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“We Refuse to Be U.S. Cannon Fodder” Korean Resistance to U.S. Hegemony 

Sept 28, 2026

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In this talk, Dr. Simone Chun argues that Washington seeks to use South Korea's vast military as a proxy force for U.S. imperialism across Asia, from its war of aggression against Iran to a potential conflict with China. Central to this is wartime operational control (OPCON), which keeps Seoul's roughly 500,000 active-duty troops and 3 million reservists within a U.S.-controlled command structure. Chun, a researcher, activist, and board member of the Korea Policy Institute, examines how OPCON could draw South Korea into conflicts from Hormuz to China, the contradiction between Trump's diplomatic overtures to North Korea and ongoing U.S.-led trilateral war-making with South Korea and Japan, and growing South Korean resistance to U.S. militarism.