Category: Uncategorized

This won’t make the Blue House happy:

An American activist group on North Korean human rights plans to build a settlement facility for North Korean defectors to the United States, a revamped version of one in South Korea, a U.S. broadcaster reported Saturday.

“‘Hanawon’ is not exactly the best resettlement program out there. So…we’re going to set up a version of that here in the United States to help facilitate these North Koreans to resettle here in the U.S.,” Adrian Hong, head of LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), said in an interview with Washington-based Radio Free Asia.

Hopefully LINK can continue to expand the aiding of North Korean refugees with or without help from Seoul.

Speaking of North Korean defecters, they may being coming to a CD near you sometime soon:

Although their debut album has not been released yet, the Dallae Music Band is already upbeat, hoping to hit it big. The five-woman band, all North Korean defectors, has made a string of media appearances at home and abroad and signed with Seoul’s leading entertainment firm.

While anything related to North Korea sounds off-key to the highly commercialized South Korean entertainment world, the young women believe they have their own specialty to show — North Korea-style music and dance.

It is official, PATRIOT missile units are going to be deployed to Okinawa:

Patriot interceptor missiles will be deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japanese and U.S. Forces Japan officials confirmed Thursday.

Japanese defense official Iwao Kitahara went to Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine¿s office to announce the move, which had been expected. But after making the announcement, the Defense Facilities Administration Agency director ¿ caught between Japanese reporters with cameras inside the office and angry, loudspeaker-wielding peace activists outside ¿ struggled to exit the building.

The announcement ends weeks of speculation about which Japanese base would house the system. The 24 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, which local residents and leaders strongly oppose, will be relocated from Fort Bliss, Texas, said Master Sgt. Terence Peck, USFJ spokesman.

Hopefully the PATRIOT guys won’t send soldiers like these guys, this guy, this guy, etc. to Japan with them.  I don’t think the Okinawans will be willing to take too much crap from them.

Sounds like someone is trying to make a buck:

Temporary measures to prevent the flooding that damaged Camp Casey and local businesses on July 12 now are in place until a permanent solution is found, Area I commander Col. Rick Newton said Friday.

Newton also disputed an earlier Area I damage assessment blaming the flooding primarily on the design of a dam built on the base in 2005.

He said it was too early to tell exactly what steps should be taken to shore up a water system that was overwhelmed by 8 inches of rain in 10 hours.

¿The dam was built to provide us with 50 percent of our water supply ¿ it does what it is supposed to do,¿ Newton said. ¿That¿s the same water supply we use to fight fires and that in the past the city has drawn to fight fires.¿

The dam was simply overrun by too much water, Newton said. As water rose several feet beyond the limits of Casey Creek, which runs for about 3.5 miles through the base, it poured over the top and sides of the wall.

After the flood, base workers dug trenches along the culverts that drain waters coming from the mountains behind the base, Newton said, and built a temporary mesh wall that adds 3 to 5 feet to the dam wall.

Dongducheon officials Thursday in part blamed the flooding of 69 businesses on the base¿s not opening the flood gates until that afternoon. Newton said the gates were opened by 11 a.m., the same time the water pumps began operating.

The city also plans to ask the Army for compensation for damages, Kang Hong, city director of current issues for U.S. Forces counter plan division, said on Thursday.

The term dam is actually misleading because it is not really what one would consider a dam.  It is a small structure built on what is commonly known as doo-doo creek on Camp Casey and COL Newton is correct that the water on the camp has been used to help local farmers and the city during droughts.  The claims being made now sound dubious at best.

There is a good interview with USFK commander General Bell in today’s Stars and Stripes.  Here is what he had to say about the transfer of war time command:

The top U.S. military commander on the peninsula said U.S. and South Korean officials hope to have a ¿road map¿ toward independent military commands here completed by October.

U.S. Army Gen. B.B. Bell, who heads the Combined Forces, U.S. Forces Korea and United Nations commands, said he hopes to have a macro-level road map approved at an October security consultative meeting in Washington, D.C.

¿So we¿re conducting a range of meetings ¿ in hopes of laying out these road maps,¿ he said in an interview with Stars and Stripes last week. ¿I don¿t know if we¿ll make it ¿ but we¿re working on it.¿

Under current agreements, Bell directs U.S. and South Korean combat operations in time of war. In October 2005, South Korea said it wanted wartime operational command of its own forces, launching current studies.

The difficulty is neither drafting a plan nor saying that the nations have agreed to a deadline for setting up independent commands, Bell said. Rather, what¿s more difficult, he said, is enacting the plan and meeting the deadline.

The key sentence is enacting the plan and meeting the deadline which is being delayed because of the ROK government’s unwillingness to bare the cost of the independent command.  It is easy for the ROK politicians to demagogue this issue, but when pressed to actually implement it they begin dragging their feet.  However, it appears that General Bell is going to keep pushing the issue on them.

Here is what he had to say about possible withdrawal of land combat forces on the peninsula:

Asked whether the goal of restructuring implied fewer ground soldiers ¿ or additional Air Force or Navy assets on the peninsula ¿ Bell said, ¿Not at all. We¿re not anywhere near that kind of level of fidelity.¿

Maybe not now, but I’m sure it is not far from US policy makers minds though.

