Category: Uncategorized

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.

You would think that if you are going to commit housing fraud you would at least not put San Francisco down as the fraudlent address after all these convictions. However, some people never learn:

A senior airman was sentenced to nine months confinement and a bad-conduct discharge for stealing about $7,100 in housing allowances that he didn¿t rate.

Senior Airman Antonio M. Jackson of Kunsan¿s 8th Maintenance Squadron pleaded guilty to two specifications of signing false official documents and a larceny charge. He pleaded not guilty to one specification of signing a false official document.

Col. Steven A. Hatfield, chief military judge of the Pacific Circuit from Yokota Air Base, Japan, also ordered that Jackson be reduced to the lowest military rank, E-1.

Jackson told the court that when he was on leave in the United States in 2005, he married his girlfriend in Alabama. But when he returned to Kunsan after the vacation, he filled out documents on Oct. 12 stating that his wife was living in San Francisco, which pays one of the highest housing allowances. After local leaders warned of a crackdown on housing fraud, Jackson filled out new paperwork stating that his wife had moved from San Francisco to Montgomery, Ala., on Jan. 2, 2006.

I have no sympathy for these guys getting convicted because you are told during improcessing before you fill out your housing allowance paperwork about what can happen to you if you commit housing fraud.  I remember when I got my briefing they explicitly mentioned San Francisco as being the top housing fraud location.  Some people never learn.

Construction has begun on the new high rise barracks among other buildings to be constructed at Camp Humphreys:

Workers at Camp Humphreys are gearing up for another major building cycle that will see construction of new barracks, a dining hall, military offices and a sports field by 2008.

The $55 million project is the latest step in the U.S. military¿s push to transform Camp Humphreys into its main installation on the peninsula under a U.S.-South Korean agreement.

¿It¿s going to put the commanders and the soldiers in efficient buildings designed for the purposes that they¿ll be used for,¿ said Camp Humphreys spokeswoman Susan Barkley.

If anyone knows how to make good high rises, it’s the Koreans, so the barracks should be highly improved facilities for the soldiers to live in.  It’s a big change for guys like me who can remember living in a quonset hut my first tour in Korea.

What is the point of an alliance with two commanders?

The United States and South Korea are considering disbanding their combined command and creating independent military commands, with a restructured U.S. Forces Korea focusing on air and naval power, according to USFK commander Gen. B.B. Bell.

Bell¿s announcement came in a speech to the Korean National Assembly¿s Defense Forum in Seoul on Thursday. He was unavailable for an interview Friday, but his spokesman provided a copy of the speech to Stars and Stripes.

Bell said that since October, the U.S. and South Korea have been studying Seoul¿s request for independent operational command of its troops during wartime. Current agreements call for Bell ¿ also commander of the Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command ¿ to direct all combat operations.

¿While no final decisions have been made, we are considering creating two independent commands ¿ one ROK and one U.S., with U.S. forces in a supporting role, and restructured to take advantage of U.S. air and naval warfare capability,¿ Bell said.

It was unclear Friday whether the restructuring Bell mentioned could mean a drawdown of U.S. soldiers or an increase of Air Force or Navy personnel or equipment.

I like how General Bell just continues to call the Koreans bluff.  The whole war time command issue is just something South Korean politicians have been demagoging to the Korean public knowing full well that Korea is not willing to pay the costs necessary to take the war time command position.  So far it appears the Pentagon has brought in the right guy to head USFK through this period of transformation and realignment on the Korean peninsula.

Here is another one of those only in Korea problems:

The U.S. took the opportunity of just-concluded Security Policy Initiative talks with Korea to press for a new bombing range for the U.S. Forces Korea to replace a facility in Maehyang-ri that was shut down. The U.S. says its Air Force needs somewhere to practice and could move off the peninsula for training if Korea does not oblige.

Assistant Defense Minister for Policy Kwon An-do, who represented Korea at the regular talks, told reporters Friday the U.S. repeated the warning and asked for the issue to be resolved as quickly as possible. A string of such statements have come from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, USFK Commander Gen. Burwell Bell and others over recent months.

After the Maehyang-ri range was shut down, there were plans to move bomber training to the Jikdo range in Kunsan, North Jeolla Province, but local government and citizens protested.

What is so hypocritical about this is that the US Air Force cannot train because of environmental and noise pollution concerns while the ROK Air Force continues to train with many of the same planes that the US Air Force uses.  The ROK Air Force must have bought the noise free, non-polluting models.

There has been some progress on turning over the closed US bases in South Korea:

Seoul and Washington Friday agreed on the transfer of 15 of 59 U.S. bases to South Korea where the U.S. side had cleaned up environmental pollution in accordance with a bilateral accord, the Defense Ministry said.

The agreement was made during the ninth Security Policy Initiative (SPI) meeting in Seoul.

The 15 bases include the Camp Bonifas near the inter-Korean border; the Camp Howze and the Camp Greaves both in Paju, Kyonggi Province; and the Koon-Ni Range in Maehyang-ni, Kyonggi Province, the ministry said in a statement.

The two sides, however, failed to narrow differences over cleanup costs and contamination levels at 11 other bases which have soil pollution levels in excess of South Korean environmental standards.

They will continue discussions on the matter in the next meeting slated for September, it said.

Keep in mind the Koreans signed an agreement saying they would take the camps “as is”, but of course the anti-US hate groups and the political allies demagogued the issue enough to where the camp turn over has been delayed for over a year for some of the camps.  Also keep in mind these so call “polluted” camps are actually oasis of green in the real polluted Korean urban jungle that surrounds the camps.  That is what is so frustrating about this issue because all the time and energy spent on this so called camp pollution issue would be better served by focusing on all the real pollution in Korea.

It is safe to say the anti-US hate groups are not happy right now:

Seoul will pay for any additional required work and turn the sites over to the local governments in the areas. Kim Hak-ju of the Environment Ministry said no estimate has been made of those costs.
Yun Gi-don of Green Korea United mourned the agreement, saying he did not think the public would accept the outcome.

This is what I don’t understand.  If Green Korea was a real environmental group why should they care who pays for the clean up, as long as it is getting cleaned up.  The Korean government has said they will pick up the extra costs of any environmental clean up, so what grievance does Green Korea have?  This just goes to show that they don’t care about the environment, this is all about stopping the USFK move to Camp Humphreys and in turn trying to end the US-ROK alliance.  Green Korea’s real agenda is clear as day right now, but I don’t think anyone is watching.

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UPDATE:  Where is Green Korea on this issue?

Well, you be the judge:

Hordes of protesters against a Korea-U.S. free trade agreement turned central Seoul and nearby areas into pandemonium for about eight hours Wednesday. Coupled with the pouring monsoon rain, the demonstration made workers on their way home in the evening suffer immense inconvenience. As anticipated, members of the Korean Alliance Against the Korea-U.S. FTA wielded 3-meter bamboo sticks against police and broke police car windows with iron pipes. They threw broken paving blocks at the police and mobilized fire and sand as protest tools.
They broke out of the area where they were supposed to have staged their demonstration, occupied roads and even blocked the Gwanghwamun intersection, where the law bans demonstrators from congregating.
Traffic was rerouted and the streets near Seoul City Hall were little more than parking lots.
While over 20,000 riot police were on hand there, only about 300 traffic police were on hand to try to help motorists. In the name of protesting against the free trade agreement, they they were not shy about showing their anti-U.S. sentiment, crying, “Americans should get out of this country,” and the traditional “Yankee, go home.” When some anti-FTA protesters went to Washington for demonstrations early last month, they never deviated from the legal boundaries. They mobilized peaceful means such as holding candles and pickets, effectively attracting the attention of Americans there.
Why did those people take peaceful measures in the United States while adopting extremely violent and illegal measures here? Do the Korean police look like scarecrows while the U.S. police seem frightening in their eyes?
It is true that the protesters are doing wrong, but the passive attitude of the local police is also open to criticism as well. The police arrested not a single protester at the demonstration site after warning earlier that illegal protesters would be dispersed forcefully or arrested. A police official said, “Arresting protesters on the spot could have aggravated the already bad situation at the time, because the venue was central Seoul and it was raining heavily.” That attitude just encourages demonstrators to ignore the law.