Category: Uncategorized

Hyundai in partnership with Chevron-Texaco has opened a hydrogen fuel pumping station in Chino, CA.

Hyundai Motor Group said yesterday that it set up its first hydrogen fueling station at its technical center in Chino, California.
The station, unveiled in a partnership with UTC Fuel Cells and ChevronTexaco, produces 15 kilograms of hydrogen per day from natural gas, and has the capacity to charge 30 cars a day, taking less than two minutes to fill each vehicle, Hyundai said in a statement.

Hyundai’s hydrogen station is the first to be completed under a five-year Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration Validation Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

This is really great to see Hyundai getting involved in the development of hydrogen fuel cell technology. However, is this technology pratical? This is what Hyundai is trying to find out.

Over the next five years, the automotive group plans to operate 16 Hyundai Tucson and 16 Kia Sportage hydrogen-electric vehicles in major U.S. cities and build five more hydrogen stations in California and Michigan with the two partners.

In 2003, Hyundai and UTC Fuel Cells agreed to collaborate on Hyundai’s second-generation fuel cell vehicles based on the new Tucson and Sportage sport utility vehicle platforms.

I really hope this becomes a pratical technology because I strongly believe the US cannot continue to be dependent on Middle Eastern oil for our huge energy needs. As long as the US is buying large quantities of oil from them, the authoritative regimes in the Middle East will never reform because they don’t need democratization, better education, and more opportunities for their women to create economic development. Oil is easy money for them. Now what will they do if we take away the oil revenues? They have to reform to stay competitive in today’s global economy or get left behind. In the long run someone buying one hydrogen fuel cell car will be better than somebody killing one jihadist.

Plus hydrogen technology will prevent a future confrontation between China and the US for oil due to China’s ever increasing energy needs as they continue their rapid development.

This is good business for Hyundai also because they really appear to be on the cutting edge of developing a technology that will really change the way we live our lives. The last decade the internet was the big invention that changed every day life. I really hope this hydrogen technology will be this decades’ big achievement.

Something I’m really wondering about though is why is Hyundai testing this technology in America and not Korea? The biggest problem with the hydrogen fuel cell technology is finding fueling stations to fill up at. With Korea’s population density creating a few service stations in Seoul would allow a large market of people to buy this car without fears of not being able to fill up. Why doesn’t Hyundai make buses using this technology to replace Korea’s current buses? Implementing this technology in Korea would really clean up the air here. I guess we got to start somewhere. So how soon will we see mass production of this technology? As soon as 2010:

Korea’s largest automaker provided the Ministry of Environment with 50 Click hybrid hatchbacks last October for testing and plans to set up a production line with annual capacity for 300,000 hybrid cars by 2010.

I can’t wait.

As many of you know I am against the ROK Army deployment to Iraq as long as they are there as a window dressing army doing the governments bidding in hopes of winning future contracts from the new Iraqi government. Click here for more of my thoughts on this matter. It is not so much that the ROK Army’s Zaytun Unit is in Iraq for it’s governments own national interests, which is understandable, but because the ROK Army is capable of doing some great reconstruction work if it is allowed to. Primarily the only construction work the Zaytun Unit has done is to build its own operating base complete with an internet cafe to play Starcraft from. That is until now. Via the Budaechigae the Zaytun Unit has announced the great reconstruction project we have all been waiting for! Will it be a bridging project or the announcement of building a new modern highway system, or even an updated electrical grid? Maybe even better yet a new dam! No, to all these great ideas because the collective wisdom of the Korean government has decided the greatest reconstruction project that will stand the test of time, that all Kurds will remember Korea by centuries from now will not be any great dam or highway project but modern plumbing!

Korea’s Zaytun Troops stationed in Irbil, Iraq plan to introduce a new bathroom culture to the war-torn country as part of their peaceful reconstruction project.
The troops plan to install ceramic bidets in all public offices and schools in the Kurdish region starting from March.

In the Middle East, toilet paper is virtually unheard of, and people use their left hand to clean themselves after they have done their business, though Asian-style “water guns” are gaining popularity. The 310 bathrooms within the garrison are all equipped with bidets.

“Because Iraqis are already using water after their toilet, we predict they will easily adapt to bidets,” an officer with the Zaytun troops said. “We plan to put them in all new buildings.”

Korea’s bathroom accessory maker Woongjin Coway is donating 1,000 bidets for the project, each valued at about W700,000. They will include some prototypes besides brand-new products. “If the response is positive, we plan to increase the number of products,” a company spokesman said.

