Category: Uncategorized

North Korea has agreed to restart negotiations to end their nuclear program this month:

The six-nation talks will resume July 25, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday.

“The U.S. side clarified its official stand to recognize (North Korea) as a sovereign state, not to invade it and hold bilateral talks within the framework of the six-party talks,” KCNA reported.

It looks like China put some leverage on the North Koreans to continue the negotiations. I will be very surprised if anything comes out of the July 25th meeting with the North Koreans.

The Japundit is reporting about a bikini controversy in Buan county:

Women’s right activists are up in arms in Korea over a campaign at a popular resort area that offers incentives to women wearing bikinis.

The campaign is being advertised by posters reading: “Show off your beauty and get a 10-percent discount.”

I initially had images of a beach filled with bikini clad Ms. Korea’s but I then began to think about it. What if the beach is filled with bikini clad ajumas looking for discounts? I don’t think a 10% discount is enough to get young Korean women to wear bikinis but it appears I am going to have to check out this beach to make sure. Purely for professional curiosity of course.

Could this beach one day be filled with women in bikinis?

The Party Pooper is at it again. He gives his take on the Korean Konglish craze. Funny stuff.

If you have some spare PATRIOT missiles for sale I know a buyer for you:

From next year, South Korea will replace its ageing ground-to-air Nike missiles, introduced 40 years ago, with Patriot missiles, the defence ministry said. A decision on whether to buy new missiles directly from the United States or second-hand ones from Germany has yet to be taken, it added.

“We may buy US-made Patriot missiles from Germany,” a ministry official said. The South Korean military had planned to buy 48 Patriot missiles from the United States in 2000, but the plan was scrapped because of a dispute over the cost.

Currently there are PATRIOT missile units located in Suwon, Osan, Kunsan, and Kwangju providing air and missile defense to those areas. The missiles located in those areas are called PATRIOT PAC-3 missiles which are much more advanced than the PAC-2 missiles that would be sold to the South Koreans. Still it is a good sign that the ROK military is looking to increase their own idependent defense capabilities. However, will this lead to the US PATRIOT missile batteries leaving Korea? I seriously doubt that will happen any time soon.

Recently there has been some joint military training going on here in Northeast Asia between the two bitter neighbors Japan and Korea. On Thursday, the ROK and Japanese militaries conducted a anti-terrorism exercise in the Korea Strait:

The Korea Coast Guard and Japan’s Maritime Safety Agency each deployed one 3,000-ton patrol ship, a helicopter, a speed boat and special forces team members in the Korea Strait.

Patrol boats first blocked the ferry’s course, and special forces then boarded the vessel from helicopters and high-speed boats. Simulated injured passengers were flown to land by helicopter, while fleeing “terrorists” were hunted down by speed boats.

This exercise is being used as a train up for South Korean security forces leading up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan this November.

Chinese Naval Vessel

Also on Thursday their was another military exercise going on off the coast of China. This one remarkably involved China, Korea, and Japan:

China on Thursday conducted its largest ever maritime search-and-rescue drill off the coast of Shanghai, with the participation of South Korea and Japan, in a rare sign of renewed cooperation between the Asian powers.

The Chinese Ministry of Communications and the China Sea Search and Rescue Centre coordinated the reaction to the emergency drill, with the rescuing of sailors, fire fighting, the containment of oil spills and even the thwarting of a terrorist attack.

So what was Korea’s and Japan’s role in this exercise? Well, not really much:

Japan’s 1,200-tonne Satsuma joined a fleet parade and its crew exchanged views with Chinese maritime safety officials, while a guard ship from South Korea’s maritime police was also presenet during the exercise.

Hey, at least it is a start to building some kind of cooperation between these three countries.

In the wake of the London Terrorist bombings that has now reportedly killed 49 people, the US State Department has decided to fly the Union Jack over the State Department building in a show of solidarity with the people of Britain. This is the first time a foreign flag has ever flown over the US State Department building. The US government has also decided to restrict travel to London for all US military members. Both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have come out strongly condemning the terrorists attacks that were executed to spoil the G8 summit going on in Scotland.

It appears the bus bombing may have been the work of a suicide bomber while the bombs used in both the bus and subway attacks weighed as little as 10 pounds a piece and could of been easily transported in backpacks.

When I came back from Iraq I took a week of leave and traveled around England. I really like the country and it’s people. I wouldn’t mind be stationed there one day. Though I found many people critical of the war in Iraq the people there were very respectful of the military and the United States in general. I really despise these terrorists cowards who target innocent people. If they were real men who wanted to fight for their cause of Islamic extremism they should go to Iraq where the US and British militaries can give them an express ticket to see Allah.

Over here in Korea, the South Korean government has condemned the terrorist attacks:

South Korea on Friday condemned the bombings in London and pledged to support an international drive to root out terrorism.

