Kimchee Eating Surrender Monkeys

In the days before the US began the Second Gulf War (aka the First Invasion of Iraq), it was fashionable in amongst right-wing commentators to criticize the French as "cheese eating surrender monkeys" for their opposition to an armed "solution". I am surprised that these same pundits have not attacked the South Korean government as vigorously for caving in the Taliban terrorists who were holding 19 Korean missionaries captive.

Over the weekend, the government in Seoul agreed to continue with the withdrawal of South Korean troops by the year end in exchange for the captives. They also agreed to end missionary work in Afghanistan and to encourage South Korean aid workers to return home. In other words, they agreed to do what they had already planned on doing along with two other meaningless gestures. (Meaningless, that is, unless the missionary trips are in fact government-sponsored.)

Still, the agreement was could have several serious repercussions. First, and the reason most frequently quoted in the news, the deal provides the Taliban with more credibility. (Apparently, thousands of dead Afghans and hundreds of dead NATO troops did not provide the Taliban with enough credibility in some people's eyes.) Second, the deal undermined the authority of the Afghan government, since the Koreans negotiated directly with the Taliban. Third, it may enourage the Taliban to target civilians from other countries since the tactic worked with the Koreans. Fourth, it may encourage groups in other parts of the world to target South Koreans, since they set a precedent of appeasing kidnappers.

I doubt the deal is enough to make the American government reconsider the wisdom of maintaining 25,000 troops in South Korean, but I do not doubt that the memory of the deal will colour relations between the two governments in the future. I hope that Seoul still feels the price was worth paying when this happens.