Yes that is right folks the Zaytun unit is going to install toilets and teach people not wipe their ass with their left hands! So years from now when a thriving democratic Iraq holds a commemoration ceremony to thank the coalition countries for helping free Iraq, they will thank countries like America, Britain, Australia, Poland, etc. for shedding blood, sweat, and tears to free the Iraqi people and when they get to recognizing Korea’s contributions to freeing and rebuilding the country, they will thank the Koreans for introducing the wonders of toilet paper to them. The ROK Army deserves better than this.

It appears that the rapidly increasing opinion on the most recent North Korean nuclear crisis is that the real problem is not North Korea but China. First we have this article from the New York Times.

“If we cut off aid and the Koreas are unified on South Korean terms, that would be a big disaster for China,” one analyst said. “The U.S. would insist on basing its troops in the northern part of the peninsula, and China would have to consider that all of its efforts going back to the Korean War have been a waste.”

A fresh example of the divisions between the United States and China was provided this week with confirmation that Tokyo is moving closer to Washington’s policy position that the status quo on Taiwan must be maintained. Chinese analysts often point out that having a friendly country tying up American troops on its northern border frees Beijing to focus its forces on other contingencies, notably the Taiwan question.

I think any Chinese worries about the US basing troops in North Korea after reunification are overstated. Currently the US appears to have little interest in basing troops in South Korea much less North Korea. After reunification an American presence in North Korea would give the southern government little credibility with the northerners. The northerners since the day they are born are taught the South Koreans are nothing but slaves to the evil Americans. American forces stationed in North Korea will only reinforce this perception. To secure North Korea and to build legitimacy for the southern government the ROK Army will have to be the force that secures the north not the US Army.

Keeping North Korea afloat to tie up US troops in Korea was once a valid strategy. With the transformation of USFK into a deployable force which was evident by last summers deployment of 2nd brigade to Iraq this strategy has little weight any more. If hostilities were to break out between China and Taiwan the US could deploy troops from the Korean peninsula with little impact on the security situation on the Korean peninsula due to the strength and modernization of the ROK Army to defend itself from North Korean aggression.

Now the real reason I think China is keeping North Korea afloat is first of all the refugee issue. If North Korea were to collapse China faces the possibility of being flooded by refugees which it does not want to deal with especially with the Olympics soon coming to Beijing. China is desperate to keep the status quo with North Korea until at least the Olympics pass. Beijing is desperate to make sure nothing spoils their Olympic moment. Beijing wants to use the Olympics to show case China as the world’s newest superpower. Waves of homeless refugees and refugee camps or the aftermath of a war on the Korean peninsula will take some of that luster from China’s Olympic spotlight. So the status quo is good for China until at least 2008.

Secondly one has to ask, what does China get out of reunification of the Korean peninsula? Really nothing accept a pat on the back from the international community. If I was a Chinese policy maker, I would hold on to the North Korean issue as a bargaining chip for the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China. If you look at the Taiwan issue it is the evil twin of the North Korean issue. With North Korea you have a democracy wanting to reunite with its communist little brother. With China you have a communist government trying to reunite with its democratic little brother. China will continue to pay lip service to the North Korean issue as long as Washington continues to give lip service to the Tawainese issue.

So it appears that the whole issue will stay at a deadlock for sometime unless there is regime change in China to. Here is this article provided via fellow Milblogger the Budaechigae.

Communist China’s opposition does not make North Korea’s liberation any less necessary or vital. In fact, Communist China’s continuing willingness to support Stalinist North Korea makes liberation ever more imperative. This leads to the heart of the issue: how does one “solve” the North Korean problem when Communist China is determined to prevent the solution from being implemented? If the Chinese Communist regime is determined to remain an obstacle to freedom in North Korea, then there is only one alternative: that regime must be removed as well. The policy for the United States is clear: to liberate northern Korea, one must work to liberate China as well.

I don’t think the US needs to implement regime change on China because it will eventually happen on its own given time. Once the Chinese become used to a modern and prosperous lifestyle and all the things that come with it, the people will eventually call for political reform as well, which means democracy. In Korea, Park Chung-hee was a dictator but people could live with the disadvantages of having a dicator ruling them at that time because he brought modernization and prosperity to the country. In the 1980’s the Korean people took their prosperity for granted and began to want more. They wanted political liberalization as well which eventually led to democracy in the 1990’s. The same thing will eventually unfold in China given time. But that is the current problem we have with North Korea. How much time do we really have?

