> left leaning parties tend towards disarmament, ... That's what conservatives say, but doesn't match reality. Under the liberal president Roh Moo-Hyun, milit

> left leaning parties tend towards disarmament, ... That's what conservatives say, but doesn't match reality. Under the liberal president Roh Moo-Hyun, military budget increased by 8.8% per year on average. Under his conservative successor Lee Myung-Bak, 5.2% [1]. Roh also made an agreement with the US to finally take back wartime military command. It's an inconvenient secret that if war breaks out in Korea, South Korea's military command automatically transfers to the US. We don't have authority to command our own military. What kind of independent country does that? And then all the conservatives, including active and retired generals, blamed Roh for weakening our military. (According to them, having the authority to command our own military makes us less dependent on the US. But we can always trust the US: only a North Korean sympathizer would doubt that the US will be there to protect us. Therefore it's a communist plot. Or something like that.) Incidentally, these generals' argument prompted Roh to utter the now famous phrase, "부끄러운 줄 알아야지!" (Know your shame!) His successor Lee asked US to please take back the command. Wartime military command is still in the hands of the US. [1] http://ppss.kr/archives/9256 http://ppss.kr/archives/9256 (in Korean, sorry)