Author: GIKorea

Life for this ROK Army Staff Sergeant must really suck, not only is he infected with COVID-19, but he has been outed as being gay, subject of derision across Korea for creating this cluster infection, and will likely get smash by ROK military justice for breaking an order:

South Korea’s military on Wednesday reported three more COVID-19 infections linked to a cluster that emerged in Seoul’s Itaewon district recently, bringing the tally to 11. The three soldiers apparently contracted the coronavirus from a staff sergeant at the Cyber Command in central Seoul.

Of all the cases uncovered so far, four soldiers and five officers worked at the Cyber Command, and the other two officers were stationed at an Army base in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

The staff sergeant at the Cyber Command initially tested positive Friday after having visited a club in Itaewon on May 2 in violation of rules the military had imposed to cut risks. 

The sergeant is believed to be responsible for all the infections linked to Itaewon at the Cyber Command. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but let this be a warning to everyone in USFK thinking about going out to any bars or clubs. Could you imagine the negative media if a U.S. soldier caused a massive cluster infection like this?

It is a good thing USFK is testing all the new arrivals to Korea because they caught another service member infected with the virus:

An American service member tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving from the United States on a U.S.-government chartered flight for a new assignment in South Korea, the military said Tuesday.

He was the second service member found to have the virus upon arrival via the so-called Patriot Express in less than a week. That raised the total number of confirmed cases affiliated with U.S. Forces Korea to 28, including four active-duty troops.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The Stars & Stripes has an article about the military police patrolling outside of Camp Humphreys trying to enforce USFK’s COVID restrictions:

Routine U.S. military police patrols into the entertainment district outside Camp Humphreys took on new meaning when coronavirus cases, seemingly curbed in South Korea, resurfaced with the loosening of social-distancing measures.

Just a week ago, new cases were being reported in the single digits. Now, that number has grown nearly eight-fold following an outbreak in Seoul’s popular nightlife district in Itaewon. Anyone who visited clubs and bars in the area between April 30 and May 6 is likely to have been exposed to the virus, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

Courtesy patrols by military police have been standard practice for years. Police routinely visit drinking establishments outside the gates of nearly every U.S. military installation in the country to ensure service members are behaving.

Now, because of the declaration of a public health emergency by U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Robert Abrams, military police are also peering inside restaurants and barbershops to ensure U.S. personnel are complying with health protection condition restrictions.

USFK personnel must avoid gatherings of more than 15 people. Off-base activities such as dining at restaurants and visiting barbershops, bars, movie theaters and amusement parks remain prohibited.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but every time I hear of courtesy patrols in South Korea I can’t help, but think of the Osan Shakedown Scandal.

I am not sure what else anyone would expect him to say, if you don’t train together for an extended amount of time of course it will impact readiness:

Scaling down combined military exercises between South Korea and the United States does have an impact on readiness, a former commander of U.S. Forces Korea said Tuesday.

Ret. Gen. Walter Sharp was referring to the major allied exercises that have been reduced in scope to facilitate denuclearization negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea.

“I think that scaling down, and doing exercises in other ways, does have an effect on readiness,” he said during a virtual seminar hosted by the Korea Economic Institute of America.

He said he would encourage the continuation of the Combined Forces Command exercise program as a deterrent and as a readiness issue.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It was only a matter of time before the Korean media jumped on foreign English teachers for visiting Itaewon:

Concerns are growing at schools as nearly 90 foreign English teachers were found to have recently visited Itaewon in Seoul, a new COVID-19 hot spot connected to more than 90 confirmed coronavirus cases, education officials said Tuesday.

The South Jeolla Office of Education said 36 foreign teachers and 15 Korean teaching staff visited Itaewon and the Hongdae area sometime between April 24 and May 6. Among them two visited nightclubs. The office said 20 tested negative for the virus and 31 are currently undergoing testing.

According to the South Jeolla provincial government, five residents including one foreign teacher were confirmed to have visited Itaewon during the period when a 29-year-old Korean “superspreader” visited a number of nightclubs there from May 1 to May 2, but all tested negative. 

The Gangwon Provincial Office of Education also said 55 foreign teachers and substitute teachers visited Itaewon from April 24 to May 6. They didn’t visit clubs or bars, just a number of restaurants and coffee shops. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the Korea Times writes an article about how schools are supposedly concerned about foreign born English teachers even though none of them have tested positive yet for the virus.

Does anyone think there were no ethnic Korean teachers that visited Itaewon during this timeframe?