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Remember these anti-US protesters that got beaten by the Camp Humphrey’s merchants?  Now they are back and have Amnesty International on their side claiming that the Camp Humphreys merchants have violated the protesters human rights.

“Park Lae-goon is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately,” said Rajiv Narayan, East Asia researcher at Amnesty International. “He has been detained for over a week solely because of his peaceful campainging for the Pyongtaek farmers.”

Park Lae-goon was arrested on 9 July. He had been demonstrating for the rights of farmers in Pyongtaek, whose land is subject to an eviction order to make way for the expansion of a US army base. According to witnesses, Park and other demonstrators were attacked by another group wielding wooden staffs, but police officers monitoring the demonstration did nothing to stop the attackers. One protester suffered a severe head injury and had his teeth broken, according to a local human rights group.

Some of the demonstrators, including Park, went to the police station to complain about the lack of action on the part of the police. They also complained that the police had blocked the road into the village of Daechuri, preventing residents from getting into their own homes. Rather than consider their complaints, the demonstrators say the police beat up Park and other protesters and arrested them. Most have now been released, but Park Lae-goon remains behind bars.

“Everyone has the right to demonstrate peacefully and the police should be upholding this right, not attacking and arresting people who exercise it,” said Rajiv Narayan. “The dispute over villagers’ land around Pyongtaek should be settled by means of a fresh consultation that takes account of the farmers’ concerns — not through force.”

I think this picture here best sums up the absurdity of Amnesty International:

It is okay for the “farmers” what few are left and the anti-US hate groups to use force on the Korean police and bash their heads in, but it is not okay for the police or Pyeongtaek residents to use force back on the protesters?

I don’t know what to say about this:

Pop star Vicky has refused to allow her nude photos to be exported to Japan.

Vicky was recently offered a US$100,000 contract from Hong Kong-based WUFU Business Co., Ltd. to release her nude photo collection on Japanese portal sites. Vicky, however, frankly stated her opposition, saying, “No matter how much I needed money, I wouldn’t want my nude photos sent to Japan.”

So who knows where this house is located at in Korea?

The more things change the more they stay the same in some instances. 

Then:

 

Korean Farmer in 1971 

Now:

Korean farmer today in Gangwon Province

I have to agree with this editorial from the Chosun:

The Roh government accuses the U.S., Japan and opponents here of making political capital of the missile crisis. If the North’s missile tests were non-military actions, and ¿did not target any country,” as the Roh government maintains, what was their point? Naturally, they were political. Even Cheong Wa Dae said they were “political events.¿ It is self-contradictory then to accuse other countries of using them for political purposes. Saying North Korea’s political maneuvers are fine but moves by its potential victims are bad because they are political shows how pro-Pyongyang this administration’s thinking is. In that sense, Cheong Wa Dae¿s response to the missile crisis is evidently “political.” The difference, if there is one, is that the maneuvers of others are abuses, but ours are for a good cause.

Even if North Korea¿s display of military power is politically packaged, we should be on the alert. An examination of the specifications of the North¿s missiles suggests that, assuming Pyongyang has any political sense, they target neither the U.S. nor Japan. The remaining target is the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. Kim Jong-il is neither so stupid nor so reckless as to provoke a world war. His gamble is always toward localized warfare. What South Korea must fear and guard against is a local war. That is the message the missiles send.

This seems to sum up the Korean government’s attitude towards everything with North Korea.

Tags: north korea, korea

UPDATE:  Damn that’s a lot of water, I have never seen the Han River run this high before.

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Heavy monsoon rains turn deadly in Korea:

At least 31 people were dead or missing in South Korea after heavy monsoon rain pounded the country’s eastern province for a third consecutive day, officials have said.

Torrential rain since Friday left at least 13 people killed in landslides and 18 missing in flash floods as of early Sunday, the National Emergency Management Agency said in an updated report.  Victims came mostly from the eastern province of Gangwon that had received up to 500 millimeters (20 inches) of rain in the past three days, it said.

More than 2,000 people remained homeless Sunday after the downpours flooded homes, swept away roads and inundated farmland and villages in the province, it said.  Police, military and disaster agencies have evacuated flood victims to schools and other safer areas, while airlifting relief to flood-hit areas.  Meteorologists expect the heavy rain to continue sporadically in South Korea until Thursday.

The latest Going to the Blogs article is up on the Joong Ang Ilbo site.  This week the article focuses on the reactions to the tougher South Koreans stance on the North Korean missile issue.

This sure looks like fun:

I haven’t been to the Boryeong Mud Festival before but I have been to Daecheon Beach many times and had a great time each time I went there.  If you are looking for something to do, this does look like fun and runs through next weekend.

This is something that is definitely going to effect US soldiers in Korea:

Servicemembers throughout much of areas I and II may have found little or no on-base taxi service Saturday after Area I drivers went on strike Friday evening, dispatchers confirmed. Area II drivers said they planned to follow on Saturday.

Area I officials said Arirang Taxi Co. drivers went on strike after the Army and Air Force Exchange Service raised taxi fares but drivers¿ wages did not increase.

Citing rising fuel costs and the falling U.S. dollar, AAFES increased the starting fare of most on-base taxis in South Korea by 50 cents ¿ a 28 percent jump ¿ beginning May 1. AAFES officials were unavailable for comment Friday night.

How does a increase in the fare because of fuel prices have anything to do with the taxi drivers making more money?  I find it hard to sympathize with the AAFES taxi drivers on this issue because they make a lot more money than the taxi drivers off post.  The article made no mention about the amount of money the AAFES taxi drivers make from tips which is a considerable amount of the their take home pay.

Once while riding in a off post cab in Uijongbu the taxi driver began speaking to me in English.  I asked him how he learned to speak English and he told me he once was a AAFES taxi driver, but got fired because for years he was taking fuel used for AAFES cabs for his own personal use and finally was caught.  He said he is paying for it now because when he worked for AAFES he was working 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week, but now as a off post taxi driver to make the same amount of money as an AAFES taxi driver he has to work 6 days a week and 10 hours a day, sometimes longer.  He said that tips were a big part of everyday take home pay because US soldiers are generally much more generous compared to the Korean public when giving tips.  He continued by saying that in the cab driver community an AAFES taxi job is the most sought after job for a cabbie because of the work hours and pay.   He really regretted losing his job over his dishonesty, but everyone else was doing what he was doing so he thought it was okay until AAFES cracked down on it and he lost his job.

We’ll see how this plays out, but if AAFES wants to replace the current strikers they shouldn’t have to much of a problem doing so.

USFK is responding to inaccurate news reports in the Korean media about the hand over of USFK bases to the Korean government:

According to a USFK news release, command officials want to explain the camp return process following a week that saw many inaccurate and misleading articles and editorials in various Internet and print media sources.

USFK has closed more than two dozen bases as part of a plan to consolidate most of its forces at Camp Humphreys. Over the past 19 months, the South Korean government agreed to accept just seven of those bases, citing unacceptable pollution levels at the others.

Fridays USFK release stated that those delays result in lost economic opportunities for the South Korean people and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $400,000 a month to guard closed bases. Neither USFK nor South Korean government officials would comment on news reports early last week that the United States was going to stop guarding those bases this month.

The issue with the delays is the environmental cleanup of the bases before return.

Under the status of forces agreement, the United States is not obliged to restore the facilities and areas to the condition they were at the time they became available to the U.S. armed forces, or to compensate the government of the ROK in lieu of such restoration, according to the Friday news release.

In return, South Korea gets the land for free and doesnt have to pay the United States for any capital improvements such as buildings and other infrastructure.

The end state to this is that the ROK not only receives its land for its use, it receives the utility of billions of dollars of U.S. investment over the years free, at the expense of the American taxpayer, according to the release. This is a very, very good deal for the people of the Republic of Korea.

There is an attempt by some to negate the SOFA agreement as it relates to camp returns and to introduce new environmental standards, according to the release.

The release states that U.S. policy requires USFK to remedy known, imminent, and substantial endangerments to human health and safety.

But USFK has agreed to go above those standards by pulling out selected underground fuel storage tanks, removing heavy metal contamination from firing ranges and hiring a South Korean company to run a high-vacuum pump system that targets groundwater fuel contamination at five camps, according to the release.

Inaccurate news reports in Korea? Say it ain’t so? Yes, I’m being sarcastic because the Korean media is well known for twisting facts and printing blatant lies particularly when dealing with USFK. The camp hand over is another one of these issues being distorted by anti-US hate groups and the media to inflame anti-American sentiment in order to stop the camp consolidation at Camp Humphreys. The consolidation of camps at Camp Humphreys will reduce the US footprint in Korea, in turning reducing incidents from happening between Koreans and Americans. The camps where they are now create incidents and also serve as a reminder to Koreans of the USFK presence in Korea compared to the out of the way Camp Humphreys, which the location definitely has a out of sight, out mind quality for being in Korea.

The anti-US hate groups need to keep USFK right where they are at in order to keep the under current of anti-American feelings in the general Korean public. The camp consolidation will be a huge blow to the anti-US hate groups in Korea and they know it and their North Korean allies know it too. The North Koreans want to keep the US camps where they are at, not only because of the anti-Americanism it creates, but also because it keeps the US forces in the Second Infantry Division within range of North Korean artillery. This enhances their bargaining power when it comes to the six party talks with the US.

However, there is another player in this issue as well, China. If the camp consolidation can be stopped there is the very real chance that the US will dissolve the US-ROK alliance which would be a huge win for the Chinese. China would by default once again become the historical hegemon of the Korean peninsula.

Obviously there is a lot riding on the USFK camp consolidation issue and right now USFK is doing the right things to make the camp consolidation a reality while the whole way fighting off the attacks of those who want to stop it, which are many.