United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made some provocative remarks at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee last Wednesday. He said that as the U.S. military is deeply involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, it will not be able to come to South Korea in a timely manner, and that the Navy and Air Force will fill the vacuum left by a delay in committing ground forces in Korea in case of an emergency. Under “Operations Plan 5027,” a scenario for a war of aggression against North Korea, Washington is committed to dispatching some 690,000 troops to the...