The Hines Ward phenomenom is now even making news in America. CNN has a pretty good three minute clip on the effect Ward is having in Korea. I have to say I have been impressed with Hines Ward. I think he truly cares about making a difference in Korea and I for one hope he sticks with it and continues to change perceptions in Korea.
He has in fact vowed to return to Korea at the end of May to do just that:
The American football star Hines Ward on Tuesday vowed to return to Korea at the end of May to continue his efforts to help mixed-race children in Korea.On the eve of his departure, the half-Korean NFL superstar held a final press conference at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, where he announced plans to return to Korea next month. Sitting alongside his mother Kim Young-hee, he said he was in the midst of consulting lawyers about plans to start a foundation for children of mixed parentage in Korea.
Ending a 10-day trip to the country, the athlete said he had seen beautiful historical sites and met great people. He expressed his thanks that everyone here embraced him as a Korean. But Ward said while Korea is a beautiful country, attitudes to racial issues here reveal a darker side.
Ward is even bringing his wife and kids next month to Korea as well. For some reason I’m willing to bet his mom will stay home next time, but I for one hope she comes back as well.
Another great drive that is near Seoul is to head northwest to Kangwha-do island. The island has served for centuries as the refuge for the Korean royal family when the country was attacked by foreign powers such as the Mongols 750 years ago. Additionally the island has served as the place of first contact with western seafaring powers due to its location on the mouth of the mighty Han River.
Fortunately for you there are no more Mongol invaders to worry about and the island has turned into a rich agricultural area with clean air, great views, and an interesting history.
Getting to the island is relatively easy from Seoul. Just get on highway 48 heading northwest from Seoul and just follow that highway all the way up the Kimpo peninsula and cross over the bridge to the island. As you approach the bridge, keep you eyes open and scan the surrounding hill sides for evidence of the ancient walls and fortifications that once protected these inlet to the Han River. The first city you approach when you cross the bridge on to the island is the city of Gangwha itself. The city is famous across Korea for it’s herbal ginseng roots and accordingly has shops and markets throughout the town that caters to herbal shoppers. Additionally the city also contains the the palace the Korean royal family called home on numerous occasions during Korea’s long history that is worth checking out.
After you decide to leave the city of Gangwha you can continue west on highway 48 through fields of green farmland all the way to the Yellow Sea coast and get some great views of the South Korean islands of Gyodong-do and Seongmo-do that lie out near the maritime DMZ. Those who are little more adventurous can decide to take a side road north and reach the northern coast of the island and get some views of North Korea that lies just across the water from Gangwha-do. Some ROK soldiers may not allow you into certain areas, but if you have a military ID and some Korean proficiency you may be able to talk them into letting you check out some areas you normally could not see. However, whatever you do, do not take any pictures. The soldiers will descend on you rather quickly if they see you pull out a camera.
View from the west coast of Gangwha-do Island. Ferry boats can take you from here to other near by islands.
Another area to check out is instead of heading west on 48 at Gangwha; go south on highway 84 instead. Highway 84 will once again take you through more fertile farmland and the lush green hills of Gangwha-do island. Follow the signs to Gwangseongbo that lies on the east side of the island. Gwangseongbo is an old fortification that was used to defend the island from maritime attack. This fortress is most well known in Korea for being the place of first contact between the US and Korea. To make a long story short, a misunderstanding led to the US Marines attacking and occupying the island in 1871 which ultimately led to Korea signing a friendship treaty with the United States. Click here to learn more about the American Campaign of 1871 in Korea.
Gwangseongbo Fortress on the east coast of Gangwha-do Island.
For those who want to do more than just drive around the island; hikers can always take the relatively easy hike up Manisan mountain on the south side of the island. The mountain is 469 meters high and the summit of the mountain contains an ancient Korean alter.