“Our government expresses deep regret that the series of bomb terror attacks in the city of London left a number of innocent victims and extends deep condolences and sympathy to the victims and their families,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-Hyung said in a statement.

Korean security forces have also decided to temporarily boost security around the country in places such as the US embassy and Inchon International Airport in response:

South Korea has tightened security and taken stepped-up measures to prevent possible terrorist attacks after a series of deadly blasts in London on Thursday. Security guards stepped up checks at Inchon International Airport and other major facilities around the country yesterday, while keeping on high alert.

The authorities said that the airport, the nation?s main gateway, is feared to be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Police will take additional measures to mobilize special units and armored vehicles as well as riot police, if any sign of a terror threat is detected.

If I was a terrorist the US Embassy or Inchon International Airport would not be where I would target. Using the Taegu Fire incident in 2003 that killed over 130 people as a template, any knowledgeable terrorist could inflict more casualties here in Korea than what was caused in London’s bombings. Korea needs to understand that the terrorists would love to target Korea because they know they would get a large backlash from the public here not against them but against America.

This is what the terrorists are hoping to accomplish with the bombings in London. Some in London are already blaming Tony Blair for the attacks instead of the terrorists themselves. In fact some people believe it is time to send in the clowns. Do you think the Insurgent Rebel Clown Army is ready to protect you from the terrorists.

These Idiots Protest Blair and Bush But Keep Quiet On London Terrorist Attacks

With the APEC summit coming up in November Korea needs to begin a heavy security preparations to crackdown on any potential terrorist threats. Good police work, intelligence, immigration control, and security SOPs will do more to deter a potential terrorist attack here in Korea than sending in the Insurgent Rebel Clown Army.

Task Force Smith though poorly trained and ill equipped was still able to put up an effective defense for a limited amount of time. If they had land mines, air support, and more ammunition they probably could of sustained their defense longer and inflicted more casualties. However, with two approaching North Korean divisions they were sure to be over run at some point and the Army commanders in Tokyo knew this. So to blame the defeat of Task Force Smith solely on the unit and LTC Smith, like some people like to believe, for allowing his unit to become so poorly trained and outfitted during peace time, I find to be misguided.

The Army commanders in Tokyo are the ones that allowed the soldiers of 1-21 Infantry and the rest of the occupation forces in Japan to become so poorly trained and ill equipped in the first place, but it really isn’t their fault either. As is so often the case the blame really lies with the politicians.

The US Congress at the time set the Army’s strength at 10 combat Divisions, but they did not provide enough money to sustain these 10 Divisions. At best there was enough money to fund only 6 Divisions. The politicians however are always eager to not be seen as “soft on defense” and mandated that 10 Divisions had to be kept knowing full well they would not be properly funded. After all the US had the atomic bomb, who needs ground forces when you have nukes, right? At least that is what Congress thought.

The Army short on money chose to use their scarce resources to ensure that the front line Divisions in Germany were fully manned and trained due to the increasing Soviet threat than to allocate resources to an occupation force in Japan. Thus the four Army Divisions in Japan received little money for equipment and training and many units were only filled with 50% of their required personnel.

Combine this with the John Wayne attitude of the military’s youth at the time and this is how you end up with a Task Force Smith. It is important to understand that Task Force Smith was not unique. It was just microcosm of the military in the Pacific that was allowed to weaken by the US government due to budgetary reasons that forces the military to focus its scant resources to defend Europe then to train an occupation army.

The politicians apparently thought just like the young soldiers, that enough John Wayne movies and patriotism can make up for rigorous training and good equipment. Past greatness doesn’t sustain the readiness of an Army. If this was the case the French and Italians would still be military powers today. Training and the best equipment are what makes a military strong.

However, as often is the case, the politicians don’t pay for their bone headed errors, the soldiers do and Task Force Smith payed for these mistakes in blood.

Today a memorial to the soldiers of Task Force Smith can be found just off of Highway 1 between Osan and Suwon. It is a fitting memorial with sculptures depicting American soldiers facing off in every direction just like they were that rainy day on July 5, 1950.

Check out these references for more information about Task Force Smith:

This Kind of War by T.R. Fehrenbach

North to the Yalu, South to the Naktong by Roy Edgar Appleman

US Korean War Commemoration Site

The withdrawal immediately became ragged and chaotic. Nobody wanted to be last in a game where all advantage obviously lay with being first.

T.R. Fehrenbach, author This Kind of War

After what must have seemed like an endless column of North Korean tanks passed by the ridge defended by LTC Smith’s infantry men, the main column of the NK 4th Infantry Division came into sight. The NK column was composed of dismounted infantry, approximately 4,000 of them, walking in congested groups down the road accompanied by more T-34 tanks. Great more tanks, but at least there was finally something Smith and his guys could actually kill.

