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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.
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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.

UPDATE: Here is some more details of this incident from the Korea Times:

Four U.S. soldiers have been arrested for allegedly stealing a taxi and injuring two pedestrians here, police said Saturday. The soldiers, who were only identified as members of the U.S.’ Second Infantry Division, are accused of stealing the taxi at around 2 a.m. Saturday, police officers said.

The incident took place shortly after the U.S. soldiers allegedly physically assaulted a 19-year-old South Korean, who was only identified by his surname Lee, local cable television news channel YTN reported. After the fighting drew attention from passersby, the soldiers tried to flee the scene by flagging a taxi, the report said. However, the taxi’s 25-year-old driver, identified only by his surname Kim, refused to accept them as customers because they were intoxicated, police said.

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Here is another taxi cab related incident involving you guess it, the 2nd Infantry Division:

DONGDUCHEON, South Korea, April 15 (Yonhap) — Four U.S. soldiers have been arrested for allegedly stealing a taxi and injuring two pedestrians north of Seoul, South Korean police said Saturday.

The U.S. soldiers, who were only identified as members of the U.S.’ Second Infantry Division, are accused of stealing the taxi in the northern city of Dongducheon at around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, police officials said.

I say send them to the ROK prison in Choenan with haste:

South Korea ?Prosecutors asked Friday for sentences ranging from three to seven years in prison for the five 2nd Infantry Division soldiers accused of robbing a taxi driver on Christmas and stuffing him in his car trunk.

Pvt. Kidrem Cortez Porter, 21, was most responsible and deserves seven years in prison, said prosecutor Chu Hae-yun. Porter already has been sentenced to 1? years in prison for his role in a March 2005 robbery.

Porter is a disgrace to the uniform, hopefully the Korean courts max him out.

One of the best travel destinations in all of Korea is the beautiful Cheju-do Island located 100km south of the Korean peninsula in the Pacific Ocean. The island is filled with sites and is a perfect location for touring by car with it’s wide open landscapes and non-crowded roads. With so many great rides to choose from on the island I will begin with the easiest one. A quick and easy route to view some of the great sites on the island is by taking highway 97 south from Cheju City on the island’s north coast, all the way to the Cheju Folk Village on the south coast of the island.

Highway 97 skirts the massive Hallasan mountain thus avoiding any of the steep climbs and treacherous curves on other roads that cross the island. On a clear day you can get some great views of Hallasan to the west along with views of the multiple parasitic volcanic cones that dot the island to the east of the road. Some of these parasitic cones have pathways that allow you to climb up them if you have the time to stop.

Also along the route you will see lots of colorful flowers that Cheju is well known for along with Cheju’s famous horses. The horses are small and sturdy and are descended from when the Mongols controlled the island centuries ago. There are ranches along the route that offers rides for a fee to those inclined to try out these steeds.

The road ultimately ends on the south coast at the Cheju Folk Village. The folk village is a well designed re-creation of a traditional Cheju-do village. The people on Cheju-do have a distinctly different culture and language from main land Koreans and this village gives you some insight into those differences, not to mention some great Cheju-do cuisine. There is no better “samgeopsul” than from the black pigs of Cheju-do.

From the folk village you can either travel west on Highway 12 to Seogwipo for the night or go west on highway 12 to take you back around the i

The Korean authorities now want to talk to the anti-US hate groups and farmers that are halting the Camp Humphreys expansion project:

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense wants to open lines of communication with protesters with whom they?ve battled over contested lands outside of the U.S. Army?s Camp Humphreys.

The goal, said MND spokesman An Jung-hoon, is to persuade farmers still on the land to vacate 2,328 acres the South Korean government purchased to allow for the expansion of Humphreys. Under a plan between South Korea and the United States, the camp will triple in size in coming years and become the U.S. military?s chief installation in South Korea.

How about arresting them when they do things like this:

South Korean riot police have skirmished with the protesters several times in recent months. On Friday, MND-contracted workers poured cement into two of the three canals that bring water to the fields where the farmers want to plant rice. Several protesters were injured and several arrested during the clashes on Friday, police said.

The protesters were able to break up the cement over the weekend, MND officials confirmed, and the water was flowing again.

They assault policemen and then destroy the cement walls that the government spent thousands of dollars for private contractors to build and the government just wants to talk to them? How about talking to them in jail where the violent instigators belong? The Camp Humphreys expansion is supposed to be complete by 2008; what a joke, at this rate the government will be lucky to have the land secured by 2008.

Unfortunately the environment of a tour in Korea is a breeding ground for these types of things to happen:

The former first sergeant of a military police company here was demoted one rank after pleading guilty Wednesday to fraternization and making a false official statement, according to proceedings at his court-martial.

Master Sgt. Glen E. Gibbons was demoted to sergeant first class and must submit his resignation from the U.S. Army within 90 days, according to a plea agreement. He was the first sergeant of the 142nd Military Police Company, 94th Military Police Battalion, 8th Military Police Brigade.

Gibbons, who has served more than 18 years in the Army, also had faced charges of adultery with two different soldiers and one charge of cruelty and maltreatment. In that charge, he was accused of threatening to transfer a female soldier if she continued to talk about their relationship. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, the military prosecutor dismissed them and the judge accepted the plea.

A first sergeant should know way better than this:

On Wednesday, Gibbons admitted in court he let a platonic relationship with a junior female soldier grow from a mentorship into a close friendship that included giving her rides on off-duty time, letting the soldier and her boyfriend stay at his off-base home to avoid curfew violations and sharing a room with her on a group vacation to Thailand.

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Gibbons said that during the time they spent together ? volunteering for a youth sports program, working out, shopping out of town and escorting her to a modeling photography shoot ? he didn?t feel he was doing anything beyond helping a younger soldier as he had been helped earlier in his career. As the rumors grew, Gibbons said he later realized there was an impact on the company.
How is taking a soldier to a modeling shoot considered mentoring? If you want to mentor her, help her practice for a promotion board or train on CTT skills, you don’t take a trip to Thailand with her. Some how I think he was doing a lot more than “helping” a young soldier out.

I have seen this type of scenario play out before where you have a senior leader who may either be recently divorced or away from his family for a year in Korea and thinks they can get away with fooling around with a younger soldier. The problem in Korea is that the soldiers live on top of each other here 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, so they gossip all the time which creates a huge rumor mill which often exposes leaders that engage in this activity. I have seen senior leaders ruin their careers just by creating the perception of a relationship even though they didn’t do anything sexually with the soldier but the perception was there which is enough to get you in trouble.

Leaders, especially a first sergeant lose all creditability when they fraternize with soldiers and the Army is serious about prosecuting these cases. This guy lost more than just his rank but also he was under two years from hitting his 20 year retirement window. Now that is all gone because he wanted to be unprofessional and fraternize with the soldiers. What makes this even worse is that the guy is an MP responsible for upholding military laws. Stupid.