Category: Uncategorized

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.

is is beyond low if true:

The kids from Taizhong Lixing Private School baseball team was invited by the organisers of a kids baseball tournament in Korea and went to Korea, and overcame barriers to get into the top 8. After the the Koreans said that only Koreans will be allowed to win, and they were not allowed to play anymore. The reason the Korean side gave was that ¿victory is reserved for a Korean team¿. They returned to Taiwan despondent.

The Taiwanese team played very well in Korea the earlier this month, they beat the other team in the first round finishing early with a stunning victory of 20:0, making everyone surprised. They finally got into top 8, but nobody believed that korea would stop them to keep playing when it really looked like they could win.

Teacher zhang for the Tainwanese team said that ¿they were scared we would win, because the winners trophy belongs to their country, so they talked to us, and only allowed us to play until top 4, forbidding us to continue beyond that¿.

I haven’t seen nothing about this in the Korean press, but I would hope that even the majority of Koreans would find this to be extremely distasteful.

I am sitting here watching the pre-game show on ESPN for the Pittsburgh Steelers versus Philadelphia Eagles game and ESPN announcer Stuart Scott just had a segment on Hines Ward and his visit to Korea which was interesting.  Hines Ward said he found the media coverage in Korea excessive when he visited the country.  He said it was like the pictures you see of the crowds following Tiger Woods around a golf course times 10 everywhere he went.  Then Stuart Scott starting talking about how Ward’s visit caused many editorials against discrimination in Korea and the government to propose anti-discrimination laws.  However, Scott made sure to point out that the Korean government has yet to pass any anti-discrimination laws.  I wouldn’t count on it happening any time soon either.

On a unrelated note, thank God it is football season again.

I’m currently working on redesigning the blog right now.  Not to long ago I mentioned possibly changing my blog title to something more original, so I chose the title ROK Drop instead.  Feel free to leave any thoughts if you have any, but I should be done with the redesign by the end of the day.

The national government and the Seoul city government are finding themselves increasingly at odds over what will happen to the prime piece of real estate in the middle of Seoul once the Yongsan Garrison relocation happens:

But the Seoul Metropolitan Government and some activists are up in arms about the plan, saying the central government is trying to legislate a special law to pave the way for development of some portion of the base in a bid to finance the relocation of the U.S. base. In a statement, Seoul City denounced the plan ceremony as ignoring the hopes of Seoul citizens to see the entire base area turned into a park. ¿The central government says it will turn the whole area of the base into a park, but it turns a deaf ear to the Seoul Metropolitan Government¿s demand to scrap Article 14 of the special law that would allow it to use the park for other purposes,¿ the statement says. ¿It has also rejected our proposal to specify the total scale and boundary of the park in the law.¿

The city government worries that the Construction Ministry would develop some portion of the land for commercial and residential purposes to finance the base relocation and wants the ministry guarantee that 810,000 pyeong (one pyeong=3.3 sq.m) of the 870,000-pyeong land will be turned into a park.

Seoul city mayor Oh Se-hoon due to the controversy with the national government didn’t even attend Korean President Roh Moo-hyun’s address proclaiming the national government’s post-Yongsan plan.  Here is what President Roh had to say about the government’s plans:

The government says it plans to lay out a massive park to preserve the green zone and commemorate the history of the area by 2045, the 100th anniversary of Korea¿s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. ¿It feels as though Yongsan is finally returning to Korea,¿ President Roh Moo-hyun said in an address. ¿After Japan occupied Korea, Yongsan was used as a stronghold for an imperialist country¿s invasion and rule. And after Korea achieved liberation, the U.S military stationed there reminded us of the fact that Korea relies on the U.S for national defense. But a park will be built in the area to symbolize the independence and peace of Korea.¿

Notice that President Roh has no intention of turning any portion of Yongsan into a park due to any environmental reasons; it is all about nationalism and equating the US presence at Yongsan with the Japanese occupiers prior to World War II.  Also notice the time line that any park would be complete by 2045.  That is plenty of time to build some high rise apartments make the national government some money and then knock them down in time for the 2045 deadline.

Look who else has made an appearance over this issue:

Some 30 environmental groups including the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement and Green Korea also urged the government to scrap the special law. ¿The plan to build a park in Yongsan should be a project to restore national pride and protect an ecosystem in Seoul,¿ they said at a press conference. ¿We cannot tolerate the central government¿s plan to sell a portion of the land and allow the construction of commercial and residential facilities to finance the relocation of the U.S. base.¿

Yes, Green Korea the same one’s who have been declaring recently closed US military bases as being “polluted” and a danger to the Korean population now wants Yongsan turned into a park as well.  Wouldn’t that threaten the lives of all the innocent Koreans out there who might attend this park because of all the USFK pollution on the base?  Yongsan’s pollution must be worse than any of the recently closed 2ID bases because Yongsan’s pollution even created a monster in the Han River.  However, notice just like I have been saying about their pollution claims against USFK bases it is not about environmentalism, it is about anti-US nationalism.  The first words coming out of their mouths is “to restore national pride”.  You never hear a real environmental group like the Sierra Club claiming “to restore national pride” as reasons to protect an ecosystem, yet that is what passes as environmentalism in Korea.  I guess there is no, “to restore national pride” reasons for Green Korea to campaign against for example all the picnickers polluting the Korean countryside every day.

I will go on the record and say I would be amazed if all of Yongsan Garrison is turned into a park and can understand why Mayor Oh Se-hoon is at odds with the government.  Mayor Oh is the newly elected mayor of Seoul who ran on a platform to make more of Seoul green in order to improve the quality of life of the city’s citizens and bring international recognition to the city for it’s efforts to improve the environment.

However, before a park or a sea of high rise apartments can be built, Yongsan Garrison has to be relocated.  Any bets if it will be relocated by 2008 as planned?  I for one think that is about as likely as all of Yongsan’s land being turned into a park.