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Just another indication of how far the rift in the US-ROK alliance is growing:

According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, military authorities requested the U.S. to sell it four Global Hawks in 2008 at last year’s SCC in Hawaii in order to secure independent surveillance ability on North Korea. Korea requested this several times. However, last June, the U.S. put out a not for sale policy and have rejected Korea’s requests.

So why would the US deny this system to our “blood allies” the South Koreans?  You shouldn’t have to think to hard:

The U.S. is thought to have rejected the request for fear that the core technology might be leaked. Some are known to be worried that confidential information collected on North Korea using the Global Hawk might be leaked to the North.

But look who the US is selling the system to:

The U.S. refusal to sell the Global Hawk has set back the South Korean’s military’s plan to introduce a high altitude UAV system until after 2010, and if the U.S. continually refuses, the whole system could fall apart.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said, While continuously requesting the U.S to sell us the Global Hawk, we are also developing a domestic mid-altitude UAV system. However, the mid-altitude UAV system development will be possibly completed around 2015. On the other hand, Japan received consent to buy the Global Hawk last June, and it has already secured budgets and commenced preparations to introduce the Global Hawk into its system.

You can read more at the link.

So much for meaningful inter-Korean talks:

North Korean Senior Cabinet Counselor Kwon Ho-ung on Wednesday told a stunned South Korean delegation at ministerial talks in Busan that his country¿s Songun or military-first policy ¿helps the security of South Korea too, and a vast majority of South Korean citizens have benefited from it.¿ North Korea’s missile launches and nuclear weapons program are apparently a boon to us. The least we can do in return, Kwon indicated, is let our delegations visit ¿sacred places¿ in the North like Kim Il-sung¿s embalmed cadaver, suspend Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, and abolish the National Security Law. Oh, and deliver the 500,000 tons of rice and light industry raw materials we promised.

I’m sure there are people in the US and Japanese government saying I told you so and laughing their asses off  after reading the above paragraph and who can blame them.

At least one person in the South Korean government has had enough with the North Koreans with the (anti)Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok having this to say in response to the North:

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok in his speech warned things could ¿get out of control¿ if the North launches any further missiles. Lee gave short shrift to Kwon¿s claims for the Songun policy. ¿Has anyone in the South asked the North to protect our safety?” he demanded. “North Korea can help us protect our security when it stops launching missiles and dismantles its nuclear program”.

I have to give Minister Lee credit, he is the first SK governmental official I have seen to actually stand up to the North Koreans.  In fact it appears that he has pissed off the North Koreans so much that they are withdrawing from the talks. From the Marmot’s Hole:

The two sides met this morning at 10:30, but apparently couldn¿t narrow their differences (read: the South wouldn¿t pay protection money). So the delegated decided to end the meeting following today¿s concluding meeting at 2:30.

This would be the first time since November 2001 that intra-Korean ministerial talks have failed to produce a joint statement, and the first time ever that the talks have ended early.

Reportedly, the North kept talking about the 500,000 tons of rice the South promised them, while the South stood firm in its position that until there was an end to this missile mess, there would be no discussion of rice aid. No date has been set for the next round of talks, although the two sides might agree to one this afternoon.

So any bets when the South Koreans will kiss and make up with the Norks and give them their bribe money or is South Korea finally growing some balls?

Up on the USFK webpage is a pretty good video from the Pyeongtaek city government supporting the planned USFK camp consolidation at Camp Humphreys.  The video makes some key points about how the US is responsible for bringing unprecedented security and economic growth to the country and is now transforming to escape the congestion of the current camps and to meet security requirements in the future.

The video sticks to the planned time table of all 41 current USFK camps being consolidated into 10 camps by 2008, which I find extremely hard to believe.  The video continues by emphasising how Korea is receiving valuable land in return for allowing USFK to consolidate in a non-congested area of Korea, but then goes on to say how the relocation is going to bring great investment into Pyeongtaek and cause unprecendented regional growth.  So in other words the congestion of the Seoul area will eventually move down to the Pyeongtaek area.

If the relocation actually does happen, the graphic of the planned expansion at Camp Humphreys was quite good explaining all the upgrades that are coming to Camp Humphreys.  Some of the improvements include a golf course, a world class fitness center, amusement park, and expanded family housing.  The video continuously emphasises how this will all be done in a environmentally friendly way.

So if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth a look, but it going to take more than this video to convince me this relocation will actually happen by 2008 or the anti-US hate groups that this will happen at all.

What I find most interesting about this is the lack of coverage of this terrorist attack.  The train bombing in Spain and the London subway bombings received much more global coverage.  Does only Muslim extremist attacks against the west count?:

Police suspect Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to be behind the serial blasts in suburban trains in Mumbai.

The magnitude of the sychronised blasts has conclusively pointed to the use of RDX by the attackers, official sources have revealed.

However, LeT has denied any hand in the incident. “We condemn Srinagar, Mumbai blasts,” said their spokesperson.

At least 183 people were killed and 663 injured in a series of blasts that rocked the city on Tuesday. Seven blasts took place on different railway stations in the city.

Use the above link to send messages of support to the people of India.  The US is fighting a war on terror to stop these type of terrorist attacks from happening in the US.  So far the Indian politicians are remaining united against the terrorists which got me thinking about what would the Democratic reaction be if the recently busted terrorist cell that was plotting to bomb the New York subway system succeeded in carrying out the attack?  Any guesses if they would blame Bush instead of the terrorists?

