Category: Uncategorized

After reading this article in the Chosun Ilbo you would think the Japanese are concerned a South Korean attack on their islands:

Japan appears worried about Korea’s defense reform plans including large-scale troop cuts and increases in spending on cutting-edge technology and has asked Korea’s Defense Ministry for details of the plan, according to a source.

“The Japanese Defense Department has, on a few occasions, informally requested explanation of the background and contents of the National Defense Reform Act,” a government source said. Tokyo appears to worry that the new-model submarines and Aegis combat vessels to be acquired under the plan could be a threat to the island country.

I think the Japanese are more concerned about South Korea not being able to defend themselves from North Korean attack than fearing an invasion of Tsushima island. The less capable the South Koreans are of defending the peninsula more unstable the entire region becomes if the North Koreans look to exploit it.

I would think the Japanese have every reason to want to obtain as much information as possible about the ROK military transformation in regards to their own national security.

Korean police made more in roads in stopping human trafficking to the US:

Police on Sunday arrested a job broker suspected of luring some 200 women into prostitution in the U.S. and elsewhere. Acting on a complaint from a 25-year-old woman identified as Lee, Seoul Metropolitan Police arrested five people including the 53-year-old broker identified as Hyun for involvement in the flesh trade.

Police say the gang forged employment certificates to obtain U.S. and Japanese visas and smuggled women into the U.S. through Canada. They charged the victims W8 million (US$8,000)each for the processing, earning some W600 million altogether.

This is good to see the Korean police continue to work on cracking down on prostitutes being sent to the US to work.

Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak continues to advocate a Seoul to Pusan canal:

Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak Sunday continued to endorse his idea of building a massive cross-country waterway that connects the northern and southern rivers of South Korea.

“Many journalists questioned me at the conference at Kwanhun Club last week on why I keep commenting on the building of the Kyongbu Canal. However, it’s a simple fact that many cities around the world were benefited by making the best use of their rivers and seas,’’ said Lee during a news conference held at the Chongju Art Center in Chongju, North Chungchong Province.

Mayor Lee has been pushing his trans-Korean canal project idea more publicly since the recent success of his Cheongyecheon Stream project in Seoul. The proposed canal would be approximately 20 kilometers long and would connect the Han River that runs through Seoul with the Naktong River that runs through Pusan.

I haven’t heard much about what the feasibility of the idea is, but what I like about Mayor Lee is that he continues to focus on the future of Korea instead of being weighed down by past history and empty slogans so envogue today in Korean politics. Korea still has the potential to do great things and Mayor Lee sees this. The canal idea is more than a construction project; it is also a project that will create jobs and unite national will instead of the nation wide ideology divisions you see today.

Curzon over at Coming Anarchy provides this interesting picture of field rations of various national militaries.

The picture doesn’t have the ROK Army’s rations but having tried their field rations before it is not that bad if you are used to Korean favorites such as ramen and kimchi. However, even if you are not used to Korean cuisine it has got to be better than whatever that is, the Chinese Army is eating in the picture.

It looks like there was another taxi cab related incident in Uijongbu:

U.S. soldier was detained by South Korean police after a taxi driver in Uijeongbu reportedly was assaulted Friday, 8th Army officials confirmed.

An 8th Army spokesman said the Camp Casey Provost Marshal office was notified of a reported assault on a taxi driver at 12:05 a.m. that morning by a soldier stationed in Uijeongbu.

The spokesman said the assault allegedly resulted in facial injuries to the driver.

“The accused soldier was apprehended and detained by Korean National Police, then released to the Camp Red Cloud Provost Marshal office for further processing,?the spokesman said.

This is not the first taxi cab related incident in 2ID and I assure you that it won’t be the last. You can read more about taxi cab related incidents here, here, and here.

As I have chronicled before the taxi cab drivers in Uijongbu are vultures who are looking to rip off GI’s. They know that the GI’s are desperate to get back to camp before curfew, so they feel free to charge exuberant fees, knowing full well that the soldier will more than likely pay it because they have to get back to camp. However, sometimes when you got a GI that is drunk and the cab driver tries to rip him off, tensions mount and the incidents occur. It is not an excuse for a soldier to get in a scuffle with a taxi driver, but it is just the reality of what is happening.

I have long advocated that it is best to swallow your pride and walk away from incidents with Korean nationals because you cannot win. Looks like another soldier will find this out the hard way.

I can hear the calls of the unfair SOFA agreement already.

According to Dongguk University professor Jang Shi-ki, African countries remember North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung as a great leader and example for Africa:

“Ranked among the likes of India’s Gandhi, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Mao Zedong of China, Kim Il-sung stands out as a great leader, revered by the people of the Third World,” Jang writes. “Therefore, the people of Africa feel more affinity with North Korea than with South Korea.”

