Category: Uncategorized

It looks like the local police in Pyeongtaek are about as eager to enforce laws against illegal protesting as they are in enforcing Korean traffic laws:

Gyeonggi Provisional Police Agency Commissioner Oe Cheong-su on Thursday said police would reject a Defense Ministry request to provide security during the fencing in of the site for a new U.S. Forces Korea headquarters in Pyeongtaek. After plans for a ditch to keep residents and activists from farming the fields failed on April 7, the ministry said it would study setting up wire fences instead. “Under the Status of Forces Agreement, the police undertake security duty at protected military facilities like American bases. But there are no legal grounds for the police to do so in areas military facilities have yet to move to since they are property of the Defense Ministry,” Oe reasoned. “If the ministry is afraid of damage to the fences, it had better hire security contractors.?

I actually can’t blame the police for taking this stand considering the Korean government allows the anti-US hate groups and protesters to do this to them:

Scene of July 10, 2005 Riot Outside of Camp Humphreys

Maybe if the government would allow the police to arrest, imprison, and fine these people for assaulting policemen than maybe they would be more eager to do their jobs.

These students should be happy they were only expelled:

Korea University permanently expelled seven students on Wednesday as a penalty for detaining nine professors earlier this month.
Korea University is one of the top three universities of the country. In protest against the expulsions, about 100 students, including those who received the penalty, held a rally yesterday, cutting their hair.
In Korea, cutting one’s hair in public is a sign of strong protest.
On April 5, the students detained nine professors for about 17 hours on a stairway of a school building, calling for the university to grant students in the college of health science the right to vote in the students’ union.

They should have been charged with kidnapping or a similar charge.  If they would have just kidnapped and beaten some USFK soldiers and then forced them to make coerced statements on national television supporting their cause, they would have faced little or no punishment that way.

Here is an update of the case where a US soldier smashed a beer bottle over the head of a US contractor’s 18 year old daughter:

South Korea will not charge a soldier accused of smashing a broken bottle into a Seoul American High School student’s face in an off-base nightclub district, a Seoul prosecutor said Thursday.

Pfc. Christopher Myers, 20, still faces aggravated assault charges brought by U.S. Forces Korea in connection with an attack on Jasmyn Chambers, 18, outside an off-limits nightclub in the Hongdae District on Feb. 25.

He decided that USFK would exercise jurisdiction?over the case, said Kweon Jung-hun of the Seoul Sebu District Prosecutors Office.

Chambers father contends the decision to turn down the case may make it more difficult for his daughter to recover medical costs or any punitive damages.

What the father is referring to is that in the Korean system of justice “blood” money can be given to the victim in order to drop charges.  With the Koreans passing on the jurisdiction of this case to USFK that means this guy will get slammed to the maximum with UCMJ which will probably mean reduction to E1, loss of money, and possible imprisonment, but it does not necessarily mean that the victim will be compensated.  So this was definitely a turn for the worse for the victim’s family.

Thankfully it looks like President Bush is going to continue to pressure the Chinese over the deportation of North Korean defectors:

President George W. Bush is expected to make a statement on human rights conditions in North Korea in his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday. He is tipped to cite the case of a woman using the alias Kim Chun-hee, who recently escaped North Korea only to be forcibly repatriated by Beijing, according to the Washington Post. Various activist groups that have descended on Washington for the “North Korea Freedom Week” plan to hold an all-night protest against the repatriations on April 28 in front of the Chinese Embassy.

Now if only the South Koreans would get on board too.

To their credit the South Koreans are currently wrapped up in the greatest security threat the country has seen since the Hideyoshi invasion of 1592 with the current Japanese invasion plan to claim the Dokdo isles. With pressing security threats like this who can blame them for not caring about North Korean defectors.

This guy is so dumb I wonder if the Korean courts will just give him a slap on the hand sentence like they usuall do for sex offenders?:

Seoul Jungbu police on Thursday asked for an arrest warrant for a man identified a Lee for sexually assaulting and robbing his next-door neighbor. Lee allegedly took a key the victim had inadvertently left in her front door at the beginning of the month, and April 7 at around 2 a.m. let himself in to rape the woman and steal valuables from her home. The victim was able to get a look at the man?s face, but she failed to identify him as the neighbor whom she had seen only once.

However, Lee was apparently so enamored of his victim that he started leaving text messages on her phone. ?You are like an angel,? one read. ?Tonight I just want to sleep beside you, then I?ll go,? read another. The third was a dead giveaway: ?Leave me a message in the apartment mailbox.?

Police reviewed security camera footage but were unable to find any unfamiliar faces coming or going at the apartment. To catch the rapist, they left a note in the mailbox that read, ?Come and play.? Lee promptly went back to the scene of his crime at 11:40 p.m. the following Saturday to find a female detective waiting to take him into custody.

