Category: Uncategorized

You got to respect Korean actor Won Bin’s decision to join a frontline ROK Army unit instead of hiding out in a rear end job:

Superstar Won Bin has finished his five-week basic military training and volunteered for a unit guarding the iron fence at the border with North Korea. According to Army insiders, the actor volunteered for the assignment on completing his basic training, but confirmation of the assignment will not come until the beginning of next week.

Usually, stars are assigned to the Defense Media Agency, an affiliate of the Defense Ministry, and put in charge of promotional activities or troop entertainment, but Won Bin requested something more challenging. “Won conscientiously took part in military drills and was treated no different to all other servicemen,” an Army source said.

I wonder how many Korean youths reading this respect the decision compared to those who think he is stupid for volunteering for DMZ duty?

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has now also publicly criticized the North Koreans for counterfeiting US currency:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday labeled North Korea a “dangerous regime” and said Washington will not back down on financial sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for alleged counterfeiting.

U.S. diplomats have adopted a more critical line toward the North since September, when the Treasury Department ordered American financial institutions to cut all ties with the Macao-based bank Banco Delta Asia, accusing it of being a front for a North Korean counterfeiting operation.

I wonder which South Korean government official will rush to condemn Secretary Rice’s comments and defend North Korean counterfeiting?

It is going to be interesting to see how the Japanese media and public react to this news of a tragic murder and robbery of a Japanese woman:

Japanese police arrested an American sailor Saturday on charges of robbing and beating a Japanese woman to death — a case likely to further stoke opposition to U.S. military presence in Japan.

Reese, who also has been identified in Japanese media, is accused of robbing Sato of $129.

I can’t understand what would make someone want to rob and beat an elderly woman for $129 dollars? This guy is scum and hopefully he rots in a Japanese jail. So far the Japanese media seems to be reporting fairly about this incident. I haven’t seen any statements like, this is the first time a US sailor has been arrested in Japan under the SOFA agreement stuff, which is a common statement used in Korean media reports when a crime involving a USFK servicemember happens. Mostly from what I can see the Japanese media is focusing on what effect this will have on the ongoing US base relocation negotiations with the Japanese government.

For more info on this, there is a great discussion going on at Coming Anarchy on this topic plus one sailor stationed in Japan sounds off on this tragic incident as well.

Joel shares an interesting cell phone innovation in South Korea, a sobriety test:

You know you drink to much when you got to have a sorbiety test installed in your cell phone.

A new executive order has been signed formally outlawing prostitution:

For the first time, the Department of Defense has specifically made it a crime for a servicemember to patronize a prostitute. The punishment: up to a year in prison, forfeiture of pay and dishonorable discharge.

A Defense Department spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, said in an e-mailed response to questions that “prostitution” and “pandering” will now be among the offenses covered by Article 134 of the courts-martial manual.

This order pretty much puts prostitution on the same level as drug abuse in the military now. It is going to be interesting to see what effect this has on operations in the “ville”. Probably not much.

Alright who in Yongsan or Osan pissed off the 8th Army CSM Wheeler?:

Servicemembers should be in “their service’s physical fitness uniform” during organized training from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., whether they’re on leave, a pass, temporary duty or on another status, according to Wheeler.

“Many are the troops who think they can wear anklets which give the appearance of no socks,” Wheeler wrote. “Wrong!”

Mark was this you?:

“Remember this as well: Being a soldier in the Army is an outdoor sport!” according to Wheeler. “You don’t get in shape for pushups by holding up the walls of the local gymnasium.”

“That senior leadership is not correcting the subordinate leadership is why we see so many violations,” said Wheeler. “I sure hope it’s not because they don’t know the standards themselves.”

