Category: Uncategorized

From Yonhap:

South Korea will provide free physical checkups for all its conscripts starting in 2008 as part of efforts to improve their welfare, government and ruling party officials said Thursday.

In their plan, the military and the private sector will establish a cooperative medical system, and a military medical center will be built to help research and education.

Shouldn’t the military being giving physicals to the soldiers to begin with? They act like they are doing these soldiers a favor for something they should have been doing in the first place.

Just for everyone’s info, I have updated the GI Korea albums, What I Like About Korea, What I Don’t Like About Korea, and Only in Korea.  These albums continue to be popular with commenters, but just for the record just because I post something about things I don’t like about Korea that doesn’t mean I’m anti-Korean.  There is a lot to like about Korea which I have also listed, but only a fool would say Korea is a perfect paradise on Earth with nothing wrong with it.  I bring up things that I don’t like about Korea, not because I hate it but because I want to make it better than the great country it already is.  If I was so anti-Korean why would I waste my time upkeeping this site?  I spend the time upkeeping this site because I have a deep interest in Korea and try to provide a window into Korea from the perspective of a GI for people coming to Korea for the first time.  I often receive emails from soldiers coming to Korea for the first time with questions and hopefully these albums and the archives of this blog helps others with their transition to Korea as well.

If you don’t agree with something in my lists feel free to comment and share your two cents, but at least try to keep it civil.  You wouldn’t believe how many comments I have to delete because people go way over board with their language and slander of me, Koreans, Japanese, Americans, or whatever they have a grudge against.  Enjoy.

Hat tip to Nomad for pointing out this dandy, Kim Kyu-hyun, a Defense Ministry official claimed on a radio program that the Korean government is going to try and reduce the amount they pay per year for the upkeep of USFK:

A senior National Defense Ministry official said Wednesday that Korea will try to reduce its share of expenses for keeping U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula in the upcoming negotiations with the United States.

Appearing on a KBS radio talk show, Kim Kyu-hyun, a Defense Ministry official in charge of international cooperation, attributed the move to the reduced size of the U.S. Forces Korea and increased burdens on Korea for financing the relocation of the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters.

Referring to reports that Washington wants to link Seoul¿s plan to regain wartime operational control with the defense cost-sharing negotiations, the official said that the Korean government has no intention of doing so.

This cost sharing issue may really end up being the straw that broke the camels back in regards to if USFK under goes a complete pull out from Korea.  I find it totally hypocritical that a country that demands equality with the US won’t put their money where their mouth is.  The Koreans are only paying 40% of the costs of USFK and want to pay less even though Donald Rumsfeld has already publicly said he intends for Seoul to pay an equal amount.  The whole base relocation excuse for not paying an equal share is getting old because the South Korean government will make more than enough money to cover the relocation costs by selling the land from the vacated USFK bases being handed over to them.  So much for being equal partners in peace.

If anyone thought the English teacher bashing in Korea recently was bad it is nothing compared to what is going in China.  The Peking Duck reports about an internet man hunt currently under way in China to uncover the owner of this blog Sex in Shanghai who is an English teacher who had the audacity to blog about his sexual exploits with his students.

For months over at the China Blog List, I noticed that one blog always seemed to get good play, perhaps because of its curiosity-inducing name, Sex and Shanghai, and its subtitle, “Western scoundrel in Shanghai tells all.” I visted the site once, and that was more than enough. The last thing I need to do with my time is read an expat’s sex diary in which he describes in occasionally graphic detail his sexploitation of willing Chinese girls, many his former students. (The writing is excellent and the blogger offers some keen insights into the Chinese psyche, but all of that gets lost in the unending stream of pornographic reminiscences.)

China is still a conservative country, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that as this blog gained traction it would also gain controversy. So I read with great interest an account over at ESWN of how the Shanghai sex blog has been denounced by a Chinese blogger who’s also a psychology professor, leading to one of those famous Internet-generated “manhunts,” like the search for the deranged stiletto-heeled kitty killer.

Doesn’t this all sound familiar?

Anyway the translated portion of the said Chinese blog post announcing the man hunt can be read here.  The site owner now being hunted down had this to say in response to the man hunt.  What I found amusing in the comments sections in between all the comments wishing him death were the other comments bashing America and of course Korea.  This guy is not even an American he is British and yet this has opened another forum to bash America.  I’m sure this is only going to get more interesting.

Tags: china, english teacher

There is probably more to this story but I find this sentencing very strange:

A U.S. soldier was sentenced to five months¿ confinement Friday after being convicted in a court-martial of raping a close friend¿s wife.

Pfc. Jason R. Warder, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, was allowed to continue his five-year career in the Army after admitting in court that a platonic relationship with the wife of one of his friends turned into a sexual relationship earlier this year.

One night when both he and the woman were drunk, he forced her to have sex, according to Warder¿s statements in court.