The Norks are accusing the US & Japan of plotting an invasion of North Korea.

North Korea has accused Japan of aspiring to rule a “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere” beginning with an invasion of Korea with the assistance of the United States.

North Korea’s use of the term “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere” harkens back to Japan’s brutal domination of East Asia before and during World War II. The term described how Tokyo, under the guise of ridding the region of Western influence, set up puppet governments to establish Japanese hegemony and plunder foreign resources.

Most interesting about the article is the publicly aknowledged close relationship the US and Japan currently have and the security agreement publicly made concerning Taiwan.

In the joint statement, the ministers “reaffirmed the continuing strength and vitality of U.S.-Japan security arrangements, and expressed confidence in their capacity to deter and address challenges to regional peace and stability.”

“We value that in the United States and benefit from it and certainly understand that it remains a key pillar of peace and stability in the Asian Pacific region and a benefit to the world.”

(….)

“Chinese government and people resolutely opposes the United States and Japan in issuing any bilateral document concerning China’s Taiwan, which meddles the internal affairs of China, and hurts China’s sovereignty,” the Foreign Ministry said.

This appears to me to be an effort by the US to put pressure on China to make concessions on the North Korean nuclear issue. Relations between Japan and China must really be at rock bottom for the Japanese to come out and make such a statement publicly knowing what the reaction in China will be because I don’t know what the Japanese get out of making such a public statement. The only thing I can think of is that Japan will get stronger support from the US to receive a UN security council seat but they will have to avoid a Chinese veto which giving support to Taiwan publicly like they have will certainly mean. Once again it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I do have to say the North Koreans are the masters at getting themselves recognized again just when you thought everyone forgot about them. According to this Chosun report North Korea is now considered America’s number one enemy by the US public.

WASHINGTON – Americans who showed little concern for North Korea just four years ago now count the Stalinist country as a major enemy of the United States, according to a Gallup poll of 1,008 adult Americans on Feb. 7-10.
When asked which nation they currently considered the most dangerous enemy of the U.S., 22 percent of the respondents selected Iraq and North Korea, giving the two nations a tie for first place. They were followed by Iran with 14 percent and China with 10 percent.

In a 2001 survey, 38 percent of respondents selected Iraq but only 2 percent North Korea.

I tend to agree with this assessment that Koreans are unconcerned about the North Korean nuclear threat.

A majority of South Koreans are unconcerned by North Korea’s Feb. 10 announcement that it has nuclear weapons.
In a public opinion poll conducted Tuesday by TNS Korea at the request of the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) on 700 adult men and women nationwide, 58.9 percent of respondents said they felt no insecurity following North Korea’s recent declaration.

Asked about a solution to the nuclear issue, 74.7 percent responded that Seoul needed to send a special envoy to Pyongyang or hold an intra-Korean summit and persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons. Another 22.8 percent said pressure like the freezing intra-Korean economic cooperation or sanctions was needed.

Just about every Korean I have talked to didn’t really have any strong feelings about the issue. I can’t really blame them because this thing seems to happen all the time. South Koreans have grown used to threats of nuclear obliteration just like the changing of seasons here. Winter time really sucks here but not enough to stress out about.

Thanks to the Party Pooper for providing this link to a web page reviewer. I inserted both my home page and my blog URL’s in to see how they rated. This is what I got for my home page:

“I just saw . The page contains 81 links, a highly usable amount.

(…)
Wonderful. What a great page! The HTML source is very structured. A masterpiece. There are 47,648 characters in the underlying source, which is a cool length for Google. It must have taken many years to craft the page. It makes sense to me put up a link to this page. The color scheme is impressive. Seeing GI Korea, I’m simply in awe. The URL has 22 characters. This length scores best in usability studies. If only my friend’s company would have a cool page like that. Naturally, I expected the creator to achieve only the best. I take off my hat.”
— Theodore Sutherland, How to Write for the Internet

“I’m Simply in Awe”, wow I feel like a web page Jedi now. Here is the review for my blog site:

“I just saw . What a great page! It must have taken many years to perfect the page. The URL has 34 characters. Just the perfect length. If only Microsoft would have a swell page like that.
Also good: put up a link to this page. Seeing GI Korea, I’m simply out of words. There are 60,428 characters in the underlying source, which is a high-quality length for Chinese users. A masterpiece. The page contains 141 links, a balanced amount. The color scheme is very balanced. The code is classy. Excellent. Well, I expected the creator to do this well.
(…)
With this page, a new genre of its own has been created.”
— Joe Henderson, Web Review Daily

“High Quality for Chinese users?” What the hell is that all about? Do I got a bunch of Chinese spies checking out my site or something? Then the part about taking many years to craft such a page was humorous since I’ve only been blogging since June. Not exactly an eternity there. Finally, I’ve create a whole new genre? I think blogging has been around a while. I don’t think it started with me, but if Joe Henderson says so it must be true!

