Dear General Leon J. LaPorte

As a man who has barely entered the current established generation, I would like to open this letter with an apology. Despite the comments aired on a CBS's '60 Minutes' report, the majority of Koreans want the United States Forces Korea to remain in the country. If Kim Jong Il (I wonder if I should call him chairman) starts a war, I will fight against his soldiers regardless of whether the USFK is still here, or the Status of Forces Agreement is revised.

Most of those who demand the withdrawal of the USFK belong to the younger generation. Apparently we have failed to teach these people how to think, to be open minded, and have a sense of humor. Rather than this, we may have encouraged a wrongly perceived pride rising from a sense of inferiority.

Let me explain an example so that you can understand the level of their thinking. Recently when I saw some young people organize a boycott of the latest James Bond movie, I thought that we really have a long way to go. Koreans have the childish notion that they should always be portrayed in a good light by foreign media. We are very sensitive of our image, but fail to see how we treat ethnic Koreans from China and foreigners with darker skin. This is because we are not trained to question ourselves, nor imagine ourselves in somebody else's position. If we made a movie that portrays Americans as funny and foolish, most Americans would simply laugh at it. It seems to me that we still do not have enough cultural confidence. Only when we create an "anti-Korean movie" about ugly Koreans in the United States, instead of boycotting a 007 movie, will people realize we have matured.

The current anti-American sentiment of the young generations is somewhat comical and resembles a product of mass psychology. Most of the males have been circumcised, unlike their "brothers" in North Korea, in a practice established from the West. The women's standard of beauty also copies America in a distorted fashion; a narrow face (often actually characterized as a criminal type in the US), aquiline nose (a joke says Britons are bad people because of this as they cannot clean their noses), and fair skin (if you have too fair skin in the US you feel inferior). They joined the anti-American campaign because if they didn't they would be criticized by their friends, and believe what they are told as if it were their own thoughts. Sadly, this is the level of our intellectual attainment.

What about expert professors on the US, who instigated these protests? They have doctorates from esteemed American schools, but have difficulty ordering a hamburger from McDonalds and have no American friends. Why? Because they spend all their time in libraries with only the intention of becoming a professor in Korea, while at night they flock together and curse the US. This has made them hate America despite their ignorance of the country and its people. To some misguided young people these are supposed experts on the US.

The US will not collapse if North Korea conquers South Korea, however, you should be careful of Korean mothers who illegally get their children educated for free in America. You should also be careful of ugly Koreans living in the United States, as these two could help in America's demise, which maybe what Kim Jong Il really wants.

An increasing number of Korean mothers make their children study English in the US during the summer vacation, lying to officials that they are going to emigrate there. They don't pay any tax, nor did their ancestors fight in the War of Independence, but enjoy the benefits of a free education and then return to Korea leaving baffled teachers behind. There are also a large group of mothers who send their children to the US for a long time to study English for free. This gives me huge concerns on the future of America's public education system. I was embarrassed when I heard one such mother staying in the US tell her children not to play with black or Latino children. It was an extreme irony for an illegal Korean immigrant to show prejudice to bona fide Americans.

Let me address the North Korea issue. I think that Kim Jong Il is a better thinker than George W, Bush, but nonetheless he is still an evil man even though he is Korean. He is a dictator without parallel in Korean history; he starves his people to death and puts others in concentration camps.

If I were living in Germany during World War II, I would have joined in the plot to assassinate Hitler, even though he was one of my countrymen (in fact Hitler was an Austrian). If you were to bomb North Korea's nuclear facilities, you will have at least one South Korean who supports you, because I don't want to see Seoul in flames and the destruction of my country. I don't believe in or trust Kim Jong Il's sanity. I would volunteer for the South Korean army, will fight him before that day. I am pro-South Korea, pro-American and anti-Kim Jong Il.

Yours sincerely

Professor Kim Dae-shik

(Seoul National University Department of Physics)