Basically nothing new here for us 2ID types. 2ID has followed these standards every tour I have spend in 2ID. An old DCG at Camp Red Cloud who just loved PT, used to walk into the gym during PT hours and kick all those field grades and sergeant majors out into the cold with the rest of us. I was always amazed how many people used to hide in that gym when it was cold until that DCG showed up. A contractor buddy of mine grew a beard and longer hair so the General would not confuse him as a soldier and leave him alone in the morning while he worked out. He loved the General though because he had his choice of equipment in the morning once he kicked everyone out.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has released a New Year’s broadcast that is sure to cause a strong reaction from China and Korea:

In a nationally broadcast news conference marking the start of the new year, Mr. Koizumi defended his annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, the memorial to Japan’s war dead, although the visits have frozen Japan’s diplomatic relations with its neighbors. The leaders of China and South Korea have refused to meet Mr. Koizumi in protest over the visits to the shrine, which also honors top-ranked war criminals and is considered a symbol of Japanese militarism throughout Asia.

“I’ve never once closed the door to negotiations with China and South Korea,” he added.

I think Prime Minister Koizumi is a good leader that has been managing his country very well and has been a great ally for the United States which I appreciate, however when it comes to this whole Yasukuni Shrine nonsense I can not find any common ground with him. I have been to the shrine and I did find it offensive. It wasn’t offensive for the war criminal aspect often mentioned by Korea and China because a war criminal like General Tojo for example is not glorified at the shrine from what I could see.

What did offend me was the outrageous interpretation of history during World War II. You can check out my posting on the shrine for more details, but Koizumi is definitely wrong visiting the shrine. The history is so skewed I can understand the Korean and Chinese perspective. However, I still don’t think this should cause the sometime childish reactions from China and Korea, but I can see why it would strain diplomatic relations.

With that said Koizumi made this New Year’s message for a reason and I think it is safe to say that Koizumi is pissed off about what happened to the Japanese diplomat in China:

There was no immediate comment from Beijing. The growing rivalry between China and Japan, Asia’s two great powers, was punctuated in recent days by the feud over the diplomat’s suicide in 2004. A Japanese newsweekly reported recently that the diplomat killed himself after he was blackmailed into providing sensitive information by a Chinese agent who threatened to reveal his affair with a bar hostess.

The Japanese foreign ministry attributed the death to “regrettable actions by local Chinese security authorities” in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. China denied the charge, accusing Japan of trying to “smear China’s image.”

I doubt China will ever come clean on this, but it is a tad bit hypocritical for the Chinese if they did do this, to say that Koizumi is provoking the Chinese with the shrine visits when they are blackmailing Japanese diplomats. Koizumi knows this and wanted to make a point to the Chinese with his statemetns that the Japanese aren’t going to back down from Chinese provocations as well.

Here is a strange story of a Korean athlete who was suspended from the Korean National Fencing Team because she had unauthorized plastic surgery:

The Korean Fencing Federation (KFF) said Tuesday that it is currently in the process of determining disciplinary measures for Nam Hyun-hee, 25, with the final decision to be made at a committee meeting slated for today, the sports-governing body said.

“A national team athlete can’t be an entertainer, and it’s incomprehensible why she went out of the training center to get plastic surgery,’’ a KFF official was quoted as saying by the Yonhap News Agency.

How can the KFF say it is “incomprehensible” to have plastic surgery when they authorized her to have eyelid surgery to begin with?

Also can any Koreans out there confirm if eyelashes getting in the way of the eyelid is a common Korean problem? This whole thing seems overblown and silly.

Is Korea the land of Toilet Culture?

Q:
One of my nightmares being in Korea used to be the bathroom, but over the past few years, Korean bathrooms have cleaned up remarkably. Korean bathrooms are now decorated with picture frames, plastic flowers, and even fake sounds of running water. On top of that, the toilet is equipped with a machine that warms and changes the seat cover and something else that comes with a dozen buttons. What all of sudden drove Koreans to get into such a lavish toilet culture?

The new entry is the “bidet,” which is a plumbing fixture designed for washing the external genitalia and the anus as well as the skin near these areas. Health-conscious Koreans are more than happy to follow advice from health experts, saying washing not only helps blood circulation but also prevents various ailments.

Where are these wonder toilets because I sure have never seen one of them? Here is another question, after the toilets washes you anus and groin how do you dry it? Do you have to hold up your groin to the hand dryer machine?

Here is one video game that has already been endorsed by the Beloved Leader in North Korea, so hopefully the South Korean authorities will not feel compelled to ban it here in South Korea: