NSA spying on S Korea embarrassing, but unlikely to undermine alliance. American spying on North Korea is no secret to anyone and is widely viewed as something quite normal. But the recent revelations that the American NSA has also tapped electronic communications of leading politicians in South Korea, including the President, have created a stir. True, they have further stirred anti-American sentiment in East Asian countries. At the same time, they are unlikely to result in anything much except diplomatic explanations and apologies. Professor Oleg Matveychev of Moscows High Economic School believes that the leading East Asian countries are so deeply involved with the US in every economic, technological and security aspect that they can ill afford political anti-American posturing: America shields South Korea and Japan against two powerful Communist regimes, North Korea and mainland China. For this reason, Seoul will never fall out with Washington to any serious extent. At the same time, it will have to somehow save face domestically. It will take ritual steps to show the South Korean people that South Korea is a sovereign nation that cannot tolerate spying on it. The leading Korea expert at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dr Georgy Toloraya also points out that East Asias Confucianism, in which the notion of privacy is not that pronounced, is likely to cushion the impact of disclosures about American electronic spying: Being informed that the US snooped on South Koreans including leaders, the average South Korean will shrug this off as a passing embarrassment in relations between close allies. There will be no public uproar or political scandal of the kind we observed in European countries and Brazil in the wake of similar disclosures. Only a handful of diplomatic statements will ripple the otherwise calm political waters. South Koreas alliance with the United States will remain unchanged. Read more: voiceofrussia/2013_11_09/NSA-spying-on-S-Korea-embarrassing-but-unlikely-to-undermine-alliance-7415/
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 13:35:45 +0000
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