I came across this article in tomorrow's edition of the Stars and Stripes. In 2004, incoming military cadets were asked what country is South Koreas enemy. 34% responded the US v. 33% for North Korea. Hmmmm. Needless to say, the article goes on to say that they've fixed the problem.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?s...&article=54116

I'm wouldn't have been suprised if the books they used were published at Berkley.

I read the article. It is true that the education South Koreans have been receiving has been less than favorable for the U.S. we should thank the General who recently added historical facts to the new cadets' education. They have been influenced by teachers and textbooks that held distorted views of the facts of the Korean war. Talking with college students in Korea reveals a gap in true historical facts. A couple of years ago a Canadian English teacher asked for help in having his University class meet with Americans for a question & answer session, as he sensed they were really ignorant of why the Americans were here, and what they do. Our Forum arranged for a briefing fot his class. The feedback was that it was successful in giving the students a view of reality.

After the 2002 accident in which two girls were killed by a US Army tracked vehicle, it became "cool" among young Koreans to hate the US. It was still going strong in 2004.

It's still present. I'm an exchange officer at the Korean Air Force Staff College and I see it among my classmates. Their AF Academy has a lot of leftist civilian professors and so they get that from day one. My overall impression is they don't so much hate us as think of us as a necessary evil.

They are, however, extremely paranoid about the strengthening US-Japan alliance. That subject has come up constantly in class discussions and they even asked the US Ambassador about it when he visited.

PBAR

Good info from calvinB1nav! It is to be expected that there is a concern with our association with Japan. They both would prefer to be our best friend! There will be less friction, the longer time has to heal the wounds left from the Japanese occupation of Korea. Old wounds heal slowly. They still argue over ownership of Dokdo Island, and the competition continues in world trade.
I predict cooperation with Japan will come sooner than there will be one unified Korea.