Category: Uncategorized

The US has stopped food aid to North Korea due to doubts of who the food is being distributed to:

Washington has halted the purchase of 25,000 tons of food aid it had pledged for North Korea this year, half its total commitment, saying it has no way of making sure where the aid goes.
The U.S. State Department said Thursday it was uncertain whether the UN World Food Program would receive the shipment, while there was also no mechanism left to ensure that the food gets to those who need it. As a result, the U.S. did not even buy the 25,000 tons scheduled to be shipped at the end of November.

The U.S. Agency for International Development had previously warned Washington would stop its food aid if North Korean authorities insist on an end to all monitoring of food aid distribution by the WFP.

I know I probably sound harsh, but I don’t think the US should give food to North Korea without proper monitoring. I can see people possibly trying to twist this issue making the US out to be the bad guy, but North Korea could easily get the food aid if they allow monitors in to ensure proper distribution. I don’t think the US should feel obligated to send food to a country that is most likely giving that food to the military and regime elements.

If Kim Jong Il has enough money to build nuclear weapons he has enough money to buy food for his people, or he can just go to Plan B and extort the South Koreans to buy the food for him. I hope President Roh has checkbook ready.

I have recently traveled to Japan for work related reasons (yes I do have a day job besides blogging) and due to a hectic schedule I have been neglecting my blogging duties to go do things like attend the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show to gawk at hot cars and even hotter women.

I did of course, take plenty of pictures to share with everyone. I know it is a tough job taking pictures of cars, motorcycles, and hot chicks but someone has to do it.

The Tokyo Motor Show is really an amazing experience and if you ever get a chance go check it out. This year’s show was held at the Chiba convention center which is the city located to the East of Tokyo. It seems like everytime I go to Chiba it just continues to grow and grow and no doubt the exposure from the motor show will only make it grow more.

The motor show featured cars, motorcycles, and products produced by companies from all across the globe such as Toyota, Honda, Ford, Harley-Davidson, etc. Korea’s contribution to the show is the KIA car and the model you see here. I thought the model was pretty hot, any guesses if she is Korean or Japanese?

For more photos and info about the cars, motorcycles, and hot chicks at the Tokyo Motor Show, I encourage you to check out the official GI Korea photo page, located right here. . However, I don’t think my hot chick photography skills are ready for the big time yet like being on Girl Monday or Girl Wednesday for that matter, but I guess I have to start some where.

Like I said before, it only takes one idiot in a taxi cab to ruin all the good things soldiers in 2ID do:

The 2nd Infantry Division has apologized for an incident involving two of its soldiers and a Dongducheon taxi driver.

Dongducheon police said Thursday that two soldiers are accused of assaulting the driver for refusing to give a them a ride in Dongduchon on the morning of Nov. 25.

In a statement, the division expressed regret about the incident. The soldiers also regret their actions and their chain of command will act as an intermediary to resolve matters of compensation in a timely manner,according to the statement. This incident does not reflect the values of the U.S. Army nor does it reflect the otherwise good conduct of our soldiers. We hold soldiers accountable for their actions and expect them to make responsible choices both on and off duty.

These guys are idiots and will be dealt with, but I just have to keep asking, why is this news? Should we start publishing the details about every soldier that gets caught urinating on the side of a building too? How much longer before taxi cabs in Dongducheon and Uijongbu are put off limits at night? That would end the problem by only using AAFES taxis at night to transport soldiers but that makes to much sense.

Can you expect to get accupuncture treatment for that sore body part instead of Motrin the next time you go on sick call in Yongsan? Well not really, the antique Eastern medicine equipment donated to Yongsan is actually being put on display for people to look at and appreciate:

A Korean physician has donated more than 90 medical instruments and antiques used in traditional Eastern medicine to the 121st General Hospital.

Kim is a truly great person to have as a friend, Allgood said Tuesday after a short ceremony to thank Kim for his donation. it has truly added value to our facility.

I think this is a really good idea by Dr. Kim to display the equipment at Yongsan because it gives soldiers going to the hospital a chance to learn a little bit about Eastern medicine which in my opinion does have great value along with today’s modern medicine.

I wonder if knee surgery would have been cheaper than this:

A family hoping to cure their mother’s weak knees bid nearly $120,000 at an auction for a set of wild ginseng roots that included specimens 110 years old.

Ginseng is highly valued in Korea for its potent healing benefits.

Looks like Viagra has competition now with the release of the Korean made Zydena anti-impotence drug:

South Korea’s health watchdog said it had approved for sale next month the country’s first locally developed anti-impotence drug for men.

The drug, Zydena, is made by Dong-A Pharmaceutical, the country’s largest pharmaceutical company.

“Zydena was found to be safe in clinical tests,” said Park In-Won, a spokesman for the Korea Food and Drug Administration.

“It is the first locally made anti-impotence drug which has won our approval,” he said Tuesday.

The official added that the new drug was effective for up to 12 hours and showed no side effects such as hypertension.

I thought the first locally made Korean anti-impotence drug was boshintang?

Is it just me or is this whole war shrine bickering nonsense getting really old?:

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Monday denounced the Japanese foreign minister’s remarks about a controversial Tokyo shrine that honors convicted war criminals among Japan’s other war dead.

“These remarks are based on misguided recognition of history and the government expresses strong regret about the ill-considered remarks,” the ministry said.

Korea’s national soccer team head coach Dick Advocaat let K-League officials know how he feels about with holding players from playing in an upcoming national team tour:

South Korea, who with fellow Asian teams Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have qualified for Germany, will hold a training camp in the United Arab Emirates and compete in tournaments in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong in January.

“If I was a player and told I could not go, I dont know what Id do — the players can only move abroad through performances in international matches, not the K-League.”

Some of you may remember the problems former head coach Joe Bonfrere had in dealing with the K-League that ultimately helped lead to his firing. However, Bonfrere seemed easier to push around than Advocaat is willing to be. It is going to be interesting to see if the K-League gives into Advocaat’s demands to let the players play.

I am wondering after reading this if Korea is really putting an astronaut or a tourist into space?:

South Korea has decided to put out an open application for the country’s first person in space, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced Tuesday.

(…)

There they will spend seven or eight days performing pre-selected experiments, as well as ones elected via an idea contest among the young Korean public.

If the Korean government is paying the space tourism fee which I believe is around $30 million to Russia in order to put these “astronauts” into space should they still be considered astronauts or space tourists?

As expected the South Korean government has decided to withdraw one third of the Zaytun unit soldiers from Iraq:

South Korea will begin phasing out one-third of its 3,260 troops stationed in Iraq on a humanitarian mission in the first half of next year, the Defense Ministry said Friday.

Combat forces will be mainly affected by the plan, with medics and military engineers required to stay to support the U.S.-led reconstruction efforts in the post-war Iraq, officials said.

After reading this last paragraph I immediately began thinking, what did they need combat forces for, to guard the new toilets?

Of course the US media is making this look like a slap in the face to President George Bush:

The announcement came a day after South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun met with President Bush in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, where the leaders insisted their countries’ alliance was strong and agreed to work together to curb North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions.

Of course some incompetent no name from the Bush administration makes it seem that way:

South Korea’s announcement caught the White House by surprise. “They have not informed the United States government of that,” said National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones.

This is not a surprise to anyone paying attention to Korea. The Uri Party has been saying since last month that they were going to cut the troop presence in Iraq by one third. If the dopes that work for Bush in the White House had a clue about developments in Korea they could have presented this development as an example that Iraq is stabilizing because the Zaytun unit is completing their designated mission of reconstruction in Irbil and are beginning a phased withdrawal accordingly.

Of course the dopes that work in the White House blew it by coming back and criticizing the South Korean government which is sure to further strain relations after IMHO, the South Korean government is actually doing President Bush a favor. By doing a phased withdrawal over the next year instead of just pulling all the soldiers out at once let’s the President save some face.

I haven’t agreed with the ROK Army deployment since it first occurred because the unit is not being allowed to do any meaningful reconstruction because of a government more concerned about casualties then actual reconstruction assistance. So in the grand scheme of things the redeployment of the ROK forces means nothing tactically, and would have meant little politically if it was handled properly.

Of course incompentent government officials combined with a liberal press eager to spin this story against President Bush turns this into another political disaster for the administration and the ROK-US alliance.