This is the first time I have seen a rapist allowed to stay in the Army or receive such a light sentence.  That is why I say there is probably more to this story because the sentencing is very strange for someone convicted of rape.  However, his command could still chapter him from the Army under other articles, but usually rape convictions lead to bad conduct discharges.

Anyway, the key thing to take from this story is once again a young soldier drunk on alcohol committing a crime.  I always hear young soldiers complain about USFK policies and regulations targeted against them, but is it any wonder when stories like this committed by young soldiers are a dime a dozen?

Here is an interesting article for fellow bloggers out there to see how much money some bloggers out there are making:

With Internet-like speed, blogs have gone from self-indulgent hobbies to flourishing businesses. Real businesses, with real revenue streams from real advertisers.

Boing Boing, a four-person operation that bills itself as a directory of wonderful things, is on track to gross an estimated $1 million in ad revenue this year. The digital-media news site PaidContent.org, headquartered in the second bedroom of a Santa Monica apartment, is set to post even more than that.

And Fark.com, a site packed with sophomoric humor run by a lone guy in Lexington, Ky., is on pace to become a multimillion-dollar property. In short, some of the most popular blogs, long the bane of the mainstream media, are themselves becoming mainstream. (…)

In recent months, big-name companies like Banana Republic and Coca-Cola (Charts) have for the first time run ad campaigns on blogs, in the belief that blog communities often consist of concentrated numbers of the passionate and influential people all marketers want to reach. Intel bought its first blog ad in March; now all its ads run on blogs as well as traditional outlets. Says Thom Campbell, head of media strategy for Intel (Charts), “The audience on blogs is the cream of the crop.”

Amazing, making a million dollars a year blogging.  I have a long ways to go before I make any money like that with this site, not that I blog for money anyway.

As expected the anti-US groups in Gwangju are quite happy to see the PATRIOT missile unit in Gwangju leave:

Protesters are glad to see them go. Supporters want them to stay. And the mayor is riding the fence on the announcement that U.S. troops are leaving Gwangju after less than two years in the city.

U.S. officials confirmed Thursday that the 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, part of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, is to be moved to Camp Carroll, about 40 minutes north of Daegu, by year¿s end.

¿On one hand, we are very pleased,¿ said Park Sang-chun, a representative for about 100 civic groups that protested stationing the Patriot missile battalion at the South Korean military¿s Gwangju Air Base. But ¿just to relocate the base to another area in Korea,¿ he said, ¿the problem remains the same substantially.¿

Now what would that problem be exactly Mr. Park?  I don’t see what the problem is from PATRIOT missiles units protecting your commie ass from your “brothers” in the North.  Maybe he would prefer his own government to spend the billions of dollars needed for the Koreans to buy their own PATRIOT missiles to protect him and his commie bretheren in Gwangju.

Tags: PATRIOT, US, Gwangju

Don’t look for the White House or the Defense Department to do South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in favors and Mr. Rumsfeld has just confirmed what was speculated President Bush had already approved; the early transfer of war time command to South Korea:

U.S. Defense Secretary of Donald Rumsfeld recently told Seoul the U.S. wants to hand over wartime operational control of Korea’s armed forces in 2009, it emerged Sunday. That signals tough negotiations ahead since Korea¿s proposed date is 2012.

Rumsfeld wrote to his Korean counterpart Yoon Kwang-ung on Aug. 17 saying Washington plans to hand over wartime operational control to South Korea in 2009, a government official said. It was the first time the U.S. defense chief has officially confirmed the open secret.

This confirms my earlier speculation that the Bush administration wants to make sure that President Roh reaps what he sows on his watch as President of Korea.  The Korean government has been pushing for a 2012 date for the hand over which would mean that President Roh wouldn’t be in office when the aftermath of his anti-US policies would really be felt.  However, with the 2009 handover that means that probably next year further troop cuts and transformation of the US-ROK alliance would begin.  That would mean that any effects a US draw down or complete pull out would have on the economy would begin on Roh’s watch.  Without a doubt it appears that Roh will go down as the most incompetent President in the history of the Republic of Korea.  That’s no small accomplishment because South Korea hasn’t really hasn’t been blessed with to many enlightened leaders since the founding of the Republic after World War II.

What I like even more is that the US government is even rubbing salt into President Roh’s political wounds by demanding a more equitable defense cost sharing of the alliance:

In the letter, Rumsfeld also proposed that two allies divide the upkeep cost of the USFK at an “equitable” rate, which pundits say means 50:50. Korea currently shoulders slightly less than 40 percent of the cost. He also pressed for a new bombing range for the USFK to replace a facility in Maehyang-ri that was shut down, and expressed hope that the two sides can sort out their differences over who should pay for the environmental cleanup at bases the USFK is vacating.

