The Korea Times has also ran a story about Chinatown in Incheon. You may remember my earlier posting about Chinatown. The Korea Times also ran this story about a Chinese Chajangmyon Restaurant owner in Chinatown. He provides some interesting history about the popular “Chinese” dish here in Korea.
Some great North Korean propaganda posts coming from first the Oranckay and secondly the Japundit.
The first post from the Oranckay features this great picture of North Korean school children beating a replica of an American soldier.
I don’t think my nose is that big? Anyway make sure to check out Oranckay’s comment section to see why some people think this may actually be Seoul and not Pyongyang.
The second post from the Japundit features some great propaganda pictures like this:
The Japundit also provides some great commentary about North Korean propaganda that is worth reading, so check it out.
However, I couldn’t help but notice one stat line that absolutley amazed me. It wasn’t his ERA of 9.64, the fact he averages over one walk an inning, the fact he is 0-3, blown every save opportunity, or even the fact he has an ERA of 27 over the past week. No what amazes me the most is the fact he is due to get paid $6,575,000 this year. Seeing the amount of money he is making it is no wonder Kim sticks around the big leagues and continues to get shelled every game and booed instead of returning to Korea to play.
Being a Colorado Rockies fan I would have to say that Kim is the perfect pitcher for Colorado. He is over paid, walks lots of batters, and gives up lots of home runs ensuring that every game is a high scoring shootout. The first place the Red Sox probably called to get rid of him was the Rockies. Who else would be willing to take this guy off their hands? If he couldn’t learn to improve his pitching with guys like Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, and Tim Wakefield on his team how the heck did the Rockies think their pitching staff that is last in league in ERA every year was going to get him to turn around? Then there is also the little fact that Coors Field is even more notorious for giving up home runs then Kim is and he would have to play half his game in that park.
Since obviously the Rockies will hire anybody to pitch for them I have decided I will do my part to help out my home state team. I will become a free agent and offer them my pitching services. I haven’t pitched since high school but heck I can’t do worse then Kim. I would get along with the coach and teammates and I wouldn’t flip off the fans, which are all things Kim is infamous for. Plus I’m confident I could keep my ERA under 27. I will even put a clause in my contract that if I go over an ERA of 27 they cut half my pay. I will even be willing to start at a quarter of the pay that Kim is getting so the management could go hire some real players. But knowing the Rockies management they will probably rather just give Kim a lucrative contract extension.
The great ROK Army reconstruction project to install modern toilets for needy Iraqis, may not be so great after all, now that I have read this post from Jeff in Pusan.
In Korea, literally EVERY public toilet has a small wastebasket next to it. The wastebasket is there for you to put your used toilet paper in. In many places, there is a sign somewhere near the toilet imploring you NOT to flush your toilet paper down the toilet and instructing you to place your feces-smeared toilet paper in the open air wastebasket next to the toilet so that it can mix and mingle with other people’s soiled toilet paper to be enjoyed by other people throughout the day.
(….)
I have always been uncomfortable with this one aspect of society here. It is hard to comprehend how unsanitary an open wastebasket full of used toilet paper is. This is not a cultural “love it or leave it” thing. This is a basic medieval sanitation issue. Come one…This country has hosted the Olympics, East-Asian Games, the World Cup, and many other international events and conferences. It will be hosting the APEC council later this year. It touts itself and markets itself as an international country, yet basic sanitation issues remain in the undeveloped, dark age, unindustrialized world.
Wonder if those toilets installed in Iraq came with a warranty?
The Incheon Landing Operation on September 15, 1950 is recognized as one of the greatest military amphibious landings ever. However, a key to the success of the landing operation was provided by critical intelligence provided by a joint CIA-Naval team in the days before the Incheon Landing.
One week before the landing at Incheon, the joint CIA-military team launched Operation “Trudy Jackson”. The CIA-Navy sent in a tough commando unit led by Navy Lt. Eugene Clark. His guerrila group included an Army captain, three enlisted soldiers and two Korean operatives from the 8th Army G2 intelligence section (some would say they were actually hired gangsters).
They first landed on Yonghung-do Island, ten miles from Inchon. Clark subdued the small North Korean garrison on Yonghung-do and armed the anti-communist villagers on the island who agreed to help him. From here, Clark’s mission was to scout the tides, mud-flats, and seawalls before the Incheon landing occurred. What time does the tide go in and out? Can the naval AMTRACs or even tanks drive in the mud? Was the beach wired? How high are the seawalls? What size of ladders do the soldiers need? Where can tanks off load at? These are some of the critical questions he was tasked to find out. He was also responsible for spotting the location of any enemy mines when the tide went down across the bay leaving the mud flats Incheon is famous for. The sinking of a US ship due to a mine could block the entrance into the harbor, thus stopping the entire invasion. In addition, the commando unit was even able to recon Wolmi-do and routes to Seoul using their Korean recruits who infiltrated those areas providing further intelligence information before the invasion to MacArthur.