However, by this point in the battle, the John Wayne movie illusions of combat had been shattered after the unit’s fight with the North Korean tanks. The soldiers couldn’t have been to thrilled to see more tanks and let alone 4,000 enemy infantry on top of it.

Heavy casualties could of been inflicted on the dismounted North Korean infantry if LTC Smith had communications with his howitzers to fire artillery on them. LTC Smith was still not able to restore communications and figured the artillery men had been destroyed by the North Korean tanks that had passed by. Also if the steady rain would of stopped, American air power could of decimated the North Korean column, but Smith had neither and would pay dearly for it.

Smith ordered his mortars to start the attack. The enemy took casualties and began to search for cover. The North Korean soldiers though battle hardened and mentally prepared for combat were not tactically disciplined and did not realize their numerical superiority and initially did not mount an effective dismounted counterattack. The North Koreans did however unload on the ridge line with artillery and tank fire. The volume of fire was ferocious but without an effective infantry counterattack to dislodge Smith’s men, the US soldiers continued to hold the high ground.

However, after the North Koreans began to realize their numerical superiority they began slowly to flank the American forces. Task Force Smith was slowly becoming enveloped by the North Koreans and sustaining heavy casualties, plus many soldiers had simply ran out of ammunition to fire. LTC Smith made the tough decision to withdraw. A withdrawal is difficult to execute even with a well disciplined unit much less soldiers that were scared and poorly trained in withdrawal operations. Once the order was given many of the soldiers simply took off and ran, leaving behind their weapons and equipment.

LTC Smith headed towards LTC Perry’s position to see what had become of the artillery men. He was amazed to see the artillery men were still intact. However, it was to late for them to provide any effective fires in this battle. He gave the order for them to retreat, but not before they effectively disabled their howitzers rendering them useless to the enemy. The artillery men still had a few trucks left and loaded up their men and began retreating.

To make matters worse for Smith, the already chaotic withdrawal was rendered more difficult because the prior enemy tanks had now occupied Osan to the unit’s rear. He had to have the unit withdraw towards the east instead. Nobody wanted to mess with those tanks again. However, the east was filled with slimy rice paddies the soldiers had to navigate through instead. I’m sure the soldiers preferred that then to fight those tanks again. Some of the trucks from 52nd FA stopped and picked up about 100 infantry men along the way.

The North Koreans were happy with just capturing the ridge line and chose not to pursue the Americans. Not because they were exhausted but because there was to much good loot on the hill to plunder. I’m sure the NK soldiers have a great time taking watches, wallets, and equipment from all the dead and wounded American soldiers. This probably slowed the North Korean advance more than the battle itself.

The next morning LTC Smith could only account for half of the unit’s 540 men. Approximately 150 American soldiers were either killed or captured that summer day in July 1950. Those 150 lives had delayed the North Koreans for 7 hours.

Weeks later scattered soldiers from Task Force Smith would trickle into Pusan. Some soldiers had made it all the way to the East Coast and followed the coast line down to Pusan. One soldier reached the Yellow Sea and used a Korean sampan to travel to Pusan.

Other 24th Infantry Division units had arrived over night and set up positions in Choenan and Taejon areas. They to would be routed at a great cost of American lives, but more time had been bought. The 24ID had been piece mealed and trickled into Korea one unit at at time. No General would ever want to fight a battle with piece mealed units, but the 24ID has no choice but to do so to delay the advancing enemy. The 24ID had actually delayed the enemy long enough for the 1st Cavalry and 25th Infantry Divisions to arrive in strength from Japan. These two units would go on to achieve heroic acts of bravery in saving the country of Korea by holding the Pusan Perimeter. However, the Pusan Perimeter would of never been formed without the precious time payed for in American lives by the units of the 24th Infantry Division and Task Force Smith.

(The T-34), perhaps it was the best all-around tank developed in World War II, with very high mobility, a good low silhouette, and very heavy armor plating. It could be stopped, but not with the ancient equipment in the hands of the ROK’s or Task Force Smith.

T.R. Fehrenbach, author of This Kind of War

Russian Built T-34 Tank Spearheaded the North Korean Invasion

On July 5, 1950 Task Force Smith sat entrenched in a defensive line just North of modern day Osan. A steady rain fell on the defenders as they awaited the inevitable battle. At 0700 Lieutenant Colonel Smith saw eight North Korean T-34 tanks moving south down the highway from Suwon to Osan heading straight for the ridge line the US soldiers were dug in at.

LTC Smith called on his six supporting howitzers from the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion to pour what artillery men like to call “steel rain” on the enemy. The howitzers fired their 105mm artillery rounds on the enemy tanks but this “steel rain” met even stronger iron as the rounds were unable to penetrate the thick armor of the T-34 tanks.

