A ROK Drop favorite Robert Neff has a good love story published in the Korea Times about a US Marine working in the US Embassy in Seoul during the time of the Korean War:
George Lampman and Lee Sook-ei in the 1950s / Courtesy of Robert Neff collection
Recently, The Korea Times had the opportunity to interview George V.Lampman who, as a young Marine, was assigned to the American Embassy from 1949 to 1951. Despite being 90, Lampman has a youthful, if not mischievous, twinkle in his eyes, and is quick to smile as he recalls his time in Korea.
He arrived in Korea on Jan.9, 1949, as part of the security detachment of the American Embassy in Seoul.It was a relatively easy assignment ― checking identification at the entrance of the embassy (located in the Bando Hotel, now the site of downtown Seoul’s Lotte Hotel) and staying out of trouble.The first part was easy but the second part was a little more difficult.
But things changed when Lee Sook-ei, a young Korean woman working in the communication section of the embassy, caught his attention.She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.In the beginning their meetings were rather controlled: “Maybe a once-a-week dinner at a close-by Chinese restaurant and an occasional conversation in the Embassy lobby while we were both on breaks.But never a date between just the two of us.”
Eventually their attraction to one another overcame the potential disapproval of her mother and they began dating.But this was cut short by the evacuation of the embassy when the Korean War started on June 25, 1950. [Korea Times]
Everyone remember this incident at the US Air Force Academy back in September that drew national headlines and forced the school’s superintendent to make a strong speech against racism?:
After racial slurs were scrawled outside black students’ doors at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s preparatory school, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria gathered all 4,000 cadets in a hall Thursday so they could hear one message: Treat people with dignity and respect — or get out.
“That kind of behavior has no place at the prep school, it has no place at USAFA, and it has no place in the United States Air Force,” Silveria said, in a speech that has found an enthusiastic reception after it was recorded and published online. “You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being.” [NPR]
I was dubious of this story when it happened because it seems every time a racism incident like this happens it later comes out that it was fake news. Well now it has been determined that yes this was in fact fake news:
One of the cadet candidates at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School allegedly targeted by racist remarks has been found responsible for the act.
Academy officials announced the cadet candidate is no longer at the school on Tuesday. The investigation started when the words, written on whiteboards outside their dorm rooms, read, “Go home,” followed by the N-word were found in September. The hateful messages were discovered Sept. 25. The words were found on the outside of five African American cadet candidates’ rooms.
The academy says the individual admitted responsibility and this was confirmed by the investigation. [KKTV]
The original reporting made national headlines and now the fact that this has been proven to be fake news is making few headlines. This fake news just continues to feed the narrative there are white supremacist racists around every street corner to include in the US Air Force Academy which is not true. However, the media has no interest in reporting responsibly, but instead finding click bait articles which these racism articles seem to be for them.
It seems that when President Trump goes on these foreign trips he likes to stick to his prepared script which really seems to help articulate the message he is trying to make. I think the message to North Korea was made quite clear during his speech to the ROK National Assembly:
President Donald Trump speaks at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Trump was on a two-day official visit to South Korea, the second stop on his 12-day tour of Asia. / Yonhap
U.S. President Donald Trump stressed “peace through strength” in his speech at the National Assembly, Wednesday, giving a stern warning to North Korea.
“The regime has interpreted America’s past restraint as weakness,” Trump said referring to North Korea.“Do not underestimate us.Do not try us.We will defend our common security, our shared prosperity and our sacred liberty.”
The U.S.president cited the country’s military assets deployed around the peninsula ― the world’s three largest aircraft carriers, loaded to the maximum with F-35 and F-18 fighter jets, in addition to nuclear submarines.
“The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer,” Trump said.“We will offer a path to a much better future,” he added, on the condition of Pyongyang’s “total denuclearization.”
This was the first address by a sitting American leader here in nearly a quarter century.South Korean lawmakers applauded the speech 22 times, particularly when the American leader lauded the nation’s flourishing democracy and eye-opening economic development.
The U.S.leader dedicated most of his 35-minute speech to awakening the atrocities taking place in North Korea ― forced labor, starvation, sexual exploitation, murder and torture ― labeling the country as “hell.”
“The regime has made numerous lethal incursions in South Korea, attempted to assassinate senior leaders, attacked South Korean ships and tortured Otto Warmbier, ultimately leading to that fine young man’s death.”