Navy Lt. Eugene Clark is pictured to the far right with members of the Yonghung-do operation.
However, the North Koreans found out the guerillas were on the Yonghung-do island and sent an assault boat with 16 North Korean soldiers, but Clark was tipped off to their impending arrivial ambushed them with a .50 cal machine gun on a sampan, and killed them all. Now that his cover had been blown Clark moved off the island to secure the lighthouse on Palmi-do Island which was his final objective before the start of the invasion. The lighthouse would provide a critical navigation aid for the invasion force. The commando team subdued another small garrison on the island and then worked to get the lighthouse operational. It was night time and the control to the lighthouse was missing a critical part that would make the lighthouse operational. The team members searched the lighthouse in the dark for the part with no success. One of the Korean commandos thinking failure was imminent layed down on the floor in exhaustion and his hand fell right on the missing part. He immediately jumped up and gave it to Clark who was able to turn on the lighthouse. His final mission was accomplished and the invasion force arrived safely through the channel that night and the next morning invaded Incheon destroying the North Korean forces occupying the city and changing the course of the war.
A tragedy of the commando mission however, was when Clark’s commando team moved to Palmi-do, the communists came back with a larger force unopposed to Yonghung-do island and lined up the 50 friendly South Korean villagers who had helped Clark, and gunned them all down.
For his actions at Incheon, Navy Lt. Eugene Clark was awared both the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit. However, his story would remain unknown until 1998 when he died and his family found his memoirs of the war written in 1998 stored in a safe. His memoirs would eventually be published in a 2002 book, The Secrets of Inchon”.
When I first traveled to Korea back in 2000 the first place I experienced was the old Kimpo Airport in Southwest Seoul. The airport was old, crowded, and the first thing you saw when entering customs was machine gun weilding ROK soldiers. Now, the first place any traveler to Korea will experience is the brand new Incheon International Airport.
This airport is a huge improvement over the old Kimpo Airport. The airport was officially opened in 2001 with much hype. The airport may not be the “Hub of Asia” that the Korean government hoped it would be but never the less this is one awesome airport. The airport is huge with many western style shops including my favorite the Harley-Davidson shop. There is also many areas where you can hook up to the internet to pass down time.
The excellence of this airport was also featured in a Forbes Magazine article listing the World’s 10 Best Airports. (Note click the previous button to cycle through the rankings.) Incheon finished 3rd on the list. Here is a run down of the top 10.
#1 – Hong Kong
#2 – Singapore
#3 – Incheon
#4 – Munich
#5 – Kansai (Osaka)
#6 – Dubai
#7 – Kuala Lumpur
#8 – Amsterdam
#9 – Copenhagen
#10 – Sydney
(Notice no American airports because they suck)
This is what Forbes had to say about the airport
This airport, in Seoul, South Korea, is one of Asia’s lesser-known new airports but its spacious single-terminal layout makes it quick and easy to navigate. Incheon Airport’s cleanliness is “almost unmatched” at any other airport in the world, and it provides extensive shopping options. Service ranks high, as does the availability of Internet access points throughout the terminal–no surprise given South Korea’s status as one of the world’s most wired countries.
Coming and going to the airport is easy with the frequent limousine bus service. The buses are inexpensive and are quite comfortable with their large, soft recliner seats. These buses will take to just about anywhere in the greater Seoul area.
So when coming to Korea you will no doubt be impressed by this great airport even if it is not the “Hub of Asia”.
President Bush came out firing at Kim Jong Il. Courtesy of the Chosun:
U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday called North Korea’s Kim Jong-il a “dangerous man,†a person who “starves his people†and runs “huge concentration camps.†He said, “There is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don’t know if he can or not, but I think it’s best, when you’re dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong-il, to assume he can.â€
Unless you are Michael Moore, you have to agree with President Bush on all accounts here. Now the question is; why is the President coming out so strong against Kim Jong Il? Is the time for quiet diplomacy over and the US government is ready to raise the stakes? This may end up being interesing times to be stationed on the Korean peninsula. Can’t wait to see what happens.
In today’s Korea Times there was yet another complaint about ROK Army forces falling under the command of the USFK commander General Laporte:
The recent series of frictions in the bilateral military alliance is attributable to Korea’s outgrowth from the basic framework half a century old. Nothing tells the imbalance between the two nations more symbolically than that the 700,000-strong Korean Army should follow the command of the 37,000 U.S. troops if war eventuates. The geopolitics surrounding this peninsula will always limit its self-defense capability, but that should hardly be the reason for the extremely disproportionate relationship with foreigners. Korea needs _ and deserves _ some maneuvering space.
