South Korea show of delight

Christian Science Monitor, 23 December 2010

Not sure exactly why they are cheering.
Because they're finally going to get that war they've been training for?  Because they're going to have the opportunity to die or be maimed in the name of an ideology? 
Something to celebrate.

The latest military drills by the South Korean and U.S. militaries, amongst the largest since the end of the Korean War, are intended to punish Pyongyang for its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the killings of four South Koreans a few weeks ago, and to show that Lee Myung-bak has found his testicles, and is ready to use them to think about how to deal with North Korean belligerence.
It seems that it's all in good humour though -- and it's clear that there hasn't been a shred of constructive policy towards North Korea in Seoul/Washington's response to the crisis thus far.  We're making a point.  That we have a much bigger stick.  And we are aware that what we are doing now will not help improve "stability" in the region, as we like to say.  After settling down a bit, things will return to low-intensity harassment, which may take a new form, to accommodate a fresh context.

The recent South Korean military response reminds me of the incident which took place within the DMZ in the 1990s, I believe, when two American officers in the middle of trimming a tree to improve visibility were assaulted by North Korean troops.  The American response was immediate: they scrambled two F-16s, and blew the Korean tree to smithereens. Very mature.

When we have other Wikileaks revelations in a few years, I will be curious to learn how Chinese officials will have described the South Korean/American response to this crisis.  Childish?  A tantrum?