Category: USFK

The Marmot has the scoop that the Korean media has now picked up on YouTube videos of stupid drunk, idiot "foreigners" acting like fools outside of a Hooters restaurant and on the subway in Seoul.  These videos are actually some what old because over at USFK Forums the videos had already been posted last month and widely condemned by everyone over there. 

According to the commenters over at USFK Forums these "foreigners" are in fact in the Air Force and one of these idiots is actually a Osan Security Forces (MP) member.  Just another example of the on going trend SFs and MPs not leading by example and being absolute fools.  Emails have been sent out and I’m sure this is being dealt with. 

Now I think a bigger question is, are these idiots really newsworthy?  The Metropolitician doesn’t think so, which in a normal country this would not be newsworthy, but in Korea the xenophobic media loves stories like this even though there are plenty of drunk Korean idiots on the subway as well.  I have actually been physically grabbed one time by a drunk Korean on the subway and fortunately some people on the subway intervened to get the guy to let go of me; at the least these fools didn’t assault anyone.  The only crime I can think of that these guys can be charged with, at least under military law would be drunk and disorderly conduct.  It is not a crime to be an idiot and being an idiot is definitely nothing new. 

Remember the allegations that Filipino foreign diplomat was caught shopliftng at the US PX?  Initially the Filipino Embassy in Seoul denied the allegations, but now they have changed their story and admitted that not only was a foreign diplomat involved in the incident, but the diplomat in question was in fact the Filipino ambassador herself:

After initially insisting "the published allegations are unfounded" and demanding a retraction, the Philippine mission to Seoul has admitted Manila’s top diplomat here was in fact stopped by store security personnel at the Post Exchange (PX) on the Yongsan U.S. military base and accused of shoplifting.

Ambassador Susan Castrence was responding to an article published in The Korea Herald on June 18 that reported a high-ranking Philippine diplomat had allegedly shoplifted from the American military base in Seoul.

The ambassador is none to happy with the original Korea Herald article on this incident:

The story was picked up by media in Manila, and on June 28 the Philippine Star reported, "A Filipino diplomat, who asked not to be named, said the report (in The Korea Herald) was ‘fabricated’ and was part of a campaign to put the Philippine Embassy and officials of the diplomatic mission in a bad light."

However, on June 29, other media outlets printed extracts from a press release in which Ambassador Castrence admitted an incident took place. The press release was limited to Philippine media outlets and was not copied to The Korea Herald. Castrence explained, "At that time we were really very preoccupied with visits from VIPs from the Philippines, and actually I felt bad toward The Korea Herald because I thought you should have contacted me first before printing that article."

The reports in Manila also quoted sources from the Philippine Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying they were considering possible legal action against The Korea Herald.

In fact the Korea Herald contacted the Filipino embassy in order to talk to the ambassador about the incident before the article was ever published, but were stonewalled by the embassy:

Castrence criticized The Korea Herald for failing to check the facts before publishing the story: "You should have talked to me before you published that article. I am supposedly a very accessible person here. If you had talked to me, as I would have expected a reporter would do before publishing such a damaging story, I would have appreciated that. But, as far as I am concerned, there was no effort to reach me."

In fact, The Korea Herald made repeated attempts to get a statement from embassy officials.

When Consul Juan Dayang, who acts as the public affairs officer for the embassy, was first approached for a statement, he denied any knowledge of the incident. Castrence later admitted to The Korea Herald that despite the seriousness of the incident, she did not report it or discuss it with any of her senior staff.

"Well, it was such an unpleasant experience to have been mistaken for doing something like that. I am a very private person," she said. "Because that case as far as I know is closed, so what is the purpose for me to even talk about something that was very unpleasant?"

To make matters worse, Consul Dayang reportedly did not inform Castrence that the media were making inquiries.

"Jed (Dayang) did not let me know that you had called him, because he believed it was a rumor and should not be dignified with a response, and I believe he did not want me bothered with that," Castrence said.