First of all USFK only has 32,500 soldiers right now. Secondly General Laporte would only command the ROK Army in case of a full scale war with North Korea. He has no control of the ROK Army during peace time. Then to infer that General Laporte only commands 32,500 soldiers is misleading. There will be thousands of reinforcements from the US plus all the Naval and US Air Force assets that would be involved in a second Korean War. The vast majority of combined arms power (ie: MLRS, bombers, stealth bombers, cruise missiles, submarines, etc.) is provided by the US which a US general is trained to unleash on the enemy. A ROK Army general has no experience with the sophisticated weaponry the US can bring to bear on an enemy thus the need for an American commander during war time.
The union that represents USFK workers is threatening to go on strike if USFK continues its plan to cut 1,000 Korean civilian jobs in response to the 9% drop in funds the Korean government is willing to provide to the USFK.
USFK has said the shortfall could mean cutting up to 1,000 jobs among South Korean workers at U.S. bases. During a news conference in early April, USFK chief of staff Lt. Gen. Charles C. Campbell said, “We will be required to make tough but necessary decisions in the areas of force capabilities; pre-positioned equipment and stocks; personnel and services; construction; and command-and-control equipment currently provided to ROK military forces.â€
If this strike does happen things could get real ugly real quick.
A strike “has a lot of potential for damage and helplessness,†said Brendon Carr, an American-trained lawyer in Seoul who represents foreign companies that deal with union issues. “I could see it turning pretty crazy pretty quick.â€
In South Korea, companies are forbidden by law to lay off workers as a means to save money, Carr said. Layoffs happen only if the entire company is closing or declaring bankruptcy, he said. Thus, from a Korean’s perspective, he added, USFK’s layoffs are a rarity that target individual workers’ pride and competency.
A strike or protest could draw thousands of angry and even violent protesters, Carr said. He said when his own clients, which do not include USFK or the South Korean union, face similar business decisions about layoffs, he sometimes advises them to offer thousands of dollars of severance pay to avoid the disruption and demonstrations.
I can’t imagine the USFK would allow this strike to happen. First of all this would really cripple the readiness of the forces here because the Korean civilians who work on the military bases really do play a very important role in sustaining the US forces here on the peninsula which we are very thankful for service they do for us. Secondly the bad news coverage that would result from this would be tremendous and one thing the military does not like is bad press.
I just can’t imagine all the Korean civilians I work with daily and share common friendships with standing outside our front gate chanting slogans and rioting. Talking to my Korean civilian friends they really do not want to strike because they feel that is really going to upset the goodwill and friendship they share with the American soldiers but if your lively hood is getting terminated what else are you supposed to do? I will feel really horrible if this strike happens. I really hope it doesn’t come to that.
The Japundit has a good post about this article in the International Herald Tribune.
The article focuses on a historians attempt to recognize Kim Il Sung in the resistance movement against the Japanese colonization.
Kang Man Gil, a renowned historian appointed as head of a prestigious government committee preparing for the 60th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, was asked a question by a reporter last week and he said what few historians dispute. When his reply was reported, however, many South Koreans called for Kang’s dismissal.
Kang said last week that Kim Il Sung, the late North Korean president, had fought against colonial Japan.
“It’s a historical fact,” Kang said, adding that “Kim’s anti-Japanese struggle should be considered part of the nation’s independence movement.”
So maybe the Japanese are not the only ones white washing past history?
The controversy over Kang’s comment illustrates how divided South Koreans are, as the government of President Roh Moo Hyun tries to re-examine the nation’s modern history.
It also reminds South Koreans that, a decade after his death, the Communist leader’s specter is still haunting them.
Here are some funny propaganda “facts” put out by the communists up North.
The personality cult in North Korea surrounding “Great Leader” Kim and his son, the current leader, Kim Jong Il, rests on the senior Kim’s mythical role as an anti-Japanese resistance hero.
Monuments, murals, poems and operas celebrate Kim’s rebel days, especially his guerrilla unit’s daring raid on a Japanese police station in 1937, at the height of colonial repression.
Communist propagandists claim that the nation was liberated by Kim himself. They even credit Kim with miracles reminiscent of Biblical stories: Kim turning pine cones into hand grenades, or Kim taking his troops across a river on a tree leaf that he turned into a boat.
After his death in 1994, North Korea embalmed Kim’s body for public display in a mausoleum, gave him the posthumous title of “eternal president” and began marking his birthday as the “Sun’s Day.”
The nation even invented a new calendar, counting the world’s history from Kim’s birthday, April 15, 1912. North Korea once called that the 20th century’s “most turbulent day,” the day when the “Sun of the East” rose and when the British passenger ship Titanic, symbol of “swashbuckling Western imperialism,” sank. In the world according to North Korea, this is the year 94.
Read the rest of the article on your own because it is good reading but it just goes to show every country has skeltons in its closet in regards to history. The fact the Kim Il Sung was an active resistance fighter is definitely a piece of history Korea wants to keep quiet about.