Courtesy of Japundit, here is the trailer of the latest version of Memoirs of a Geisha that you probably won’t see hitting a theater near you anytime soon:

With the current interest in Korean reunification theories, which you can read more about here, here, and here; I have decided to repost a reunification theory published last year by the Korean publication Oh My News that I found many reasons to dispute. These disputes are what initially sparked my interest in what would happen if China ever got involved in peacekeeping operations in North Korea.

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Oh My News, has an article discussing how to properly reunify the Korean peninsula. This is how the article opens up:

By using Germany as a template on what to do and what not to do, we can minimize the problems of reunification by delaying it for several decades. A divided Korea will be needed to minimize the burden to South Korea’s economy when the North does collapse. This is the general consensus among South Koreans — even though they do genuinely care about the harsh conditions in the North — but they are not willing to give up their luxury cars and vacations to help them. This may seem heartless and cold but it is also reasonable. (*)

I really don’t consider keeping your luxury cars and vacations despite the suffering of the North Korean people as caring in general about the conditions in North Korea. I pretty much consider that as not caring at all about North Korea. Which is fine, but at least be honest about it.

The writer goes on to discuss how after reunification internal security should be handled in North Korea:

One of many important aspects needed to be considered by South Korea and the U.S. is internal security. The U.S. should play an integral role in the planning of internal security in the same way it has invaded and occupied Iraq, Japan and Afghanistan. Public relations should be on the minds of the U.S. when organizing internal security. Many anti-U.S. supporters may disagree with this statement, but you have to ask yourself this, “Which country has the expertise in this area?”

South Korea should handle all internal security because after reunification North and South Korea should technically be one country with the legimate government being the elected government in Seoul. A state of marshall law will probably have to be declared for a period of time to prevent looting and a mass refugee exodus to the south. The ROK Army has more than enough man power to handle this. During the period of marshall law the local North Korean police structure will have to be rebuilt to purge people guilty of atrocities and to train new policemen in the ways of modern law enforcement including such basics as, executing people is not standard police practice.

Here is something I can agree with the writer on:

The U.S. should not enter North Korea territory. The reason for this is because the North Korean government has used heavy anti-U.S. propaganda on their people for 50 years and the sight of a U.S. Marine could incite panic among North Koreans, especially in rural areas.
(…)
With the U.S. taking a prominent role in maintaining South Korea’s side of the DMZ….

There is absolutely no reason American soldiers should enter North Korea. The amount of propaganda taught to the people in the North is sure to cause many problems if American soldiers enter North Korea. This will also cause the North Korean public to wonder if the South Korean government is really legitimate and not an American puppet.

It would also be foolish to have American soldiers secure the entire DMZ. First of all there are not enough US soldiers here to even do it, so more GI’s would have to sent here creating a larger US footprint in Korea. Plus does anyone beside this reporter think it would be a good idea that the first person a North Korean refugee would meet when trying to enter South Korea would be an American GI? If that doesn’t reinforce the image of an American puppet regime in the south then I don’t know what will.

The best thing the US Army could do is just stay on post and speed up the current down sizing of forces on the peninsula. This would free up more needed soldiers for the War on Terror plus reduce the US footprint in Korea, and put China at ease that the US military isn’t trying to move into North Korea.

All the shots including internal and border security issues in North Korea needs to be called by and executed by the South Korean government to build legitimacy in the eyes of the North Korean people.

The Oh My News reporter thinks otherwise:

United Nations peacekeepers will be needed to ensure stability in the region. All internal security matters should be handled by the UN behind the scenes for PR purposes, since the United Nations did fight against North Korea during the Korean War.

This is the last thing South Korea should send into North Korea. To the North Korean public it would just look like another foreign occupation army wanting to take over Korea. Plus how would foreigners from third world countries like; Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, etc. that make up the majority of UN peacekeeping force handle enforcing the peace in North Korea. They can’t speak the language, don’t know the history, or the cultural differences in North Korea. Worse yet what if they get caught raping girls like they did in the Congo? It would be a PR nightmare for the Korean government.

The UN is successful in executing operations like caring for refugees and providing food aid. However, there is no government body worse at handling peacekeeping than the UN. Does Rwanda, Bosnia, and Somalia ring a bell? All collosal UN peacekeeping failures, especially Rwanda. Check out this PBS Frontline report to see how effective UN peacekeeping is.

Then the reporter thinks that Chinese Army would be a great element to have join in on the peacekeeping operation:

If the UN is the head of this operation, China will be the face of the operation. North Koreans have been taught that the Chinese have helped (not saved) North Korea from the U.S. during the Korean War; China is considered a brother to North Korea.

The People’s Liberation Army of China is not known for liberating anyone much less North Korea. Tibet ring a bell? If the Chinese are allowed into North Korea, mark my words, South Korea will have a hard time getting them out.

The reporter then goes on to think that by keeping the country divided, by having the UN govern North Korea, that more international aid will roll in. After the Asian Tsunami in Southeast Asia five billion dollars overall of international aid was pledged to the effected areas. How much of that money do you think those countries will actually see? Probably not much now that the media focus has moved on, plus the cost to reconstruct North Korea will run at approximately $350 billion dollars over 10 years from just South Korea. So Korea shouldn’t count on international aid, this will be their financial burden.