Dongguk University says Prof. Jang has been on sabbatical since last July and is in South Africa. From there, he writes, “Most of the fighting against dictatorships in Africa was actually directed against the outside power of the U.S., so for them Kim Il-sung, the leader of a Far Eastern country who was brave enough to stand up to the U.S. even before they did, makes him as worthy of honor as their own leaders. Whenever I am given preferential treatment just because I come from the same country as Kim Il-sung, I feel a little embarrassed.”

How Gandhi gets ranked with Mao, Nasser, and Castro shows what an idiot this Professor Jang is. The only people in Africa that think that Kim Il Sung is a great hero are the Robert Mugabe types.

Remember this useful idiot comes from the same university that gave us another useful idiot Kang Jeong-koo who the conservatives have suddenly given martyr status to by investigating him for breaking the National Security Law. They should have just let Kang stagnate in his own irrelevance instead of giving him a greater platform for his views by investigating him.

Is Dongguk University the Berkley of Korea or is it representative of all universities in Korea? They definitely got some kooks hanging out in this school probably getting payed real well to teach young Koreans their love for Kim Il Sung.

This from the New York Times is interesting. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico is going to travel to North Korea:

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a United Nations ambassador in the Clinton administration who has long maintained contacts with North Korea, will travel next week to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, for talks aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear arms program, Mr. Richardson’s office and the Bush administration said Thursday.

Mr. Richardson, a prominent Democrat, said that he would not represent the United States as an official negotiator but that his trip was intended “to move the diplomatic process forward,” following an agreement in principle reached last month in the six-nation talks involving North Korea and the United States and its partners, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.

Why do the North Koreans like Gov. Richardson so much? If he can keep the diplomatic process moving forward then so be it, but I won’t get my hopes up. By the way I like how the NY Times article’s headline is US Democrat Goes to North Korea instead of New Mexico Governor Goes to North Korea.

Ever wonder why the US $20 bill keeps changing? It is because of the quality of counterfeit bills coming out of North Korea commonly referred to as “Super Notes”. North Korea relies on counterfeiting, drug trafficking, and illegal bootlegging to bring in hard currency for the North Korean elites. A lot of this activity is done through North Korean diplomatic missions. Yes that is right North Korean diplomats are regularly involved in criminal activity. Now the US government is trying to crack down on this illegal activity and they are starting in Ireland of all places:

North Korea’s continued involvement in counterfeiting is not helping its relations with the U.S., the State Department said Wednesday (local time). Spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters his government was seeking the extradition of Northern Ireland’s Worker’s Party chief Sean Garland, who has been indicted on suspicion of circulating counterfeit U.S. banknotes of North Korean origin. The way US-North Korea relations will progress is highly contingent on North Korea’s implication in illegal activities, the human rights situation and its nuclear weapons programs, Ereli said.

The daily quoted U.S. officials as saying the inclusion of North Korea in Garland’s indictment was the first time Washington has officially charged North Korea with an illicit activity in court, which suggested a stepping-up of U.S. attempts to crack down on activities like counterfeiting, bootlegging cigarettes and drug trafficking across the globe it accuses Pyongyang of.

This indictment is just a drop in the bucket but at least it is a start.

I’m not sure how real the Great Korean ESL Purge of 2005 is, but it continues to pick up attention in the international press. First the Canadian Globe and Mail ran an article on this “crisis” and now the English Guardian has run an article as well:

Immigration officers are believed to have raided schools, arresting teachers and recruiters.

She added: “The whole situation is totally inhumane. I’ve heard of 70 [foreign teachers] being put in a room with capacity for only 30 or 40. It’s not like they were dealing drugs or running guns.”

I really don’t see any problem with the Korean authorities cracking down on illegal English teachers. If some of these teachers entered the country to teach English without the proper paperwork the Korean authorities have the right to detain and deport you. They should also focus on the business owners that hired them in the first place as well knowing full well that they did not possess the proper documents. As far as jail space that is how the Koreans are treated in jail as well. Maybe the ESL teachers need to get themselves a SOFA agreement that defines the amount of space they get in jail.

Here is something I didn’t know:

These latest arrests follow the high-profile case in March of two Canadian teachers who were involved in an alleged assault outside a Seoul bar. One of the teachers was found to be working in Korea on a tourist visa. The pair were eventually deported, but not without having to pay thousands of dollars in “blood money”- a form of compensation – to their alleged victim.

For being supposedly high profile, I sure don’t remember ever hearing about this incident. If they assaulted somebody it seems like this would of been handled in the Korean courts and not just ended with a compensation payment.

Here are some interesting statistics from the article:

Officials put the number of English teachers working legally in South Korea at 7,800. The number of those working without the necessary documentation is believed to be around 20,000.

That is a lot of people working in Korea illegally if true, but I wonder how many of the 3D workers are working here in Korea illegally as well that are not making many headlines. Then again this whole issue seems pretty over blown to me.

The new Korean soccer coach Dick Advocaat, has gotten off to a good start with his team by having a solid 2-0 win against a quality Iranian soccer team last night. Hopefully the Korean squad will continue to build on this win as they prepare for the up coming World Cup this summer.