Cablegate: Seoul - Media Reaction

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UNCLAS SEOUL 001893

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KMDR KS US
SUBJECT: SEOUL - MEDIA REACTION

Subject: Media Reaction; Seoul

South and Central Asia; U.S. troop increase

"OBAMA'S WRONG AFGHAN STRATEGY AND ROK'S CHOICE"

Left-leaning Hankyoreh Shinmun editorialized (12/02): "President
Obama's choice is unrealistic and lacks justification. ... The
indiscriminate U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan has bred
Taliban forces and turned all Afghan people into an enemy. In
particular, by supporting a corrupt local government and playing it
off against resisting forces, the U.S. is making the Afghan war into
a second Vietnam War. Isn't this why Karl Eikenberry, a retired
U.S. Lieutenant-General and current U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan,
publicly said that troop increases will only invite resistance from
Afghans and that civilian workers should be dispatched instead? ...
The ROKG should reconsider its plan to redeploy Korean troops to the
war torn country."

STEPHENS

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