Category: Uncategorized

It looks like the Arirang Taxi company that provides taxi service to USFK troops in Korea will have a little competition on post soon:

A second on-base taxi company soon may serve U.S. military bases in Area I and Area II, according to a top official of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.

AAFES wants to provide 50 extra taxi cabs on Yongsan Garrison in Seoul and major bases in the Uijeongbu and Dongducheon areas during peak hours on weekdays and during the weekends, said Betty J. O’Brien, AAFES general manager for Korea.

The exchange service also wants to have a formal contingency plan in case of another drivers’ strike, she said Friday.

“This will help make sure our customers are taken care of when they need to be taken care of,” she said. “It’s possible we could have it before Christmas.”

From Yonhap:

 Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is believed to have promised China not to visit a controversial war shine “for the time being,” ahead of his planned summit meetings with China and South Korea, diplomatic sources said Friday.

Abe, who aims to improve ties with the Asian neighbors, will meet China’s President Hu Jintao on Sunday in Beijing and South Korea’s President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday in Seoul, the Japanese government confirmed on Wednesday.

Before accepting the scheduled summit, China demanded Japan’s Abe to promise not to visit the Yasukuni shrine that glorifies Japan’s war criminals before and during World War II, the sources said. The Japanese government responded somewhat positively, saying Abe won’t pray at the shrine for the time being, they said.

Right now Korean politicians are thinking, “Oh Sh__!, We can’t play up the shrine issue anymore to get people worked up against the Japanese and to overlook our own governmental failures.  Well there is still the Dokdo issue we can play up.  Dokdo is Korea!”

More of course at Japundit.

FYI for all you soldiers out there:

In a move officials say acknowledges the fact that women come in different body shapes, the Army has raised its weight standards for females across the board.

The new regulations, which went into effect Monday, allow female soldiers to weigh anywhere from six to 19 pounds more than was previously permitted, depending on their height and age.

By increasing the maximum allowable weights, but not the maximum allowable body fat percentages, the Army is “identifying what’s really out there in society” but not compromising the Army’s standards, Timms said.

For example, women 17 to 20 years old who are 67 inches tall, or 5 feet 7 inches, can now weigh up to 159 pounds, instead of 145 pounds.

A woman that height who is 21 to 27 years old can weigh up to 161 pounds, instead of 149 pounds.

A female soldier who is 28 to 39 years old can now weigh 163, up from 154, and one who is more than 40 years old can weigh up to 166 pounds, instead of 159 pounds.

Maximum allowable body fat percentages for women in the following age groups are: for 17-20, 30 percent; for 21-27, 32 percent; for 28-39, 34 percent; and for women 40 and older, 36 percent.

 This is actually long overdue because often I have seen more women that need to be taped during a weigh-in than men but the vast majority of the women make the body fat percentage.  So basically this new regulation will just make weigh-ins move along faster since not as many females will need to be taped.

Who knows where in Korea this image is from?

The Korea Liberator has an article posted on the Washington Post website concerning the latest nuclear test crisis with North Korea.  Here is a sample of what they have to say:

Count us among those who ardently hope Kim Jong-il conducts a nuclear test.

For decades, highly regarded diplomats have seen Kim Jong-il and his father as men who, but for their brutality and bellicosity, were motivated by the same interests and restraints that would guide normal diplomats were we in their place. Our policies have been shaped by our own concept of what a “rational” North Korean tyrant would do, based on the belief that Kim would rejoin the civilized world in return for incentives.

Go check it out.

Chuseok is supposed to be a happy time of year for Korean families but for some families it is a time painful rememberance.

For background information click here.

Maybe this explains the amount of hikers in Korea:

Pocket books that identify exact calories and nutrients of 93 kinds of foods that Koreans eat most frequently will be distributed to people for free, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recently said.

The pocket books, aimed at preventing people from becoming fat by having a balanced diet, have been written following a nationwide survey on Koreans’ eating habits conducted in 2001. A total of 400,000 copies of the book will be given to people across the nation.

The pocket book provides information on the amount of exercise needed to consume calories gained from various types of foods. The book especially offers detailed information on nutrients and amounts of oil, sugar and salts used in various types of foods that are often served in an average Korean meal.

According to the health pocket book, a two-hour walk is recommended to burn off the 540 kcal gained by drinking one bottle of soju.

I would by no means consider Korea on the verge of becoming a fat society as this article seems to claim, but for the most part Koreans are avid hikers and will often drink the one bottle of soju while they are on their hike.  So as far as burning off soju calories I think the Koreans got that one well covered.

Room rates for USFK hotels have gone up:

Who would pay $60 bucks for a hotel room at Camp Casey when you can get a nicer room for much cheaper in Dongducheon?  Obviously enough people for them to charge $60 bucks for a room.

This week there has been some interesting debate over at Coming Anarchy and the Marmot’s Hole over what makes someone an “expert” of a specified country.  The main point of contention is if someone should be fluent in the language of the specified country to really be considered an expert opinion.All the Korea “experts” are coming out of the woodwork yet again on the news channels over the recent North Korean threats of conducting a nuclear test.  Just like July’s missile test incident these so called experts are woefully uninformed of the situation on the Korean peninsula.   If many of these people would just read the English language sources of information available out there they would be able to make much better opinions of what’s occurring on the peninsula.  But the so called experts don’t even do that much less even learn the language of the country that they claim to be an expert of.

The best expert opinion on the Korean peninsula I find to be Dr. Andrei Lankov, yet why isn’t he on the news channels?  What does Charles Krauthammer, Keith Olbermann, or some retired Army major knows about the Korean peninsula that someone like Lankov couldn’t provide a better analysis of?  The fact is that the news isn’t looking for expert analysis they are just looking for some talking head to put on the TV to fill air time.

So I would be happy if many of the so called Korea “experts” out there would just read all the English language material out there, much less even bothering to learn the Korean language.

It is good to see that the Seoul city government is so persistent to turn Yongsan Garrison into a park once 8th Army turns over the camp:

In a win for the Seoul government, the federal government accepted a request to clearly state the Yongsan Garrison’s exact size and boundaries in the new special act.

If the city government succeeds, 661 acres would be used for the park. Any remaining sites near the base, such as Army transportation parking lots, would be sold, Kim Seon-tae, director of the Yongsan Park Building Promotion Team, said in the report.

While no official plan exists to pay for the park, Kim said proceeds from selling the lots and supplements from the national treasury could be used.

I will remain skeptical on all of this because does anyone remember a few years back when the Yongsan Golf Course was handed over to the Korean government to be made into a park?   Guess what happened to that?  The largest building in Korea, the National Musuem now sits there.