America VS Korea: Beefing up

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKN1233969720080612

From the picture above, you can see very well that South Koreans aren't very happy with their President allowing the import of US beef once again. To be honest, I really pity President Lee Myung-bak; he's really trying to save the economy of S.Korea, but with the hard-handed tactics used by the States, he has to make this extremely unpopular decision.

The Americans used one of the main tactics as described in the Art of War: Attacking the enemy's weakness. S.Korea's economy is largely export dependent, and if President Lee Myung-bak refuses to import US beef, the FTA between Korea and America is most likely to fall through, thus posing a great threat to the financial well-being of S.Korea.

However, I believe that the Americans should have used a more subtle method to mitigate this problem. They should know that the true reason why so many Koreans are taking to the streets; it's not really because of the beef, rather it's because of the strong anti-American sentiments present in the hearts of the Koreans.

Traditionally, the ties between Korea and US has been strong since the Korean war, where the US offered a great amount of assistance to the South Koreans, but they (S.Koreans) increasingly feel that US is becoming more selfish and overbearing. Especially with the Bush administration (not again), issues including trade policies like the current beef deal and military presence in Korea, are really upsetting the Koreans. The Americans should try to repair the broken relationship, instead of exacerbating the situation by forcing Korea to import US beef. If the Koreans can be convinced that the US is once again their greatest friend and ally, I'm sure that much more lucrative deals can be accomplished between the two nations.

I sincerely hope that the new President of the States will look into these problems and try to solve them amicably, as the current diplomatic strategies employed will only breed resentment in the Koreans and further degrade the relationship between the two countries.