Then the ambassador should be blaming her staff and not the Korea Herald for running the story if she is so upset that her side of the story was not presented.  Anyway here is the ambassadors side of the story:

According to her press statement, in November 2006 she went into the PX to shop for Christmas presents for her staff and grandchild.

She had taken with her a karaoke microphone chip (that she said was purchased earlier at the PX) to use as a reference for a further purchase. After examining another chip at the store, Castrence decided against a purchase "because it did not contain children’s songs." She returned the original chip to her bag.

"This must have been the moment caught by the camera which gave the impression of shoplifting," the statement read.

The statement continued to say the ambassador then went to the store’s perfume department, where she tried some Gucci perfume but found it too expensive and returned it to the counter. As Castrence attempted to leave the store she was stopped by security officers who inspected her bag and found the chip she had brought with her.

The ambassador claims it was all a mistake and handled on the spot.  However, if it was handled on the spot then why was an MP report filed:

But the incident does not appear to have been as simple as the ambassador stated. The Provost Marshal’s record indicates that on Nov. 28, 2006, Castrence was suspected of shoplifting a karaoke microphone chip and a bottle of Gucci perfume worth $118.60.

When asked why the authorities would fill out a shoplifting report if the incident was in fact closed on the spot, Castrence declined to offer any further information.

If she returned the Gucci perfume to the counter then why was it included in the MP report?  I think the ambassador is not being forthcoming on this and that is why General Bell has taken action against allowing Filipino diplomats to use the facilities at Yongsan which ultimately led to the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alberto Gatmaitan Romulo to visit Yongsan to try and smooth things over. 

It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but if the average USFK servicemember can be held accountable for shoplifting than diplomats should be held accountable as well.

You can read more about this incident over at the Marmot’s Hole.

Some sad news from Taegu where the Command Sergeant Major for the 6th Ordinance Battalion passed away at age 54.  The cause of death is still being investigated.

I guess this helps explain the increase in the USFK drug abuse numbers:

Three illegal foreign nationals tried to sell methamphetamine to an undercover Army investigator and were arrested by South Korean police in Dongducheon last week, officials said Tuesday.

A Criminal Investigation Command special agent posed as a U.S. servicemember a few blocks from Camp Casey’s main gate during a June 19 joint sting operation with local police, a Yangju police official said Tuesday.

The investigator offered to buy a half-gram of methamphetamine for $500 from the three women in the Bosandong bar district known as “The Ville.”

They arrested three Philippines nationals, ages 21, 28 and 31, whose names were not immediately available. Each of the women was in the country illegally and has no relation to U.S. Forces Korea, officials said.  [Stars & Stripes]

The juicies in TDC have been taking drugs for years so the fact they are selling them isn’t surprising.  The fact they were in the country illegally as well isn’t surprising either.  You can read more over at Nomad.

 This is news that is not good hear:

While half of the Seoul-based soldiers busted so far in fiscal 2007 were in trouble for marijuana, those serving in outlying areas were more often abusing prescription medicines such as OxyContin that contain the opiate derivative oxycodone.

Officials at Yongsan Garrison, one of four headquarters for the Army community’s geographic divisions, say they see between five and eight soldiers busted for drug use in an average year. But with more than three months left in fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30, they’ve already seen 16 soldiers test positive for drug use. Of those, eight tested positive for marijuana. Only one tested positive for OxyContin.

Drug abuse officials speculate this is because marijuana is more easily obtained in Seoul’s entertainment district than in other areas where servicemembers are located.

One of the things that Korean authorities enforce very strictly are the country’s drug laws, but unfortunately it seems like historically Itaewon seems to get a bit of pass when it comes to lesser drugs like marijuana. The punishment these guys that get caught depends on their battalion commander.  I had a battalion commander who had a policy of an administrative chapter for a positive drug test.  Other commanders I’ve had went with Field Grade 15’s.  It is definitely something that should be a case by case basis, but the punishment should be severe. 

