Category: Uncategorized

Something else to piss Seoul off with:

Backed by a $2 million budget, a former adviser to President Bush will take charge of a high-profile effort to advance human rights in North Korea, even as negotiations on the country’s nuclear weapons program enter a critical stage.

The appointment Friday of Jay Lefkowitz, who helped shape domestic policy at the White House, frees Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill to concentrate on efforts to end the weapons program.

The South Korean government cannot be to pleased by this because they will look at this as provoking the North Koreans during this time of six party talk negotations that are currently in recess. The South Koreans would prefer to turn a blind eye to human rights violations in North Korea and deal exclusively with brokering a deal that gives North Korea lots of free stuff in return for behaving the next few years until they need more money and the next crisis arrives. From the South Korean viewpoint, things like human rights only tend to complicate things.

Korean national soccer team coach Jo Bonfrere is on the hot seat after his teams 1-0 defeat to Saudi Arabia:

The Dutchman has already steered South Korea to its sixth consecutive World Cup finals in Germany, but a string of lackluster performances has sparked calls for him to step down from the media and fans.

“All options, including whether to dismiss Bonfrere, will be discussed at the meeting,” Yonhap quoted the official as saying.

It is true the national team has been playing like crap lately. I watched this last game against Saudi Arabia and the Korean team had plenty of chances for goals but the players kept missing their shots. I don’t know if you can blame the coach entirely for that. The players should feel some heat to as well. The complaint I always found humorous about Bonfrere was that he doesn’t communicate well with his players. Of course he doesn’t, he does not speak Korean. If people want a coach that communicates well hire a Korean coach.

However, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Bonfrere isn’t coaching the national team next year for the World Cup Finals. The team is playing so bad now they might just need a change though I don’t totally blame Bonfrere for it, but he is ultimately responsible.

The Korean film industry continues its success with the recent release of three very popular films:

That three films in completely different genres should be enjoying such a harvest in as many weeks is seen by the movie world as a good omen for Chungmu-ro, Korea’s Hollywood. The industry had been on the brink of crisis due to financial problems, controversy over the power of star actors and an offensive by Hollywood blockbusters, with the viewer share of Korean films plummeting to 32 percent in July. With the three films, it has bounced back quickly to 64 percent as of Monday, according to CGV statistics.

Film critic Shim Young-sup said the news was particularly welcome at a time of almost unprecedented concerns about the Korean film industry. “The significance of major productions like ‘Silmido’ is still there, but it’s particularly good news that the three films have firmed up the backbone of the Korean film industry with a new character.” Lee Seung-jae, president of major film producer LJ Film, said it was significant that the three were not light comedies or fashionable films but rather in a line of “well-made commercial films” that have appeared since 2002. “Rather than being movies in the same vein that squeeze each other out, the three films of very distinct genres worked a synergy effect,” he said.

I for one look forward to when these movies come out on DVD. If you have never watched Korean movies you really are missing out. The majority of DVDs rented from Korean movie stores have English subtitles. There really is a wealth of high quality Korean movies that are worth checking out.

Soldiers who tore off the rank of a convicted rapist may now face punishment for their actions:

A U.S. military judge in South Korea will hold a hearing next month into an incident in which soldiers stripped rank chevrons, ribbons and other items from a soldier who’d just been sentenced on a rape conviction, officials said Monday.

But as he stood there, they also began methodically stripping his Class A green uniform jacket of everything but his buttons and name tag.

Public humiliation is something you have to be very careful about in the military. I saw a battalion commander get in trouble before when he paraded a soldier that was convicted for drunk driving in front of the battalion formation.

I doubt anyone will get in too serious of trouble for this but this should serve as a lesson to everyone that even convicted rapists have certain rights that have to be respected.

According to anti-USFK protesters, USFK plans on blowing up a South Korean island:

A small group of South Korean protesters prevented a U.S. Forces Korea team from clearing target ordnance from a coastal bombing range Monday, protesters and military officials confirmed Tuesday.

“This annual explosives ordnance disposal requirement, per agreement with the ROK government, attempts to remove all known surface hazardous items and unexploded ordnance.”

This is all standard procedures to clear ranges of unexploded ordinance. Not according to the protesters:

Hwang Ho-sup, the leader of Korea Federation for Environmental Movement — the group that occupied the island — told Stars and Stripes he fears USFK intends to save time and money by blowing up ordnance on the range before management is turned over to South Korea on Aug. 31. His group also believes USFK might attempt to “blow up” the entire range.

“Media reports quoting USFK personnel have falsely indicated that disposal personnel had arrived to ‘blow up the island’ and are untrue,” the USFK release stated. “Small controlled detonations are sometimes used to ensure the safe handling of unexploded ordnance during the removal process, but public safety is paramount in all disposal operations.”

I willing to bet these same protesters would be protesting USFK if they didn’t remove unexploded ordinance from the island and someone got killed or injured after the hand over.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has once again apologized for the actions of the Imperial Japanese during World War II:

In a statement issued by his office, Koizumi acknowledged the “enormous damage” inflicted by Japan’s military “by colonization and invasion” during the conflict.

“I would like to also express our deep condolences to the victims inside and outside of Japan during World War II.”

Japan has apologized multiple times before for what happened in World War II, but I really think that whatever they say will not be good enough in Korea judging by this reaction in the Korea Times:

Japanese leaders have repeatedly apologized for the atrocities that its imperialistic military inflicted on its Asian neighbors. But Japan’s actions belie its apologies. Japanese leaders visit the Yasukuni shrine annually to pay tribute to Japan’s war dead, including several class-A criminals, who are deified in the controversial temple. Many of them have defended what their imperial military perpetrated on Asian countries. Some have even claimed that their imperialism contributed to the development of its victims. Tokyo has also encouraged distortions of historical facts concerning its wrongdoings in elementary and secondary school textbooks.

