Faced with the coup that President Yoon executed on 3-4 December, the issue is in the position of the last Biden administration and, more specifically, of the United States. And the words (and not) that it is much more than the main ally of South Korea, must be interpreted with great caution. Both the first and the subsequent month.

With regard to “confidence”, “resilience”, “democracy”, etc., which can be understood on the one hand and on the other, it should be stressed that the secretary of EE.UU. Antony Blinken has not condemned Yoon or his attempted coup. It has not offered special support to Parliament, nor to the people on the street against the coup. Other times it's not.

That, however, seems deeply concerned about the future of Blinken (thanks, to a large extent, to Yoon), the US entity that considers its principal diplomatic achievement, Japanese and South Korean. Because Japan, especially its people, would not feel comfortable tied to a “civil-military” South Korea.

Every time I raised the suspicion that the United States is not much more than a mere observer in this South Korean crisis, I found the same answer: Why should the United States do that? What do the United States gain by returning South Korea to the times of dictators Syngman Rhee, Park Chung Hee or Chun Doo-hwan?

Let us leave the dark geopolitics for another day. Today the activity of shipyards in the world is reflected in much more clarifying figures. The United States and its Western allies, which until recently made (could) most of the world’s ships, both civilian and military, have already been lost in classification. And getting back to the time of the past is a dream: shipbuilding doesn't work that way; when it's left, it's left forever.

For the United States, this naval capability would be a lesser evil if it had not gone into the hands of its rival, the enemy. But China already absorbs more than half of the world’s shipbuilding and its share is growing. Of course, part of that power uses it to build warships. The United States military planner had suddenly confused them.

Only South Korea, which already has less than half of China, is a little exempt from that hegemony. Japan is third, but without reaching central South Korea. These are figures and trends that we must not forget.

Meanwhile, Yoon’s followers don’t forget that Trump is going to be at the helm of the White House in two weeks’ time.

And perhaps for all of this, the Stock Exchange has skyrocketed when Yoon has continued at liberty and has decided to stay.