The entire trip to see all the sights on Gangwha-do from Seoul will take an entire day. Usually the roads into Gangwha-do are not to busy unless it is a Korean national holiday then all bets are off as all the masses from Seoul are descend on the countryside. So get out and enjoy the green hills and history of Gangwha-do Island.
Thieves stealing personal information from Korean websites are on the rise:
For months, the police were chasing a man who was hawking illegal goods on the Internet: 13-digit identity numbers and other personal data that people in this highly wired country must submit to join most members-only Web sites.When last week they finally arrested the man, identified only by his last name, Song, they found that he was leading a 12-person ring that was selling compact disks that contained personal data for as many as 7.7 million people – names, identity numbers, home and e- mail addresses, phone numbers and Web site log-ons. The scale of the alleged crime convinced the government that it could no longer delay a planned overhaul of the country’s online identification systems – even though many Web site operators say they fear that the methods being tested are too cumbersome and will stifle Internet growth in South Korea.”It’s a reality we are facing,” said Ahn Sun, a police investigator. “Your personal data, and mine, are very likely out there circulating.”Song sold his CDs mainly to telemarketers, but data brokers like him – who are legion in this country, according to the police – are an enormous cause of concern to privacy advocates in South Korea, where 75 percent of the population has access to a broadband connection.
It looks like more sandstorms are on the way:
Sandstorm are likely to blanket much of the nation between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, three days after the worst-ever seasonal sandstorm hit the nation, weather forecasters say.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said Monday strong sandstorms with fine dust concentration level up to 10,000?/? that hit Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert until Monday afternoon will probably be blown into Korea by northwesterly winds.
As bad as these sandstorms are, they are nothing compared to the “shemalis” in Iraq:
Yes it could be worse.
The Chosun Ilbo’s Kim Dae-joong really hits the nail on the head regarding how the Korean government should approach relations with the US in his latest editorial:
Our country has few resources. We rely 100 percent on foreign countries for our energy, and because we do, we should choose a side that has the resources. We cannot say we belong fully to the Christian world, but we definitely do not belong to Islam. That means we cannot afford to be on bad terms with the Christian world. Bluntly speaking, we have no oil but lots of Christians. Since we cannot hide under the wing of neutral “third? countries, we must show the wisdom, through a carefully calculated foreign policy, to avoid becoming embroiled in a whirlpool of war.How we deal with America today depends on just such survival skills. Strategic anti-Americanism benefits us no more than sentimental or ideological anti-Americanism. Blind pro-Americanism as a hangover from the Cold War is just as useless. We must adopt a fundamental strategy of taking the real benefits where we need the U.S. even at the cost of concessions, and of coldly cutting it off where it is in our interest to do so.
Kim is right that Cheongwadae needs to do what is in Korea’s interest and the ongoing debacle at Camp Humphreys is not in it’s interest. The US wants to consolidate forces in order to continue a steady face saving withdrawal of USFK soldiers from Korea. If USFK cannot consolidate forces at Camp Humphreys that will lead to a massive withdrawal that is not in either allies interest because it would embarrassing for the US to be withdrawing from Korea due to perceived anti-Americanism. However, it would be a bigger disaster to Korea because how many people in America would be willing to buy a Hyundai after seeing USFK appear to be running out of Korea with it’s tail tucked between it’s legs due to anti-Americanism? That is not even taking into account the loss of foreign investment due to losing the US security blanket and the loss of jobs provided by USFK that would imparct the Korean economy.
The current consolidation of forces at Camp Humphreys is in everyone’s interest, yet due to the lack of leadership from the Blue House the plan may very well fail. Remember it has taken years due to anti-Americanism to find the US Embassy a new home in Korea much less USFK.
Those who advocate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea insist that the American presence here keeps up the pressure and thus the risk of war. If that were the case, the Korean Peninsula would have been reduced to rubble in the days when the troops exercised much greater influence here. Already U.S. troops are in the process of pulling out of South Korea. What terrible unresolved grudges these people must entertain, to throw stones at the U.S. forces? retreating backs.