Journalist Robert Neff has the scoop on a diplomatic dispute between USFK and the Phillipine government over one of their diplomats who was caught shoplifting in the Yongsan PX:

Sources inside the U.S. Provost Office (military police) have revealed to The Korea Herald that a highly placed foreign diplomat was recently caught on camera shoplifting at the Yongsan Military base PX (Post Exchange) shopping center.

Identifying the suspect only as coming from the Philippines, the source said military police were considering what action to take, if any, in the theft of a karaoke machine and a bottle of Gucci perfume.

The alleged offense took place last November but has only recently been revealed.

What is interesting about this incident is the response that USFK Commander General Burwin Bell has had in response to the shoplifting. He has banned Philippine diplomats from using other Yongsan facilities such as the Hartel House over the incident. The dispute gained enough momentum that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the Philippines quietly slipped into Korea on an “unofficial visit” to meet with General Bell:

The June 15 arrival of Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alberto Gatmaitan Romulo, on an unofficial visit to Seoul, has caused some speculation as to the true nature of his visit. Sources suggest Romulo’s two-day visit was to discuss, among other things, the shoplifting incident and smooth over relations with General Bell. During his visit here, Romulo met with Deputy Chief of Staff UNC/USFK Stephen Sargeant.

Which as Robert Neff mentioned, it is strange for a nation’s Foreign Affairs Secretary to meet with a Deputy Chief of Staff and not the USFK commander. All of this leads me to believe there is a lot more going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about if the USFK commander possibly snubbed the Foreign Affairs Secretary of a regional US ally in Asia over the shoplifting incident.

I’m speculating here of course, but it appears General Bell may be unhappy that the Philippine government is not properly punishing the diplomat involved in the shoplifting and is thus implementing measures to show the Philippine Embassy how unhappy he is. Anyway it is good to see the USFK commander stand up against shoplifting. If the average USFK servicemember can be held accountable for shoplifting than diplomats should be held accountable as well.

Anyway you can read more on this over at Robert Neff’s posting at the Marmot’s Hole as well.

This really isn’t surprising:

The number of traffic incidents involving U.S. military vehicles has dropped sharply since two schoolgirls died in 2002, according to 2nd Infantry Division figures.

The 2nd ID recorded 292 military vehicle accidents, ranging from minor to serious, during fiscal 2002. That number has dropped each year since.

So far in fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30, the division has logged 40 accidents.

Although several 2nd ID camps have closed in the past five years, division officials attribute the drop largely to an increased safety focus since the schoolgirls’ deaths in 2002.

First of all, driver’s safety programs in 2ID are quite thorough. At times the safety procedures approaches levels of absurdity, but with the strategic consequences one fatal traffic accident can have you can never be too safe. This is the approach the division is taking and this has definitely contributed to reduced accidents.

Secondly, the reduction in soldiers and the closing of camps has played a big part in reducing accidents. Less soldiers means less chances for an accident. Also before the camps closed you had vehicles driving in between these camps to conduct military business. Now with units consolidated on camps not as much driving off post is needed.

Next, the infrastructure in northern Kyeongi Province is improving with more highways and roads being widened and sidewalks installed. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done but the improvements are definitely noticeable. These improvements also help prevent accidents.

Lastly, units are not going out to the field as much as in prior years. This has dramatically reduced the number of convoys going off post. Also the convoys that are going off post that include tracked vehicles are often being loaded on trucks.

There are many reasons for the reduction in accidents and is not solely driven by the 2002 accident.  Anyway any reduction in accidents is good news, but all it takes is one fatal accident to have strategic consequences.  That is why the sooner the USFK relocation to Camp Humphreys is completed the better because then 2ID soldiers will not have to worry about driving in the congested and dangerous roads of the current 2ID area of operations that are notorious for traffic accidents.

Today is the 5th anniversary of the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident that killed two 13 year old Korean school girls Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun. This tragedy would ultimately end up being a singular event that has impacted the US-ROK Alliance forever. For those that know little about this accident I highly recommend you read USinKorea’s round up and analysis of the reporting on the accident by the Korean media and the follow on xenophobic behavior by the Korean public. I also highly recommend you read this account of what happened that day by then SPC Josh Ray who was driving the vehicle just ahead of the armored vehicle that was involved in the accident. Contrary to all the propaganda put out by the Korean media and NGOs the soldiers involved in that accident had a very human response to an undeniable tragedy that I’m sure none of them will ever forget.

With that said I did decide recently to drive out to the scene of the accident and take a few pictures of the area and the memorial that was established the 2nd Infantry Division in remembrance of Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun:

The memorial is quite nice and sits just on a slope of the hill overlooking the scene of where the accident took place on Highway 56 in rural northern Kyeongi Province. Here is the inscription in the memorial in both English and Korean:

As you can see this is quite a nice memorial rightfully constructed by the 2nd Infantry Division in remembrance of what happened. However, what is sad to see, but what I am quite frankly not surprised about, is that the memorial has been hijacked by the anti-US groups who have put up their own plaques and markers to promote their own anti-US causes at a place that should be a memorial and not a place for politics:

The SOFA related plaque above is one of my favorites and if I was as disgusting and as insensitive as the anti-US groups I would put up my own plaque right next to this one asking why when ROK Army soldiers commit accidents or crimes while on and even off duty they are not tried in civilian courts but in ROK Army courts? Compare this to the fact that US soldiers are tried in Korean courts for crimes or accidents committed while off duty and tried in military courts for crimes and accidents that happened while on duty. I would also ask why when the ROK Army deploys soldiers over seas why they have a SOFA Agreement that gives their soldiers full immunity from any civilian courts of that host nation?  A perfect example of this is in Iraq when a ROK soldier accidently shot and killed a Kurdish Peshmerga soldier when fooling around with his weapon. No Kurdish courtroom for him. Then also in Iraq a Korean soldier had a vehicular accident that killed a Kurdish governmental official, once again it was handled by the ROK military according to their SOFA agreement.

Then I would also put on the plaque that despite popular opinion US soldiers have been tried in South Korean courtrooms since the 1960’s. Though US soldiers have been tried in Korean courts for decades after this accident most Koreans thought the SOFA Agreement allowed US soldiers to get away with crimes in Korea and fly back to America which is absolutely not the case. I have argued with Koreans before about the SOFA issue and not one can explain the inconsistencies I have listed above because such facts are completely not reported in the Korean media while rumor and innuendo are.

Here are a few more signs for everyone to look at:

Here is what the view over Highway 56 from the memorial looks like:

As you can see this is a busy road that used regularly by both civilian and ROK Army vehicles. The vehicle in the far left of the picture is a ROK Army vehicle. This road leads to the primary military training area in Kyeongi province known as Twin Bridges. It was this training area that the convoy of vehicles involved in the 2002 accident were heading towards. When looking at the above picture it is important to realize that this is not what the road looked like in 2002. This is what it did look like:

Walked down to ground level from the memorial and took this picture looking towards the west:

Then I took this picture looking towards the east:

As you can see the road has been significantly widened by cutting out the hillside on each of side of the road and then most importantly installing a sidewalk. The simple installation of a sidewalk along that highway in 2002 would have prevented the accident that happened. This is a fact that is completely overlooked and ignored. It is easier to completely blame the two soldiers involved in the accident instead of the Korean government sharing in some of the responsibility of what happened. I have always felt that the 2nd Infantry Division was partly responsible for what happened and has done everything possible to make amends for this tragic accident. To this day to division sends soldiers to help the families with the harvest of their crops or any other needs the families have. What has the anti-US groups or the Korean government done for these people? Nothing, accept in the case of the NGOs where they have hijacked these two girls memorial.