Repenting its cruel misdeeds while its neighbors are observing the day of their liberation from oppression, Japan’s Foreign Ministry defended its political leaders’ visit to the Yasukuni shrine on Saturday. It argued that Japan has apologized sufficiently for imperial wrongdoings. The ministry, which represents the Japanese government, also said that Tokyo has fully compensated everyone, seemingly with the Korean victims in mind for whom Seoul has asked Tokyo to provide the appropriate restitution.

It seems like no matter what Japan does people bring up Yasukuni Shrine, textbooks, Dokto, and more compensation. I bet if Japan took a wrecking ball to Yasukuni, publicly burned their textbooks, formally ended any claims to Dokto, and payed more compensation money that probably would still not be good enough either.

The fact of the matter is that the anti-Japanese sentiment is being used as a political weapon to rally populations around. So when President Roh’s popularity is dipping bring up something about Dokto or America to divert attention.

If this feeling from Korea about lacking a sincere apology from Japan was genuine then shouldn’t the Koreans be demanding an apology from Russia and China for authorizing Kim Il Sung to invade South Korea and start the Korean War that ultimately killed more Koreans and caused more property damage than the 35 years of Japanese oppression did?

The Chinese government has been demanding an apology as well from Japan, yet they don’t seem worried about apologizing for the economic policies of Mao Zedong that caused a mass famine that killed millions of Chinese. Then there was the invasion of Tibet which I don’t see any apology on the horizon for either.

So this whole apology business really seems disingenuous to me. The Japanese government is pretty bone headed for publicizing Yasukuni visits and even more bone headed for this whole Dokto stupidity but to link these to incidents to an apology for World War II actions when others have committed similar tragedies just shows politics are alive in well in northeast Asia and politicians need to have a villian to rally the electorate against. Japan will always be that villian.

A couple of Camp Walker soldiers are being credited with aiding an injured South Korean motorist:

As they crept forward, they realized the car stalled in the lane had been in some sort of accident. It was “dented in pretty good,” said Bird. He said he “could see the right front passenger tire was … sideways, not upright.”

When the soldiers, and the two South Korean support personnel in the car with them, realized no one was assisting the accident victims, they jumped into action.

This isn’t the first time I have heard or seen somebody not being aided after an accident. I was riding in a military inter-camp bus when it got in an accident my last tour here. Glass showered the bus driver seriously injuring him and the driver of the vehicle in front of the bus was even more seriously injured. The driver of the dump truck that caused the accident of course drove off. There was about 20 US soldiers on the bus who aided the injured. Not one Korean vehicle pulled over to assist. American paramedics quickly responded and stabalized the two injured Koreans. I had a Korean friend tell me before that people are hesistant to help in Korea because they might get sued. I guess Korea doesn’t have a good simaritan law like the US. Anyway here is what these soldiers did:

Portillo, the first to reach the window, said he was shocked by what he saw.

Both Bird and Portillo credit their military training for preparing them to react.

Some how I don’t think I will wake up tomorrow and see this headline in the Korea Times: Good Samaritan US Soldiers Save Korean Motorists Life. Anyway great job by those two soldiers.

Can someone please tell me how a noise study costs $300,000?:

Officials will test effects of aircraft noise and vibration at 60 locations near Osan Air Base and 40 near Camp Humphreys, Han said. The U.S. military reportedly will aid the study by providing information about the path and frequency of its flights to and from the bases, Han said.

Officials at U.S. Forces Korea headquarters in Seoul and at Osan Air Base and Camp Humphreys had no immediate information Friday on the noise study or the U.S. military’s reported role in it.

Camp Humphrey’s literally has homes adjacent to the fence line near the flight line. Of course there is going to be noise. Don’t build your home adjacent to a flight line and then complain about noise. Osan and Humphrey’s have been operating for over 50 years, now people are having side effects from aircraft noise? Why doesn’t anyone complain about the ROK Air Force’s planes?

No, this is a suicide bus bombing in China of all places:

One suicide bombing exploded on a bus in Fuzhou City, Fujian Provice, at around 2:30pm, August 8.
According to official news, the explosion was caused by a 42-year old farmer who had cancer. But it is hard for police to reach such a conclusion so quickly. The news said there was one killed and dozens injured, it did not mention whether the bomber was killed.

Anonymous witness said there were at least five killed, some said more than 20. Witness saw one body was removed and rescuers tried to find survivors and picked up body parts.

The link has graphic pictures so be advised but obviously looking at the pictures more than one person died in this bus bombing.

Some how I don’t find a suicide bombing farmer with cancer credible. After all this is China and they are doing a good job keeping this story quiet. A more plausible cause could be Muslim Uighur rebels in the West of the country may have a new tactic. However, I’m sure the Chinese government will make sure we will never know.

It is that year again, Ulchi Focus Lens (ULF) Time, where lots of US soldiers come to Korea on TDY orders, ROK Army soldiers can be seen all over the US installations making chow hall lines three times as long, half your unit is missing for a month due to taskings to puck icons on a computer and being drivers for retired brass, and North Korea says our little computer game is a prelude to war:

North Korea’s military said on Saturday war games by South Korea and United States were a prelude to a U.S. military attack and a tactic to compel it to accept U.S. terms in six-party talks on its nuclear program.

“Its brigandish aim is to wind up its preparations for preemptive attack on the DPRK and drive the situation on the peninsula to an extreme pitch of tension,” the North’s official KCNA news agency quoted an unnamed spokesman of the North Korean army as saying, referring to the drills.

The more things change around here, the more they stay the same.