It is very Japanese to apologize for causing a fuss even when you are taken hostage:
Journalist Jumpei Yasuda has faced hostility from fellow Japanese since arriving back home after spending three years in captivity in the Middle East
A Japanese journalist freed from Syria this week arrived home to overjoyed relatives and supporters, but also to vitriol from some who accuse him and other hostages of reckless behaviour.
Jumpei Yasuda was kidnapped in Syria in 2015, and spent more than three years in conditions he described as “hell.”
He arrived back in Japan on Thursday night, greeted by his delighted wife and parents, who had brought him homemade Japanese food to celebrate.
But even before Yasuda set foot on Japanese soil, he was the target of angry criticism — mostly online — ranging from accusations of recklessness to claims that he was not even Japanese.
“He is disturbing society,” wrote one Twitter user. “He’s an anti-citizen,” charged another.
Perhaps anticipating the criticism, Yasuda’s only statement upon arrival, read to reporters by his wife Myu, was dominated by an apology.
“I apologise for causing such trouble and worry, but thanks to all of you, I was able to come home safely,” he said. [AFP]
You can read more at the link, but what made things worse for Yasuda was that he was once taken hostage in Iraq in 2004 as well. This guy is obviously doing something wrong to be taken hostage by Islamic extremists twice. With that said there is even a South Korean angle to this story:
And detractors have claimed Yasuda is not even Japanese, partly as the result of a bizarre hostage video showing him and another captive in Syria that emerged in August.
Despite speaking Japanese, he identified himself as a South Korean called “Omar”, apparently after his kidnappers banned him from revealing his identity or nationality.
“This guy isn’t even Japanese,” wrote one Twitter user. “He should go back to his country, South Korea,” added another.
That is pretty bizarre, but I am glad the guy made it safely back to Japan, but I think he should contemplate a career change.
This map shows the West Sea peace-cooperation special zones proposed by South Korea at the 2007 inter-Korean summit. (Yonhap)
Pyongyang’s version of a military pact signed by both Koreas last month mentions the northern limit line (NLL) in angle quotes, which may mean it doesn’t acknowledge the maritime border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea.
Seoul’s version doesn’t place any punctuation marks around the same words.
A lawmaker from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) exclusively revealed the North’s version of the agreement to the JoongAng Ilbo on Thursday. Former South Korean National Defense Minister Song Young-moo signed the military pact with his North Korean counterpart, No Kwang-chol, on Sept. 19 during the third inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.
If the North had indeed refused to acknowledge the NLL in September, it would contradict remarks made by South Korean President Moon Jae-in earlier this month.
The Blue House chief said on Oct. 11 that the North acknowledged the NLL in the latest summit. Both Koreas agreed to create a so-called peace zone around the area to prevent possible military clashes and establish a joint fishing zone, he said. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but Moon’s maritime peace zone that the Kim regime is so happy to sign an agreement on will surrender sovereignty of the NLL to the North Koreans by allowing joint fishing along the maritime border. This plan actually dates back an entire decade to the Roh Moo-hyun administration when Moon Jae-in was President Roh’s Chief of Staff. This map shows why the North Koreans are happy with the is arrangement:
The current NLL is depicted with the Blue line and North Korea’s claimed NLL is depicted with the Red line.
Moon’s peace zone would allow the North Korean boats to pass the current NLL to nearly the red line the North Koreans claim. The giving up of sovereignty of this maritime territory will make it harder to defend the South Korean islands along the NLL. Such an agreement would also set a precedent that the Kim regime’s claim against the legitimacy of the NLL is valid. The last time a South Korean leftist government tried to give away the NLL the ROK Defense Ministry was furious. That is likely why the Moon administration cleaned house at the Ministry of Defense before moving forward with this plan.
South Korea has made all these concessions to weaken their defenses against a North Korean attack and the Kim regime has yet to move one artillery battery away from the DMZ in return.
I hope everyone has their profiles ready because the Army Combat Fitness Test is coming to an installation near you:
Army Master Sgt. Shelley Horner grades a 128th Aviation Brigade attempting the hand release pushup portion of the Army’s new Army Combat Fitness Test during a demonstration of the new test on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018 at Fort Eustis, Va.