Then the reporter continues to go on thinking that neighboring countries will help finance reconstruction in the name of free trade:

You may be asking yourself, why would North Korea’s neighbors be willing to spend so much on another country? There are many uses for free trade. It is the view of this writer that trade prevents wars and ensures peace between nations. This view draws on the fact that everyone wants to be rich and people would not look favorably on their government if they took steps that threatened trade. In this instance, trade will be used as a tool to speed up normalization of relations.

Before you can have free trade you need to have something to trade. North Korea won’t be in the missile exporting, counterfeit money, and drug trafficking business after reunification which leaves them with nothing to trade. It will take years to build up the economy to attract international investment.

Then the reporter concludes by thinking that money for investment in North Korea’s economy can initially be provided by making cuts in the ROK military:

I have mentioned the domino effect. Since the threat from the North would be non-existent, South Korea could redirect billions spent on defense into North Korea.

It would be extremely foolish to cut the military in Korea especially with neighbors like Korea has in northeast Asia. Northeast Asia is a tough neighborhood that requires Korea to have a strong army to prevent past national humilations from occurring again. Plus the money saved cutting the ROK Army would only put a small dent in the overall amount of money needed to fix North Korea.

The bottom line is that Korea sooner or later is going to have to suck the egg and pay for the price of unification. The current policy is to pro-long the Kim Jong Il regime to put that day of reckoning off so that the citizens of Korea can enjoy their current prosperity. I don’t agree with it but if that is what Korean government wants to do and they don’t represent me, so that is their choice. But when the day of unification does come the South Korean government needs to immediately establish its authority over North Korea to build the legitimacy of the ROK government in the eyes of the North Korean people. Any intervention by foreigners like the US, UN, or China will not be received very well by the North Korean public and will harm the legitimacy of the South Korean government, which needs to be the number one authority over any peacekeeping operation in North Korea.

Here is a new trend that people in the military better get used to:

For all you navy guys out there, this is a picture of US Navy sailors under going Army basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The military is now having people in the military who are not being utilized for anything related to the War on Terror, to begin filling augmentee roles with the US Army. Makes sense to me because there are plenty of areas out there in not only the Navy but the Air Force and even inside of the Army that are not pulling the same amount of weight that the Marines and the majority of the Army have been pulling in the combat rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan.

If this augmentee system can prevent guys in the Army who have already deployed multiple times avoid another deployment than I think it is a worthwhile system. There is an old saying that every Marine and Soldier is a rifleman first, well now that may have to change to every sailor and airmen are rifllemen first as well.

And here I was thinking the traffic in Korea was bad, courtesy of the Asiapundit, here is a traffic jam in China:

Holy crap, I couldn’t imagine trying to drive through that crap. Here is something else that China has Korea beat at; the overloading of motorcycles, also courtesy of the Asiapundit:

While I’m on the topic of China, we all know how bad the yellow dust blowing in from China can be in Korea, well in China can you believe according to Shawn of former Korea Life fame, that it rains dirt?

So yes it could be worse.

The Joong Ang Ilbo has its latest Going to the Blogs article up. This week the focus was on the Da Vinci Code and Dokto controversies in Korea. Here is an excerpt from the Da Vinci Code portion of the article:

Calling it ?an insult and defamation? to the Bible, the Christian Council of Korea last week launched a legal bid to have the film version of Dan Brown?s ?The Da Vinci Code? barred from general release in Korea. For the host of ?Oranckay,? (http://oranckay.net/blog) the actions of the council – which ?remained silent when torture was taking place in South Korea and now only talks about human rights as it pertains to North Korea? – are bad enough.

But for the Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye to champion the council?s ?Talibanesque? cause is just rank hypocrisy, Oranckay says.
?If you?ve ever asked yourself why Korea?s traditional `democratic elements? have their doubts about the motives behind the anti-NK protests organized by the country?s conservatives, I submit that it is largely the conservatives? lack of respect for and understanding of, well, democracy.?

The whole Da Vinci Code controversy I think is just stupid because if anything the Da Vinci Code is causing more interest in religion. Look at the best sellers lists and you see many religiously themed books. The Da Vinci Code is a fiction book and should not be taken as being real. If this book of, I repeat fiction, causes people to change their religious beliefs than that just shows they did not have very strong beliefs to begin with. Maybe that is what some of these ultra-religious types that want to ban the movie are scared of. Sounds “Talibanesque” on a much smaller scale of course, to me. However, Oranckay’s comments about the Korean right is spot on.

The Going to the Blogs articles are a good idea if they are getting translated into Korean as well (anyone know?). I think it would give Koreans an interesting insight into how foreigners perceive Korea through blogs, much like foreigners depend on websites like the Marmot’s Hole to provide English translations of Korean media and websites so foreigners have a better understanding of how Koreans perceive them.