General Bell’s comment about the lack of US Air Force training range is especially pointed:

In the Security Forum speech, Bell also stressed the need for a modern air-to-ground training range. He said that lacking such a range in South Korea, he¿d ¿be forced to pursue other approaches¿ to train U.S. crews.

Asked whether ¿other approaches¿ meant moving Air Force crews out of South Korea either temporarily or permanently, Bell declined to provide specifics.

A range requires electronic devices to rate aircrews, Bell said. ¿You¿re not just looking for a splash of water or a big field of dirt somewhere. You¿re looking ¿ to score the capabilities of these aircrews.¿

Bell said officials believed they¿d have that type of range soon after South Korea closed the Kooni Range Complex in August 2005. He said he thought it appropriate to remind the National Assembly of this and to emphasize how important he considers it.

¿One thing is for sure,¿ Bell said. ¿We are not going to allow American aircrews to go into a war, or to propose that they can deter a war, unless they¿re trained and ready.¿

¿If I can¿t get access to an air-to-ground range, I¿m going to have to do something.¿

He is absolutely right about the Air Force needing a training range.  Would you send the Army into war without going to the rifle range and qualifying on your assigned weapon?  If the US Air Force goes then the US ground troops won’t be far behind them along with the US-ROK alliance.  All this over BS environmental and noise pollution at Kooni Range.  The South Koreans politicians are about to reap what they sowed and General Bell appears determined to make it happen.

Great link here from the Marmot’s Hole.  Anyone who has been stationed in Korea and particularly Yongsan should see this photograph of Yongsan in the 1940’s.  Pretty incredible how much things have changed in 60 years. Make sure you also check out the article by probably the top Korea scholar, Andrei Lankov which describes in detail the history of Yongsan.

The North Koreans are up to their usual tactics of divide and conquer:

Never one to forgive and forget, North Korea has kept South Koreans out of Kaesong since July 1, insisting that it will work with Lotte Tours instead of its long-time original partner Hyundai Asan on a Kaesong tourism project. The Unification Ministry said Friday the North has been asking the government to change its Kaesong tourism project partner from Hyundai Asan to Lotte Tours since May. Seoul demurred, saying it cannot be a party to contract violation, and Pyongyang has to deal directly with Hyundai Asan. On June 22, the North avenged itself with a letter to Unification Minister Lee Jeong-sook notifying him that South Koreans are now barred from the North Korean border city.

It looks like everyone coming from the states will get their TDY money again this year in Korea:

U.S. and South Korean troops will hold a joint exercise next month, the U.S. military said Friday, in an annual drill that North Korea routinely brands a rehearsal for invasion of the communist nation.

This year¿s Ulchi Focus Lens drill, set for Aug. 21 through Sept. 1, comes as tensions escalate on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea test-fired a series of missiles on July 5.

The exercise, conducted every year since 1975, is largely a computer-simulated war game ¿designed to train, evaluate and improve combined and joint procedures, plans and systems for conducting operations critical to the defense of the peninsula,¿ the U.S. military command said in a statement.

From the Stars and Stripes:

No negotiations had begun between Worldcup Arirang Tourism Company Ltd. and its 270 drivers as of Tuesday afternoon, day four of a strike that left U.S. military bases in Area I and Area II without taxi service, according to the drivers¿ union president.

¿So far, we haven¿t heard any single word of (that suggested) negotiating from the company,¿ Shim Woo-chang said Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday morning, Arirang manager Kim Hong-yeon told Stars and Stripes he couldn¿t talk because he was meeting with union officials. Later attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials on Tuesday released a short statement saying they expected taxi service to resume ¿as quickly as possible,¿ according to AAFES spokesman Air Force Master Sgt. Donovan Potter.

In a separate statement, Area II AAFES general manager Betty O¿Brien said AAFES was exploring other options.

¿AAFES is contacting other taxi companies to determine if they would be interested in providing taxi service in Area II,¿ O¿Brien said in the statement.

I think if AAFES starts looking at bringing in another cab company to take over the contract this dispute will end real quick.

I wonder if this rapist was linked to the raped Philippina woman I reported on earlier this week or any of the raped female US soldiers and citizens in Korea?:

A 30-year-old man was arrested and detained by police yesterday, charged with the rape-robbery of 44 women and the robbery of six more in a crime spree from April 2005 until last month.
The Gangnam police in Seoul did not reveal his name, but said he had been convicted of rape in 2002 and served 30 months in prison. He reportedly confessed to the 50 rapes and robberies.
Police said the man targeted women working alone, usually in cafes or medical clinics, cleaning up their places of employment before and after hours.

Here is good point brought up by the Joong Ang Ilbo journalist:

The man was arrested after being identified by people at a gymnasium, who reported his presence to police.
It was less clear why police did not take further steps, such as a press conference, to warn the public or why journalists did not seize on the story before the man’s arrest.

The answer is because rape remains a taboo subject in Korea and is not a problem that is going to go away any time soon if crimes are not publicized to catch criminals and when criminals are caught they are given long jail time which rapists in Korea are currently not given, which is evident by this latest example.

Hat Tip: Nomad

Why do liberals even when they write an article supporting the Bush administration’s approach towards handling North Korea they still have to add paragraphs worth of anti-Bush rhetoric in the article?