United States has engineered a diplomatic mess for itself that has resulted in it no longer being a credible ally in northeast Asia, the loss of the South Korean election by its favoured candidate, and a strategic change in the regional balance of power. Japan is edging closer towards rapprochement with its geopolitical rivals Russia and China than at any time. There is widespread disaffection with the US in South Korea – although despite the banner headlines, not yet rabid anti-Americanism.
The immediate cause of the crisis is the inept handling of that most awkward of adversaries, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, by President George Bush’s administration, and its cavalier dismissal of more nuanced ways of dealing with it advocated by South Korea, China and Russia.