It is going to be interesting to see what excuse the Roh’s government is going to come up with, about why they can’t share the cost of the alliance equitably when they have war time operational control, not the US.  Roh has been talking about having a more equal alliance with the US since he took over as President in 2002, well guess what, let’s see if his money is where his mouth is.

Just think of the cost this news is going to have on the South Korean tax payer.  There is going to have to be a number of system that have to bough immediately to meet the hand over timeline plus if Korea is forced to pay 50% of the alliance costs that is just even more money the South Korean tax payer is going to have come up with.  Is it any wonder why the Korean government rather sell apartments on the handed over Yongsan Garrison land instead of turning it all into a park?

Not only is the economic security of the peninsula being compromised by Roh’s incompetence, but also the national security as well because even if the government purchases the needed systems in time there is no way they will have trained soldiers and leaders to operate and command those system in time for the turn over.  The US government takes it’s security commitments very seriously and initially were trying to approach the war time command issue in a rational manner to not compromise the security of the peninsula and still meet the US military’s transformation plans, but with Roh and his minions politicizing the issue there is going to be serious national security issues on the peninsula, which will allow the North Koreans to really extort money from South Korea because his military threat to South Korea will be greatly enhanced by a US pull out or reduction.

That is what the lone big question is that is remaining for the US, will it be a complete US pull out or just a reduction?  I don’t even think the White House knows yet, but I do think they wouldn’t be shy about pulling the trigger on a complete US pull out if they don’t get what they want like equitable cost sharing, the speed up of the camp relocation issue, and a bombing range for the Air Force.

What about President Roh?  Well look for him to try and cover his ass by continuing to make grand proclamations that the ROK Army is ready now for the hand over even though they aren’t and he knows it, while the ROK Army turns to their retired brass and veterans to spearhead a drive to delay the hand over.

I think it would be best for the ROK military to cut their loses and do what they can to just keep whatever US presence on the peninsula that they can, but it is quite clear now that the hand over is going to be 2009 and it is no sure thing that a robust US presence is going to remain on the peninsula at all.  To make things even worse there is so far no guarantee that the Yankee cavalry will come save South Korea with a massive deployment of forces in case of hostilities:

But abandoning OPLAN 5027, which guarantees automatic U.S. reinforcements, and replacing it with a piece of paper that will require congressional approval, however, is like swapping cash for a dubious promissory note. What’s more, we will have to pour W620 trillion into our self-defense by 2020 to exercise sole operational control of our forces.

President Roh wanted an “independent” Korea, well it looks like he got it.

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The Marmot has more on this issue and make sure you read Brendon Carr’s posting in the comment section as well. It’s a great read.

Tags: korea, us, roh, bush, rumsfeld

It looks like even President Bush has agreed that South Korea needs to take war time control from US forces:

U.S. President George W. Bush told his military commanders that he agrees South Korea is capable of exercising wartime control of its own forces, diplomatic sources here said Thursday.

In a meeting Aug. 14 of senior military leaders at the Pentagon that the president sat in on, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Burwell Bell reported that South Korea has the needed capability, according to the sources.

“I agree,” Bush was quoted as saying.

I love this paragraph that Yonhap, the official government news agency made sure to throw into the article:

The realignment reflects Seoul’s growing stature in the international community and Washington’s need to have its troops readily available for speedy redeployment for contingencies around the world.

“Seoul’s growing stature in the international community”?  What does war time control have anything to do with this?  The war time control is happening due to the combination of freeing up US troops for deployments elsewhere and the state sponsored anti-Americanism in Korea by the Korean government.  If anything, Seoul’s international stature is going to drastically decrease without a close cooperative relationship with the United States.

Anyway the words from President Bush seems to go along with the timeline that October is going to be the month that big changes may be announced for the US-Korea relationship.  For reasons I have stated before, the timing of this all is what the real news is going to be because we have all long suspected that changes in the US-ROK alliance were coming.  I for one hope it happens sooner rather than later.

I had a good laugh when I read this:

The Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Group in the University of Sheffield¿s Geography Department and a research team at the University of Michigan have produced a ¿World Wealth Map 2015¿, a collection of maps resizing territories according to their economic power. The map projects Korea as the world¿s sixth largest in terms of per-capita GDP in purchasing power parity with US$38,249, surging ahead of the U.S. in seventh with $38,063 and Japan in ninth with $35,694. The two teams took into account data from nine organizations including the World Bank, the CIA and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in creating the map.

Great that means that Korea should be able to afford their own national defense.  I need to carry a copy of this article around and pull it out every time I hear someone from Korea complain they are still a developing nation or the economy is so bad.  Or better yet, can’t afford to rebuild North Korea, thus reunification needs to be put off at all costs.  Looking at this map I can help but think it is easy to have inflated purchasing power when you don’t have to be the world’s policemen to ensure global stability for the same countries making money on this list.