Category: Uncategorized

I just got done reading the book I picked up during my recent trip to Japan. The book titled, The Japan Journals is written by Donald Richie who first entered Japan during the post-World War II period starting in 1947. His life remained intertwined with Japan for over the next 55 years as a journalist and writer.

The book features many interesting moments when the writer met numerous famous Japanese people such as Akira Kurosawa due to his job reporting for the Stars and Stripes newspaper. However, the stories I liked the best from the book were his numerous trips into the Japanese country side where he provides interesting accounts of life for the average Japanese person after the war. Comparing these accounts with life today in Japan is really enlightening to see how far the country has come.

Overall, the book is good reading for those with a deep interest about the people of Japan and it’s post-World War II history. I recommend the book for all those familiar with life in Japan from an ex-pat’s perspective. There are a number of stories in the book I could relate to today that even happened to him 50 years ago.

A team from the US Treasury Department is scheduled to arrive in Seoul this week:

In a related development, a four-member delegation from the U.S. Treasury Department, which arrived in Seoul on Saturday, will meet Seoul officials on Monday to show evidence of Pyongyang’s suspicious financial activities at a bank in Macau.

Daniel Glaser, Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, and three other American officials visited Hong Kong and Macau before arriving in Seoul. They are scheduled to leave South Korea on Tuesday.

I will make the assumption that the Treasury Department is coming to Seoul to display the gathered evidence and information provided by the Chinese after Kim Jong Il’s visit to China, of the North Korean counterfeiting activities. This is of course information that the Blue House doesn’t want to believe. The six way talks are of more importance to Seoul:

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon returned to Seoul on Sunday after a six-day visit to the United States, where he said Seoul had delivered its concerns to Pyongyang over the Communist state’s alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars.

“We have conveyed our concerns to North Korean authorities,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Late Edition, which was aired on Sunday. “At the same time, we hope that this kind of counterfeiting or illicit activities by North Korea will not stand in the way of six-party talks.”

I for one hope the US government keeps the pressure on the North Korean regime. In IMHO, hitting the North Koreans in the pocket book will get more results from the six way talks then what we have seen so far.

First there was Oprah’s Book Club and now there is, The Osama Book Club:

Israelly Cool points out struggling authors should stop focusing so exclusively on the Oprah Winfrey Show and start concentrating on cracking Osama Bin Laden’s reading list. According to Reuters, the mere mention of William Blum’s Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower on Bin Laden’s latest auditotape rocketed Blum’s book from 209,000 on Amazon’s sales list to No. 3O. It went as high as 19, from our research. No word on where the book stands today, but you can check it here. Also, no word so far on whether Osama has read Glenn Reynolds’ latest. He hasn’t commented on it anyway.

With Osama Bin Laden having his own reading list; I have to wonder why Kim Jong Il doesn’t have his own book club as well? When Kim does get a book club going I’m sure this book will be on the top of his reading list:

Anyone else have any other Dear Leader reading suggestions?

Departing USFK Commanding General Leon LaPorte is now a citizen of Nomads favorite city:

U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Leon J. LaPorte was given honorary citizenship to South Korea’s capital city Thursday in a ceremony to honor the four-star general before he leaves as America’s longest-serving military leader here since the Korean War.

LaPorte and his wife, Judy, have lived on Yongsan Garrison in Seoul for almost four years. LaPorte is leaving South Korea on Feb. 3 and plans to retire from the military after almost 38 years with the Army. He and his wife plan to move to Texas.

The military leadership in Yokosuka Japan are now implementing their own USFK style restrictions in response to serious acts of indiscipline that has occurred recently in Japan:

All Yokosuka-based Navy personnel, civilians and dependents were cut off from late-night drinking in Yokosuka on Thursday by a general order signed by Rear Adm. James Kelly, Commander Naval Forces Japan.

According to the order Kelly signed Thursday, drinking in establishments on Yokosuka Naval Base must cease at midnight Sunday through Thursday and at 2 a.m. on weekends and holidays. Off-base rules are stricter for area bars, restaurants and public places, where the ban kicks in at 11 p.m. during the week and 1 a.m. on weekends and holidays.

Here is what set all of this off:

In ordering the drinking restrictions, Kelly cited the recent spate of alcohol-related crime as the reason for his action.

“Alcohol abuse in particular continues to be a root cause of nearly all incidents of inappropriate conduct,” Kelly said in a news release. “We must change this fact.”

The new policy is pretty much the same one in place in Korea. Will this policy work to reduce incidents? I think there is ample evidence to suggest that it does, because USFK has not had a GI murder a Korean national in 5 years. The policy did not stop the one drunk driving, man slaughter case in 2003 where a Korean woman was killed by a drunk Osan soldier. Despite this incident the overall crime rate for USFK soldiers in down. However, even if this policy does reduce incidents overall it doesn’t matter because the incidents that still do happen get so closely scrutinized in the media that it appears to the general public that GI behavior has not improved when statistics say otherwise.

Here is a good example of how an alert blogger was able to help authorities arrest a would be terrorist inside the US trying to organize a terrorist cell. Get this he was an illegal Jordanian immigrant using library computers to try and organize a cell to conduct a terrorist attack in the US.

