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U.S. Policy And The Two Koreas

Edward A. Olsen
Reviewed by By Donald S. Zagoria
Winter 1988/89
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Edward A. Olsen
Westview Press
1988
115 pp.
$11.95

The author is worried about the future of U.S.-Korean relations. The U.S. is overburdened strategically and it must either shed, share or reduce its burdens. In Korea the U.S. cannot get rid of its burdens safely; consequently it must share responsibilities. But a "recurrent strain of isolationist and America-first attitudes" seems to be emerging in the U.S. The roots of this phenomenon include: frustration with nuclear confrontation, annoyance with allies, identification with the "Vietnam syndrome," anxiety about the foreign economic challenge. Collectively, "these attitudes may impair U.S. relations with Korea." And as the U.S. turns inward, Europeans and Asians may also look more to their own interests and capabilities. This would be worrisome because despite much rhetoric about the Pacific community, "nothing in the Pacific approaches the cohesive qualities of the North Atlantic."

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