The geo-political nuclear soap opera that only a diplomatic beurocrat could enjoy has a new twist. The Joong Ang is reporting

A transcript obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo of a Monday broadcast by a state-run North Korean radio station appears to contradict Pyeongyang’s claim last week that the regime has nuclear weapons. But its meaning was not entirely clear, and experts were divided over what significance it had, if any.

Chung Young-tae, a researcher with South Korea’s state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, said, “The discrepancy in the North Korean media demonstrates that our government should not read too much into the nuclear weapons possession statement itself, but [pay attention to] the underlying diplomatic strategy.”

The North is probably just trying to rally their people by saying that the US is trying pick on them for having WMD even though they don’t. I wouldn’t read to much into it. You can’t believe to much of anything the Norks say, so who knows if they actually have nuclear weapons or not.

The Chinese appear to be losing their patience with North Korea also according to this New York Times piece.

China on Sunday publicly called for the Korean peninsula to be free of nuclear weapons and urged North Korea to return to regional talks regarding its nuclear program. State-run Chinese media and censored Internet chat rooms were uncommonly critical of Pyongyang for having announced Thursday that it had manufactured nuclear weapons.

National television news on state-run CCTV gave heavy coverage on Saturday to international condemnation of North Korea and demands that it return to regional talks about its nuclear program. Little effort was made to explain North Korea’s position – that it needs a nuclear deterrent to prevent the United States from attacking someday.

Hopefully China will keep the pressure on the Norks because they are key to influencing them into giving up their nuclear ambitions.

Something really weird happened today. I was walking out the front gate of my camp and standing outside of the gate adjacent to the congested road in front of the camp was none other than Pinnochio himself. The Pinnochio of Walt Disney fame was in front of the camp waving at cars. Somebody was dressed in an authenic Pinnochio costume. It might as well have been something you would of seen at Walt Disney World.

I walked over to Pinnochio to see what was going on. It is not every day I get to meet somebody as famous as Pinnochio you know. As I approached him, Pinnochio would just look at me and wave. He wouldn’t speak at all. I wasn’t sure if Pinnochio was tresspassing or not because he was standing outside the camp and on the corner of the road.

The Korean National Policemen that sit in front of the camp bored all day just stood there and giggled watching the scene. So no help from them. So I walked back to the guard shack and informed the gate guards that we had a possible tresspasser by the name of Pinnochio outside. They just looked at me like I was nuts. So I led them out of the guard shack and pointed out Pinnochio to them. The Korean contracted guards went to talk to Pinnochio but all they received was the same wave I got. The soldiers inside the guard shack in turn got on the phone to contact the MP’s to see what to do. There is no SOP I have ever seen on how to deal with a Pinnochio sighting. So it was best we remain careful because we were breaking new ground here. We were creating doctrine that would be used for all future Pinnochio encounters.

A crowd of soldiers began to build to watch the seen. Eventually Pinnochio must have gotten uncomfortable with the amount of people watching him. He then proceeded to walk down the sidewalk away from the gate and the camp. As he walked away into the sunset, Pinnochio continued to wave at his new found fan club until he got to a bus stop and got on a bus and left for good. God I wish I had my camera handy.

What was really strange about the whole scene was that the Koreans walking by just seemed to ignore what was going on while the soldiers that left the camp all had the look of what the heck is this, on their faces. I guess Pinnochio sightings must be something that doesn’t draw much attention in Korea.

Anyway later on that day I began to think about why Pinnochio would be in front of the camp waving at cars? Then it hit me. It was probably a protestor using the character of Pinnochio to say that the US Army is a bunch of liars. At least that is the best theory I can think of. Does anyone else have any better theories?

I got to hand it to the protestor for being creative and funny though. Most protestors are really lame and just chant slogans and beat on the KNP’s. I got a kick out of this one. Maybe this will start a new trend for protests. Maybe Alladin will show up tomorrow to represent us as a bunch of thieves. I’ll make sure I have my camera ready next time.