Without the Patriot Act, authorities would not have been able to monitor his actions on the library computer. Does anyone doubt that the terrorists out there are hoping for the end of the Patriot Act?

The South Korean Ministry of Information is now urging users of Windows 98 to change operating systems to Linux:

During the meeting, the Ministry of Information and Communication urged the other agencies replace Windows 98 with the open-source software Linux, the sources said.

According to industry data, Windows 98 runs on around 13 percent of the total 27 million personal computers in South Korea, most of which are being used at government agencies.

Why don’t the users just upgrade to Window NT instead of using the old buggy Windows 98? I wonder if the move to change to the Linux system is in response to the anti-trust case being waged against Microsoft in Korea? Maybe this is a way to put added pressure on Microsoft to settle the case as they are currently appealing the latest ruling against them.

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon have reached a compromise agreement over the the USFK “strategic flexibility” issue:

South Korea has agreed to allow the United States to use troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula as a rapid deployment force to deal with possible conflicts around Northeast Asia.
The agreement, coming after three years of tough negotiations, is part of Washington’s global plan to give its forces greater “strategic flexibility.”

There is one catch however:

Reflecting Seoul’s concerns of over the changing role of the USFK, the statement also read: “In the implementation of strategic flexibility, the United States respects the ROK position that it shall not be involved in a regional conflict in Northeast Asia against the will of the Korean people.”

South Korean officials said they intentionally left the agreement at a “broad” level without setting rules or guidelines.

“We will be discussing details as situations arise,” said Kim Sook, director-general of North American bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He said the agreement should not be a source of concern, considering the agreed principle that South Korea will not get involved in a regional conflict against its will. The chances of the USFK having to use its “strategic flexibility” are slim, Kim added.

What the South Koreans are concerned about is the possibility that USFK troops would be deployed to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack. The South Korean government does not want to become involved in a war with China. I find this a little ironic since the situation the Taiwanese government faces is so similar to the situation on the Korean peninsula. The Taiwanese have been able to achieve amazing economic success while simultaneously living every day with an aggressive communist nation threatening to attack them just like South Korea. You would think the Koreans and Taiwanese would be more readily acceptable to defending each other, but it just goes to show how successful Beijing has been at politically isolating Taiwan over the past 20 years by offering nations like South Korea economic access to the Chinese markets in exchange for isolating the Taiwanese politically.

With that said I don’t think the USFK strategic flexibility has anything to do with deploying troops in defense of Taiwan. I think it has more to do with redeploying soldiers out of Korea in a face saving manner to reduce the US footprint in the country. The scenario would be that troops are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and then they don’t come back to Korea, they just redeploy stateside.

Force reductions are going to be a reality in the future and this “strategic flexibility” allows the US to withdraw troops in a face saving manner to where it doesn’t look like soldiers are being removed from Korea due to anti-Americanism. IMHO this process will happen sooner rather than later depending on the Camp Humphreys land deal that is still be delayed due to protests over land aquisition to expand the base.

The USFK footprint needs to be reduced due to the population growth and demographic changes in Korean society towards the US. “Strategic flexibility” is a road map to do this with.

Oranckay is reporting this interesting piece of news:

It’ll probably be in the English press by morning but president Roh Moo Hyun has got his own blog.

Some have said one of Roh’s biggest problems is that he’s got his head buried in the internet. You know, instead of just governing without constantly trying to be best buddies with The Netizens all the time. I wonder if he is going to be able to sleep at night without wondering what kind of comments he’s been getting. (He’s been known to leave a few himself here and there.)

Looking at Roh’s Blog it doesn’t appear very original. How original is the title, Cheongwadae Blog? Interesting that the leader from the world’s most wired country has such a low tech blog. I wonder if he will get more hits per day than Marmot’s site?

Here is an interesting LA Times article via Japundit about the ideology training in North Korea:

Some of the highlights.

– Watching foreign movies clouds the mental and ideological health of the people.
– Foreign hairstyles and clothing are signs of the “utterly rotten bourgeois lifestyle.”
– Shaking hands should be avoided in favor of bowing, as it is more hygienic and a part of the national culture.
– The spread of “unusual lifestyles” could render people “incapable of following revolutionary thoughts and sacrificing their lives” for Kim
– “The bastards’ (U.S.) indecent methods are clouding the mental and ideological health of the people,” warns one lecture. “If we cannot stop them in time, we will be in the same position as the Iraqis.”
– “The enemies use these videos and specially made materials to beautify the world of imperialism … and to [spread] a fantasy of the free world.”
– North Koreans are urged to steel themselves against such corrupting influences by eating traditional foods, wearing traditional clothing and keeping their hair tidy.
– One, titled “How to Crush the Schemes of the Enemies Who Disseminate Unusual Lifestyles,” tells citizens that “we must eradicate the erroneous way of thinking that eating foreign foods enhances your living standards.”

Amazing, they didn’t mention anything about the Korean superiority with chopsticks. This must just be a South Korean phenomenom.