The Korean government has never accepted responsibility for creating an environment that was literally an accident waiting to happen. Back than many of the roads in northern Kyeongi province where military traffic (both ROK & US) travel on to training areas were extremely narrow, filled with traffic and pedestrians, and had no sidewalks. Heck where the accident happened there was hardly even a shoulder on the road. Since then the government has improved many of the roads in the area, but still to this day many of the roads are still inadequate for military traffic. Even on Highway 56 there are still many areas in need of sidewalks that have not been installed yet.

A perfect example of the current poor infrastructure is on road 364 that leads to a military training area that is not far from where the 2002 accident took place:

This road is extremely dangerous due to its narrow size, traffic, and pedestrians. I pulled off onto a dirt road leading to a rice paddy to take this picture. I had to because there was no shoulder to park on. Here is a picture looking at a turn on the road:

Notice the mirror that is needed to traverse the corner. Now try to picture military traffic trying to traverse this road much less this corner. Than not only do you have a difficult road to drive on but you also have civilians walking and parking their vehicles along the road:

What you see on this road today is similar to what the soldiers in 2002 were driving on with Highway 56 plus those soldiers had been out in the field for two weeks with little sleep combined with a radio problem in the AVLB involved in the accident. There was definitely leadership issues on the US military’s responsibility for this accident which lead to commanders and other leadership being relieved and their careers being ended, but to this day the Korean government has never accepted responsibility for their own part in this accident and to this day has not improved all the roads in the area used by military traffic.

Additionally the Korean government also has responsibility in improving basic safety for civilians in general in Korea as the country continues to be the most deadly OECD nation to drive in. Traffic accidents in Korea are especially deadly for children. Unfortunately no NGO felt like putting up a plaque at the memorial site to advocate for improved road safety in Korea, but instead felt compelled to put up pro-North Korea plaques instead.

With all the politics and demagoguery involved over the 2002 accident many people have lost sight of the fact two girls were tragically killed on the side of this road. I sincerely offer the families of Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun my condolences and hope that some day that these two girls can rest in peace.

In the prior posting you saw the May 2007 blotter report which shows a small rise in indiscipline problems in USFK. However, courtesy of the Second Infantry Division, the great answer we all have been waiting for to curb the recent spike in indiscipline around USFK has been found. Introducing, the Battle Buddy Card:

Yes, you read the card right that you can be prosecuted under UCMJ if you don’t keep your battle buddy out of trouble. How come someone didn’t think of this great and inovative solution sooner?

Make the soldiers responsible for keeping other soldiers out of trouble instead of leadership. So when soldiers get in trouble you can bring up on charges their battle buddy instead of holding leadership accountable for the discipline of their soldiers.

I also liked the fact they put an entire line on there to let soldiers know they cannot fight the local police. PFC Duprey I’m sure, feels proud that his battle buddy dedication has been immortalized on the Battle Buddy card. Plus there is even a whole line in there to write your battle buddies name down in case you forgot.

The back of the card even has the blood alcohol percentage chart to check and see if you will be brought up on charges before entering the gate for being over the limit as well. The powers that be have thought of everything with this card. Where does the Army find such creative thinkers?

I bet there is even someone right now working on the sexual assault card as I’m typing this.

Did you get a bigger than normal paycheck this week?  If you did don’t spend it:

Eighth U.S. Army officials have a message for 713 Korea-based soldiers who discovered extra money in their mid-month paychecks Tuesday: Don’t spend it!

The bigger-than-normal paychecks are the result of a system error in the Automatic Rent Collection Program.

The glitch meant that the soldiers’ Overseas Housing Allowance wasn’t automatically deducted and paid to off-base landlords for the first half of their June rent.

And officials warn the same thing is going to happen with the end-of-the-month May paychecks.

The soldiers will be required to use both overpayments to pay their June rent, officials said.