Citizens look around food trucks with a variety of specialties and ethnic menus at the 2016 Food Truck Festival in Sejong, south of Seoul, on Oct. 7, 2016. The pop-up restaurants are increasingly gaining popularity in the country. (Yonhap)
This general officer just committed career suicide. I just can’t believe how these general officers getting in trouble like this think they can get away with such behavior?:
The former top military adviser to Defense Secretary Ash Carter used his government credit card for almost $2,900 at two strip clubs and behaved inappropriately with DOD female staff while on official travel, according to a Defense Department inspector general’s report released Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Ron Lewis, once considered a fast-rising star and a long-time trusted aide to Carter, was stripped of his position last fall just days after the delegation returned from an international trip that included stops in Malaysia, South Korea and Hawaii. [Stars & Stripes]
Here is what he did while in South Korea:
The second government charge occurred in spring 2015, in Seoul at the “Candy Bar” club, “an establishment in an area of Itaewon, Seoul, commonly referred to locally as ‘Hooker Hill,’ ” according to the report. Many of the clubs in the area are off limits to U.S. servicemembers due to the illegal activities.
Lewis charged $1,121.25 on his government credit card at the Candy Bar and later told investigators he didn’t know why he had used that card there.
When defense staff processing his expenses noticed the charge, Lewis claimed that it must be fraudulent and had it disputed.
The North Koreans continue to send propaganda across the DMZ likely in response to the activists who continue to send propaganda leaflets north of the DMZ:
What appears to be a North Korean flyer was found in the front yard of the National Assembly on Tuesday morning. It contains messages criticizing the South Korean government and its policies on the North. / Yonhap
A large number of North Korean leaflets were found in southwestern Seoul on Tuesday morning.
Yeongdeungpo police station said police collected more than 1,300 flyers as of 7 a.m. after they were bombarded with reports that North Korean posters were scattered in the streets of Yeouido as early as Monday night.
The flyers contained messages criticizing South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her policies on the North. One flyer said: “Park Geun-hye is the maid of the U.S. and a war maniac.
“(What we want is) Conversation, not battle. (What we want is) Trust, not distrust. (What we want is) Holding talks between the military authorities of North and South Korea.” [Korea Times]
The Konglish often seen around Korea I always find humorous, but the Seoul city government has launched a crackdown to try and fix many of its signs:
On left, an English sign referring to a public stage in front of Seoul City Hall is wrongly translated as “Vitality Charging Station.” On right, “Muggyo Annex,” nearby the hall’s entrance, is misspelled as “Emuggyo Annex.” / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young, Lee Jin-a
The Seoul City government recently launched an ambitious project to crack down on errors in English-language signs. But maybe they should take a look at their own building first.
Walking around Seoul City Hall, reporters from The Korea Times spotted several errors in English-language signs.
The first sign that caught their attention was “Vitality Charging Station” at an information display kiosk on the first floor. Referring to a public stage in front of the building, the English wrongly translated the original meaning.
One of the reporters asked a passing Canadian if he could guess the meaning of “Vitality Charging Station.” He thought for a while and said: “I think it means ‘battery’ or ‘male stamina.’
It’s the best guess I can make. I’m not sure what it means, though.” [Korea Times]
Noh Hyo-dong (R), a Yonhap correspondent in Washington, poses with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert during an award ceremony for the Don Oberdorfer Prize at the American Center Korea in Seoul on Oct. 4, 2016. Noh became the first recipient of the prize which was initiated this year to honor the late Oberdorfer, a former Washington Post journalist and foreign affairs expert best known in South Korea for his influential best-seller “The Two Koreas.” (Yonhap)
South Korea and the United States are conducting joint military drills in the Yellow Sea.
South Korea’s Marine Corps said on Tuesday United States Marines based in Japan have been sent to take part in the ongoing drills, which began last month near South Korea’s northernmost Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands.
About 200 U.S. marines belonging to the third Marine Expeditionary Force stationed in Okinawa and 120 South Korean marines are taking part in the training exercise, named Korea Maritime Exercise Program.
The marines are practicing to defend against various scenarios of possible provocation by North Korea. [KBS World Radio]
This is just a horrible story coming out of Pocheon, north of Seoul:
A middle-aged couple was arrested Sunday for allegedly binding their 6-year-old adopted daughter with duct tape for 17 hours and, when she suffocated, burning her body on a mountain.
The couple denied intentionally killing the girl and said she was being punished for being “too gluttonous.”
Police requested a pre-trial detention warrant Monday for the 47-year-old man and his 30-year-old wife on charges of murder, physical abuse, as well as the mutilation and abandonment of a dead body.
A 19-year-old woman living with the couple in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, was also apprehended on the same charges. Police identified the teenager as a daughter of the father’s close friend, who allegedly took some – if not equal – part in the crime.
The three suspects said during police questioning that they habitually struck the child with their bare hands or a fly swatter because she didn’t obey orders.
Last Wednesday night, they allegedly bound the girl up with duct tape and left home, returning 17 hours later to find her struggling to breathe.
The adoptive mother claimed she performed CPR on the child before she took her last breath. The three moved the body to the couple’s car Friday and drove to a nearby mountain. They allegedly burned the body to hide the evidence. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more of the details at the link, to include how the police determined the adopted parents killed the girl.
For anyone looking to get a round of golf in before the Lotte Sky Hill Golf Resort is turned into a military base the time to do it is now:
The South Korean military will launch negotiations with Lotte this week to buy a golf course in Seongju County in North Gyeongsang Province, which was announced as the final site to house Terminal High Altitude Area Defense(THAAD) interceptors.
The Ministry of National Defense said it hopes to deploy the U.S. missile shield system as swiftly as possible and is positively reviewing a plan to swap a golf course it owns in Gyeonggi Province with Lotte’s facility.
The golf course in Seongju sits on land spanning one-point-78 million square kilometers, including 820-thousand square kilometers of forest, and the ministry plans to purchase the whole property.
Lotte Skyhill Seongju Country Club, which operates the grounds, issued a statement immediately after the announcement of the new THAAD site last Friday, saying it will positively consider the government’s decision given the gravity of the current national security situation.
It was made known that Lotte will continue the operation of the golf course while it is holding negotiations with the Defense Ministry. [KBS World Radio]