For South Korea, the U.S. is no longer the be-all and end-all: it is a means to survival. It is useful. There is no point in getting worked up as though we would perish immediately without the U.S. It is equally nonsensical to curse the U.S. as if it was responsible for an imminent Armageddon. The U.S. is no longer a requirement but an option: we should choose wisely.
I continue to maintain that the US deserves a face saving reduction of forces from Korea instead of the current America bashing that is going on in Korea. 38,000 deaths and 50 years of security and investment in South Korea should at least be worth a face saving reduction in forces in my honest opinion.
Who will be the biggest loser if the Camp Humphreys consolidation fails? It may be neither US or South Korea, but North Korea. How you ask? The North Koreans justify their “military first” policy due to the perceived threat of a US invasion. If the Yankees all go home than that discredits their policy because the bogey man is gone. Plus the world takes the North Korean threat a whole lot more seriously when the US is seen to be taking the Norks seriously enough by putting roughly 32,000 US soldiers between the two Koreas. The reduction of US forces from Korea is a signal to the rest of the world that North Korea is not as important of an issue as it used to be. Less focus and attention on North Korea means less foreign aid, which in turn may mean the end of Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il needs a bogeyman to legitimize his autocratic rule and USFK is it, but maybe for not much longer.
The Hines Ward phenomenom continues his rock star like tour in Korea. The latest site he and his mom visited was the Korean Folk Village in Yongin. He doesn’t look to bad in the hanbok either.
I wonder what Hines Ward thinks of all the yellow dust? I wonder if he got a sinus infection yesterday from this dust, like one well known fishermen did? To bad for him that the NFL season is on going during the best months to see Korea which is autumn. Spring isn’t to bad either except when the yellow dust comes flying in like it is now.
The Metropolitician has some interesting commentary himself about the Hines Ward craze and provides this telling political cartoon below. I think this cartoon sums it up pretty well.
The Korean government is experts at blaming things on black helicopter CIA conspiracy theories and now they are bringing their paranoia to the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement talks:
Beware of the dragonfly: it may be a bugging robot disguised as a harmless insect. No, the advice does not come from a mental patient convinced the government is spying on his laundry bills: it was one of the security tips issued during last week?s two-day workshop for 120 Korean delegates in the nation?s impending free-trade negotiations with the U.S. The workshop was designed to help delegates guard their negotiation strategies from prying ears when the talks start in June.
Security authorities at the workshop revealed the extraordinary inventiveness of U.S.?s intelligence surveillance power, which indeed stretches to a dragonfly robot that records conversation with the microphones concealed in its trunk as it sluggishly drones about the room.
One government official set delegates on edge when he warned, ?There is no telling what lengths the U.S. with its technological might will go to if it decides to eavesdrop.? Sure enough, the CIA also has other members of the insect kingdom at its disposal, besides using a coin-sized camera that can take 11 pictures.
Only those dastardly Americans would stoop to such lengths to spy on an ally. We all know that Korea would never spy on anyone.
The Joong Ang Ilbo’s Niels Footman, has his latest article up covering the Korean blogosphere. In the article he covers the variety of opinions within the K-blog community over the Hines Ward mania and even quotes my site in his article:
For the host of “GI Korea,” much may hinge on Mr. Ward himself.
“If he stays active in the problem then maybe things will change. If not, then a month after he leaves all will be forgotten until the next famous mixed-race person comes around.” But, he continues, “President Roh and Koreans in general should have been addressing this problem long before Hines Ward showed up.”
Yes, they should have. Yet changing attitudes in a country that has for so long adhered to half-baked notions of racial homogeneity is bound to take time, and any help is surely welcome.
I actually think less is riding on Hines Ward now and more on his mom who has been speaking her mind on this trip and she may ultimately become the person that can change perceptions in Korea with her blunt talk about the status of mixed race families in Korea.
Mr. Footman also goes on to talk about the anti-US protests during the RSOI training where US Marines assaulted by anti-US hate group members:
This week, the fuse was lit by pictures of Korean protesters manhandling U.S. marines at a joint U.S.-Korean military exercise. Joshua at “The Korea Liberator” speaks for many when he says:
“The authorities had no excuse for failing to prepare for it. The response was also characteristically slow.”
Certainly, it beggars belief that just two policemen were posted on the beach, and as “GI in Korea” points out, one can only imagine the furor had one of the marines retaliated against any of the protesters.
Also doing the rounds in the blogosphere is a video montage of anti-American protests from the last year.
Don’t forget the Korean government has vowed to get tough on the anti-US protesters after the assaults on the US Marines. I guess the crackdown on the US protesters doesn’t carry over to protecting the young draftees who serve in Korea’s riot police that had the crap beaten out of them during last week’s Camp Humphreys protest. If the Korean government wants to do something to stop these violent protests, then put these people in jail and fine the hell out them. I’m all for free speech and descent. If these people want to stand outside Camp Humphreys and yell “Yankee Go Home!” all day and light candles fine, but these hate groups don’t have the right to bash the police with metal pipes, destroy vehicles, set fires, kidnap and beat US soldiers and force them to make statements on national TV, among a host of other crimes that no one is severely punished for, which only encourages this activity. The Camp Humphreys relocation issue to going to be the single issue that will define the US-ROK alliance for years to come and it could go either way because the government still hasn’t come out strongly against the hate groups thus enocouraging them to continue their activities. It will none the less be interesting to see what happens.
USFK has come up with a plan to clean up the alleged environmental damage on US camps vacated and to be handed over to the Korean authorities. From the Stars and Stripes:
U.S. Forces Korea has presented an environmental cleanup plan to South Korea that the Americans say goes ?above and beyond? previous agreements about the almost 60 bases going from U.S. to South Korean control, a USFK spokesman said.
South Korean officials still must accept the plan, USFK spokesman David Oten said Friday. USFK declined to release any estimate of the cost, which the United States will pay, before a joint U.S.-South Korean public statement was prepared.
The government has been authorized to spend what is needed to follow the U.S.-written plan, Oten said.
USFK should clean up environmental damage, but the claims by the activist groups should be put into context with the surrounding communities. Take a look at the land surroundings these vacated camps, it is not exactly the Garden of Eden up in 2ID where these camps are located. Much of the land surrounding these camps is polluted even worse by the locals than the alleged polluting by USFK. The military will clean these lands to be absorbed by the surrounding communities who I am willing to be will just pollute them again.
If USFK thinks this will stop the activists claims they will find that they are mistaken. They will just keep finding things to bring up because none of this is about the environment. It is about making USFK look like the big bad bogey man. These people could care less about the environment, it is just a convenient topic that has gained traction in South Korean society to hammer USFK with.
Anyone remember the Great 2000 Water Dumping Scandal? USFK was accused of polluting the Han River when a civilian base worker drained some chemicals down a sink in Yongsan. The activists jumped all over USFK for the actions of the civilian worker while they could care less about the massive amounts of dumping going on in plain sight by Korean nationals. I have literally seen a Korean tanker truck dump raw sewage into a stream that runs into the Han River before. Take a Han River cruise to see the garbage floating in the river yourself. This “scandal” was exploited not for environmental reasons, but to slime USFK. If these people really cared about cleaning the Han River they would be out campaigning to stop all polluting of the river, not just USFK.
It will be the same thing with the alleged polluting of the vacated camps. They got to spread their anti-USFK message and will move on to the next topic they can smear the US military with.
Click here for more additional information about the anti-US hate groups’ manipulation of environmental issues in Korea.
Sandstorm are likely to blanket much of the nation between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, three days after the worst-ever seasonal sandstorm hit the nation, weather forecasters say.