The Army spent six years developing the ACFT to better align fitness standards to the physical skills soldiers need in combat, compared to the four-decade old APFT. The new, 50-minute test requires a soldier to perform three repetitions of a deadlift, throw a medicine ball backward over his or her head, perform as many hand-release pushups as possible in two minutes, complete a sprint-drag-carry course, perform as many leg tucks while hanging from a pullup bar as possible in two minutes, and complete a two-mile run in less than 21 minutes. Each of the exercises, Army officials said, correlates directly with common activities that soldiers perform on the battlefield. [Stars & Stripes]
This file photo shows Los Angeles Dodgers’ left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin, whom the Dodgers have tapped as the first South Korean starter for Game 2 of the 2018 World Series. He will face the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston on Oct. 24, 2018. (Yonhap)
The two Koreas and the U.S.-led U.N Command (UNC) on Thursday wrapped up the process of disarming the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Seoul’s defense ministry said.
As of 1 p.m., they completed the work of withdrawing military posts, armed troops and firearms from the JSA in the buffer zone separating the two Koreas, in line with last month’s inter-Korean agreement aimed at reducing tensions, preventing accidental clashes and building mutual trust.
On Friday and Saturday, the three sides will carry out joint verification work to ensure that the JSA is completely disarmed.
“The military authorities of the two Koreas and the UNC will make joint efforts to ensure that the JSA disarmament, stated in the Sept. 19 military agreement, will be implemented normally,” the ministry said in a statement. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the ROK soldiers there better be ready to put their taekwondo to use.
Here is the latest from the Stars & Stripes on the closing of Camp Red Cloud:
The Indianhead Division officially moved its headquarters to Camp Humphreys, some 40 miles south of Seoul, last week, becoming the last major command to do so, after the Eighth Army and U.S. Forces Korea. The grand opening of its new headquarters building, which will also be called Freeman Hall, is scheduled for next month.
Camp Red Cloud is on the northwestern edge of Uijeongbu, which was home to the real-life unit that inspired the popular TV show “M.A.S.H.” The base was originally known as Camp Jackson but was renamed in 1957 in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud Jr.
But the shuttering of facilities is only the start of a lengthy transition process, including the capping of utilities and fuel tanks, negotiations over environmental cleanup requirements and other issues related to the status of forces agreement between the two countries.
“It’s estimated that the earliest that CRC will be able to be returned to the [South Korean government] is sometime in January/February 2020 if all of that process goes through and there are no issues,” said Paul Hubbard, the garrison’s lead base-closure analyst.
Hubbard said it has taken between three and 15 years to hand over other bases that have been closed due to disagreements over obligations for environmental cleanup and other issues.
The land will be turned over to the Defense Ministry, but city officials say they’re hoping it will be developed as a security-themed park. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but I seriously doubt that Camp Red Cloud will be handed over by 2020 because I really think the anti-US left in South Korea will claim all kinds of environmental pollution like they have done in the past to delay closing vacated US bases and try to get more money out of USFK. However, their biggest goal this time will be to cause antagonism in the US-ROK alliance.
Here are a couple of prior articles I wrote about Camp Red Cloud that I recommend everyone read if you haven’t already:
Author Marin Limon has new book out titled, “The Line” that has been previewed in the Korea Times. Part of the book has to do with black-marketing in South Korea:
The cover of Martin Limon’s latest book, “The Line,” released this week
But in the five tours totaling 10 years I served in Korea I never once saw the 8th Army brass falter or even slow down in their manic quest to stop the black market. In their opinion, the yobo menace had to be stopped. Even to the extent that once a GI and his family members were shipped back to the States, if the Korean wife returned to visit her mother and show off the grandkids, she wasn’t allowed even a few dollars ration to purchase anything in the PX. Not baby formula, not diapers, nothing. This despite being a bona fide military dependent with, supposedly, full Commissary and PX privileges.
Meanwhile, the college-aged children of high-ranking officers who flew to Korea to visit their parents during summer break received a full ration. As did Officers’ Wives’ Club members from Japan on a shopping junket. Even members of some foreign embassies received ration control plates, as did their dependents.
But a Korean GI wife? No ration for her unless 8th Army was forced into it.
During the late 1970s, I was assigned to the strangest duty of my military career. We were given an armband and told to stand at the end of the checkout line at the Yongsan Commissary and write down the names of any dependent wives or GIs purchasing excessive amounts of non-controlled items. Examples were bananas, Spam and frozen oxtail. I felt like a fool. So did most of the other guys on the detail. One of them wrote to his Congressman complaining that he hadn’t enlisted in the military in order to save the world from a Spam apocalypse.
Shortly thereafter, the detail was canceled, no explanation given.
Stop the yobos! That was the real impetus behind 8th Army’s ration control policy. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the biggest black-marketeers in my opinion were not the Korean women buying too many oxtails, but the AAFES employees.
China violated Korea Air Defense ID zone (#KADIZ) w fighters in the article, but also reconnaissance aircraft. 2017: 10 times. 2018 thus far: 110 times.https://t.co/FaywAKFGB7