The T-34 tanks were from the NK 105th Armor Brigade that were screening in front of the advancing NK 4th Infantry Division. Some of you may remember the NK 4ID from when they battled the ROK 7ID in the Battle of Uijongbu. The Americans would be equally frustrated by the superior T-34’s armor as their ROK Army counterparts were.

The eight T-34’s continue to move forward and engage the Americans on the ridge line oblivious to the artillery fire that could not penetrate their armor. Lieutenant Ollie Connor took a bazooka and ran down the hill into a ditch along side the road and fired on the T-34. The bazooka round had no effect. He then fired into the rear of the tank which is supposed to be the T-34’s “soft spot” which that also had no effect. In all Lieutenant Connor fired a total of 22 bazooka rounds which all had no effect on the T-34’s. The tanks would of been easy kills with anti-tank mines but the infantrymen had none at their disposal. Air power could of also hit the tanks hards but the steady rain caused the US Air Force to not fly sorties in the vicinity of Task Force Smith due to concerns of friendly fire incidents.

The first T-34’s unimpressed by the ambush continued forward looking for the real fight not realizing that was in fact the real fight. The North Koreans felt there had to be a stronger American force awaiting somewhere to ambush them and this was just a road block to occupy them with. This was the legendary American Army they fighting, there had to be more. However, there was no more; it was just Smith and his men.

The tanks continued down the road towards the artillery positions. The artillery men fired one of their total of nine anti-armor rounds at one of the tanks. There was only nine of these rounds in country at the time. The lead tank was hit in the front and burst into flames. The three NK tankers jumped out and fired at an American machine gun position killing an assistant gunner. This assistant gunner would become the first US fatality of the Korean War. The three tankers were quickly shot down by the other Americans.

The other tanks were not detoured by the destroyed tank and moved forward. The artillery men were practically using their howitzers as direct fire weapons firing at ranges of 150-300 meters at the T-34’s. One more tank was disabled when hit in the treads but the other tanks kept coming. The tanks moved to the rear of the howitzers and destroyed LTC Perry’s headquarters and vehicles but by passed the howitzers and kept moving south. The Americans still had their six howitzers but no means of communicating with LTC Smith’s infantry men because the tanks had cut the communications line in between the infantrymen and the artillery men. Artillery is of no use if there is no one to communicate with them to call in the indirect fires.

Once LTC Smith realized that his communications with LTC Perry had been cut he sent runners to try and restore communications but they twice returned saying they could not run a line due to enemy direct fire on them. The radios between the infantry men and the artillery also would not work due to the rain damaging their equipment. Comms or no comms the tanks just kept coming.

The artillery men continued to fire at the tanks as they passed by. However, some of the young artillery men panicked and ran at the sight of over 40 tanks moving through their area. Officer and sergeants took over the howitzers, continuing the heavy fire on the tanks. They were able to disable another track before all the tanks passed them and continued south. Amazingly the artillerymen took only two wounded including LTC Perry with no dead. The nearby infantry men had sustained 20 dead in the fight against the tanks. The artillery men had only one destroyed howitzer but most of their headquarters and support vehicles had been destroyed. The artillery men from the 52nd FA had fought bravely against the enemy tanks destroying three of them but without communications the artillery men would have no more impact on this fight.

The author of this editorial in the Joong Ang Ilbo believes that the ROK Army should not allow it’s soldiers to attend college courses online while conducting their mandatory service:

The Army is not a university. It is a special organization whose first priority is to build superior combat capability. If soldiers spend their time earning university credits, why send them to the military at all? Instead of a policy designed for public appeal, a better idea would be to make more fundamental reforms, such as shortening the period of service.

The ROK Army wants soldiers to be able to attend college online while doing their service because they think this will boost morale and improve life in the barracks. The ROK Army is even going to install new computers for all their company size elements. This is very similar to the US Army. In every company sized element in 2ID we got what is known as AKO computer labs(Army Knowledge Online) for the soldiers to use attend E-Army U. classes to earn college degrees while serving. Many soldiers take advantage of this free service the US Army provides and I’m sure it would be a hit for the ROK Army too.

The author of the editorial obviously is not to familiar with the US Army because we are able to keep a high level of combat readiness and allow our ranks to educate themselves at the same time.

I think the heart of the matter is that author is more concerned with ending mandatory service than the combat readiness of ROK Army soldiers because if he was so worried about the combat readiness of the ROK Army he wouldn’t be advocating for shorter service. Any service less than two years isn’t worth it. It takes over a year before someone becomes competent in their job. If you shorten the mandatory service requirement the ROK Army would be filled with incompetent personnel. You would be better off with an all volunteer force then.