South Korea the world’s 4th largest oil importer has now layed claim to a large oil reserve in Canada: South Korea intends on buying an oil sands mine in Cold Lake with a capacity of 250 million barrels. The commerce ministry announced on July 2 that the purchase would be made official later this month, as part of its effort to secure South Korea¿s oil needs. The purchase price is being kept confidential. State-run Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) is expected to begin construction of a production facility in Cold Lake, with initial production in 2008, and full-scale operations to commence two years later. The size of the deposits of the mine will allow for between 30,000 and 35,000 barrels of oil to be extracted per day for the next 20 years. Oil sands, also referred to as tar or bituminous sands, are deposits of bitmen trapped in a mixture of clay, sand and water. In essence, they are sand or sandstone containing at least 10 per cent petroleum. South Korea, the world’s fourth-largest crude oil importer, has to import all its crude oil needs to feed its economy, Asia’s fourth largest. The country currently produces 115,000 barrels of oil daily from local and overseas oilfields. The commerce ministry said in an official statement that once production begins, it could noticeably raise the country’s oil output self-sufficiency level by around 1.2 percent. Seoul wants to raise the self-sufficiency level from around 4 per cent at present to 18 per cent in 2013.

I don’t like seeing protests turn violent but these people had it coming:

A van containing several protesters drove toward the entrance of Daechu-ri, a village near Camp Humphreys, to check reports that a large group of pro-U.S. South Korean demonstrators was formed to block any anti-U.S. rally in the village, the Korean news agency reported.

Task force members, according to Yonhap, say that around 9 p.m. the van was met by 200 members of the Anjung-ri Merchants Association who allegedly blocked its path, pulled the occupants from the van and began beating them.

The task force was quoted as saying three members of its group were attacked, and that one man remained hospitalized for treatment of cuts and fractures, including a head injury.

Kim Ki-ho, president of the Anjung-ri Merchants Association, said Monday that at least two association members were injured in Saturday¿s clash with the protesters and were hospitalized.

This type of thing has actually happened before in the past in Dongducheon where the locals there have no love for the anti-US protesters.  Protests outside of a US camp mean soldiers get locked down on post which hurts the merchants’ bottom line that day.  Hitting Koreans in the pocketbook is definitely one way to get them motivated to come out against the anti-US protesters.

Check out Nomad for more on the Rumble at the Hump.

I always find old pictures of Korea interesting and the Korea Liberator has dug up pictures of Korea from 1906 of unbelievable quality.  Definitely check these pictures out.

The Roh Administration fresh off of bashing Japan for condemning the North Korean missile launches, has now come out and denounced any sanctions against North Korea:

Seoul will not support a UN resolution co-sponsored by seven Security Council members including Japan, the U.S. and France to impose sanctions on North Korea for test-firing seven missiles last week. A government official on Monday hinted as much, saying it was ¿not desirable¿ for South Korea as a non-member of the Security Council to express its position on a particular UN resolution.

Vice Foreign Minister Lee Kyu-hyung on the same day called in Japanese Ambassador to Korea Shotaro Oshima to inform him the government does not support the resolution. ¿We can¿t be in the same boat with Japan all the way,¿ Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho told international news agencies.

Seoul¿s lack of support makes it unlikely that South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will cooperate to resolve the missile issue.

Sanctions on North Korea would be the final blow to the failed “Sunshine Policy” because it would forbid the economic activities (bribes) going on between South and North Korea, most notably the Kaeseong industrial project and the Kumgang Mountain Tours.  Advancing the Sunshine Policy has been the Roh administration centerpiece governmental policy program.  I failure of this program would be seen as a failure of the Presidency.  The Roh administration is in full scale damage control to protect what ever little bit of legacy they which to leave South Korea.  I can only hope for the sake of the people in North Korea that the sanctions pass and the Sunshiners are voted out of office next year in South Korea.  The beginning of change in South Korea will also mean the beginning of change in North Korea.

Niels Footman has the latest Going to the Blogs column up on the Joong Ang Ilbo site and this week looks at K-blog reactions to the North Korean missile tests as well as a look at the upcoming Korean movie the Host.  Go check it out.

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time?:

It is premature for South Korea to take back operational control of its armed forces during wartime from the United States in six years, given its lack of intelligence capabilities shown in North Korea’s recent test firing of missiles, a lawmaker said yesterday.

“It is total nonsense to exercise independent wartime command in five or six years without the U.S. military’s intelligence and surveillance backup,” Rep. Song Young-sun of the main opposition Grand National Party said in a telephone interview with The Korea Times.

“Building up capabilities for gathering intelligence, monitoring enemies and intercepting incoming missiles accurately is a prerequisite to South Korea’s independent exercise of wartime command,” said Song, a member of the National Assembly National Defense Committee.

Seoul and Washington are engaging in talks over the transfer of wartime command. Many military sources expect the timing of wartime command transfer could take place by 2012 after the South’s military upgrades its surveillance and weapons systems. South Korea took back the authority to control its military during peacetime in 1994, but wartime control has remained in the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), led by a four-star U.S. general, since the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

If you want it, you are going to have to pay for it, is basically what it is coming down to for South Korea.  It was easy for the Korean politicians to demagogue the wartime command issue, but now that Washington has called their bluff and let the South Koreans have it, it is becoming increasingly expensive for South Korea to buy the needed systems to ensure South Korean security that the US military has been providing for them for years.