He highlighted its stark difference with the southern part of the peninsula that features the “stunning skyline of Seoul.” The president described the armistice line between the two Koreas as a line “between peace and war, between decency and depravity, between law and tyranny, between hope and total despair.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link and you can watch his full comments at the below video:
Overall I was pretty impressed with his speech especially when he highlights all the human rights abuses happening in North Korea which is often overlooked by politicians and the media.
If South Korea had a trilateral alliance with Japan it would take away the best political foil that ROK politicians have. How many times have we seen a ROK politician get into domestic political trouble and then suddenly they show up at Dokdo or push past historical issues:
President Moon Jae-in said Friday military cooperation with the United States and Japan is needed to rein in the rising threat from North Korea but was skeptical over elevating it to a trilateral defense alliance.
“South Korea-U.S. military cooperation as well as Japan has become important, but the cooperation is aimed at countering North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations,” Moon said an interview with Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia at his office. “But I don’t think it is appropriate to develop the cooperation to a level of (trilateral) military alliance.”
Japan has increasingly sought a bigger international role in global military conflicts in recent years against China’s growing assertiveness in Asia. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reconsidering its traditionally pacifist stance on defense in the face of threats from Pyongyang, which has shot two missiles over Japanese territory in the recent months.
“If Japan uses a nuclear-armed North Korea as an excuse for its military expansion, it would not be appropriate for ASEAN nations as well.” [Yonhap]
President Moon Jae-in (R) speaks to Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, commander of the Eighth U.S. Army, at Camp Humphreys, the field army’s new home, in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 7, 2017. (Yonhap)
It is good to see the large turn out of people welcoming President Trump to Camp Humphreys:
President Moon Jae-in (L) meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at Camp Humphreys, the new home of the U.S. Eighth Army, in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 7, 2017. (Yonhap)
When U.S.President Donald Trump arrived in Korea, Tuesday, it was not just President Moon Jae-in who came to greet him ― from early morning, supporters and opponents of Trump gathered in various parts of the country awaiting the U.S.leader.
At Camp Humphreys ― Trump’s first official destination and a newly expanded U.S.military base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul ― over 1,500 conservative civic group members waved American and Korean flags, shouting “We love Trump,”alongside banners hailing the two country’s alliance.
On the other side, a smaller group of around 20 people stood with posters written, “No Trump, No War.” [Korea Times]
It is also good to see that the Moon Jae-in administration has been able to keep the anti-US leftists under control in Seoul as I expected they would do:
South Korean protesters stage a rally to oppose a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump near the presidential Blue House
But the largest rallies took place near Cheong Wa Dae and Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, where an anti-Trump alliance of over 220 liberal civic organizations filled the streets.
Beginning with a press briefing in front of the Cheongun-dong office near the presidential office before noon, the group members made their way to Gwanghwamun Square.
From morning, 15,600 police officers blanketed the area, boosting security measures against possible contingencies.Gwanghwamun Square was surrounded by a wired fence and bus barricade.
You can read more at the link, but according to ABC News “hundreds” of anti-Trump protesters showed up in Seoul. By Korean protest standards this is a pathetic turn out and shows that the Moon administration likely reigned in their left wing base to not come out in force and make fools of themselves during the President’s visit.
This had to have been a pretty neat experience for the soldiers that attended this lunch with President Trump:
U.S. troops who had lunch with President Donald Trump on Tuesday at a military base in South Korea say he told them there was no place he’d rather be.
Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in joined 108 hand-picked servicemembers, including 20 South Koreans, for Taco Tuesday at a Camp Humphreys dining facility.
Pvt. Merion Holmes, 21, of Georgetown, S.C., said he was honored to see the president in person and found Trump’s words motivating.
“He said he’d rather eat with the troops than at a fancy restaurant,” Holmes told Stars and Stripes after the president’s 20-minute appearance. “It made me feel like he cared.”
Trump flew to Humphreys in a helicopter shortly after landing at Osan Air Base on Tuesday to begin his visit to South Korea, the second leg of his first official visit to Asia. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but of significance is that ROK President Moon Jae-in made a surprise visit to Camp Humphreys as well to have lunch with President Trump. This is reportedly the first time a ROK President has greeted a visiting foreign leader outside of Cheongwadae.
