Over at Reddit they have a translation to this Kyunghyang Shimun article that claims that the THAAD radar is making people sick and even crazy in Japan:
Picture from a US forward based radar site in Kyoga-Misaki, Japan.
A reporter from the paper went to Kyoto Japan where a Thaad radar facility is located. There, he found that Japanese residents were suffering from serious health problems including lack of breast milk from mothers, severe headaches, insomnia, and other side effects. The most severe side effect was the constant droning sound of power being fed into the facility which is driving the people living near it, crazy. The paper interviewed one Japanese resident who said even standing near the Thaad facility for 30 minutes makes him throw up. The concern in the Japanese village is that there is no study done on the effects of constant electronic magnetic signals. The paper also says that a few residents welcome the Thaad station because they profit from the central government rewarding the town with subsidies for hosting Thaad. But the reporter says the more reasonable Japanese residents who don’t care about money, are warning the Seongju residents to not ignore the harmful effects of the radar system which can’t been seen with human eyes. [Reddit]
First of all the radar in Japan is not a THAAD battery, it is a forward based AN/TPY-2 radar site in Kyoga-Misaki that uses the same radar antenna as a THAAD battery. Secondly this is just another example of how the leftists in the Korean media are going to distort and lie to push their political agenda just like what happened in 2008 with the phony US beef crisis.
Why doesn’t this reporter request to interview the soldiers that are around this radar every single day and see if they are getting sick and going crazy?
In regards to the political opposition to the THAAD deployment to South Korea facts do not matter. We saw this before with the US beef protests. For those that do care about facts, the US military yesterday opened its THAAD base on Guam to reporters and test the electromagnetic waves from the radar. Here is what they found:
This photo, taken on July 18, 2016, and provided by the U.S. Air Force, shows officials measuring the level of electromagnetic waves from the radar of a THAAD battery in Guam, with South Korean reporters watching and taking notes. (Yonhap)
The United States disclosed its advanced anti-ballistic missile battery in Guam to South Korean media on Monday to help allay fears about the health risks linked to the system’s powerful X-band radar.
A pool of Korean reporters visited the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in northern Guam, a part of Andersen Air Force Base, so they could check for themselves the major issues related to the electromagnetic waves emanating from the AN/TPY-2 radar and the noise level of the emergency generators.
Using equipment brought from Seoul, military officials of both the U.S. and Korea measured the levels of electromagnetic waves from the THAAD radar for the first six minutes at a point 1.6 kilometers away from the THAAD unit after it was activated. The measurement conditions in Guam were set similarly to those in Seongju, the selected site for South Korea’s first THAAD.
The radar waves reached a maximum of 0.0007 watt per square meter, accounting for 0.007 percent of the 10 watts per square meter maximum permitted under Korean laws.
Robert F. Hedelund, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea, told reporters that the THAAD battery does not hurt the health and safety of the unit’s operators, soldiers or residents nearby and that the safety standards that apply to the Guam THAAD unit are higher than those recommended by the U.S. government. He said the Guam base’s safety standards will be applied to Korea’s THAAD battery.
Another U.S. military official on the U.S. Pacific territory said that as the U.S. has a duty to protect its own soldiers and residents in adjacent towns, every effort will be made to make sure the THAAD battery to be set up in Korea will be operated safely.
As for the noise level of generators near the THAAD radar, soldiers working at the site do have to wear earplugs, but the noise is no longer an issue at about 500 meters away, the commander explained.
The U.S. military said as Korea’s THAAD system will get its power mainly from the commercial grid, not from emergency generators, soldiers and residents will not be affected by the noise. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but like I said facts don’t matter to the political opposition so expect to continue to hear about the health and environmental risks of THAAD in South Korea. However, this visit at least allows supporters of the deployment to have hard evidence to point to in order to counter claims from the political opposition.
With the environmental concerns floundering this how the Korea Times decided to approach the THAAD visit by insinuating that the system doesn’t work:
South Korean journalists and military officials hear explanations from a U.S. officer about the THAAD system during their visit to “Site Armadillo,” the location of a THAAD battery inside Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, Monday. / Courtesy of U.S. Air Force
When the two allies announced the deployment of the advanced anti-missile defense system in Korea, July 8, they stressed that the deployment will greatly enhance Seoul’s ability to deal with North Korea’s evolving nuclear and ballistic missile threats. But some experts still question the capability of the system.
Lockheed Martin, the producer of THAAD, said that the battery was nearly 100 percent successful in interception tests, but critics claim that such tests took place under defined conditions, and that THAAD has been never utilized in practice.
In addition, skepticism over the system has been also raised as Seoul and its surrounding area, with a population of roughly 25 million and major facilities, are out of its coverage range. The missile interceptor has an effective range of 200 kilometers, while Seongju is located 290 kilometers southeast of Seoul. [Korea Times]
Of course tests are under defined conditions which get increasingly more complicated. The last flight test for THAAD featured it conducting a joint live fire with the Aegis SM-3 system and was successful in shooting down all targets. As far as being used in combat this is an impossible argument to counter because the system is new and there has not been a need to use it in combat. As far as defending Seoul there are already Patriot systems in Korea that can defend Seoul. The THAAD has always been intended to defend areas in the southern region of the peninsula.
In the coming weeks it should be interesting to see if the opposition to THAAD tries to change their message to focus more on the China and the THAAD doesn’t work angles to justify their opposition.
Members of conservative youth groups stage a performance lampooning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on a street in central Seoul on July 14, 2016, to back a recent decision to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea. North Korea has warned of “physical action” against the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) aimed at countering the North’s missile threats. (Yonhap)
Once again due to Korean media lies we have mad cow 2.0 happening over the THAAD deployment to South Korea. Fortunately this is happening in a rural area of Korea and not Seoul where the Korean left would be able to mobilize huge crowds more easily. We will see what happens when the usual suspects such as the KCTU will likely get involved in this. I would not be surprised if the Korean left tries to makes this look like Camp Humphreys back in 2005 to get this battery installed in Seongju. If the US military was smart they would wait until after the summer protest season to deploy this battery to Korea. The Korean left will not be able to mobilize huge crowds in the freezing cold of January in rural Korea:
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo and other government officials are trapped in a bus in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang, on Friday as an angry mob of residents protest the deployment of the Thaad system in their hometown. Hwang was also pelted with eggs and doused with water. [NEWSIS]An angry mob of Seongju residents besieged the prime minister for more than six hours on Friday during his visit to the southeastern rural town to explain the government’s recent decision to place a controversial U.S.-led missile defense system in their neighborhood.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, accompanied by Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo and Vice Minister of Interior Kim Sung-lyul, traveled to Seongju, North Gyeongsang, in the morning to meet with residents after Seongsan-ri of Seongju, a village with about 2,800 people, was selected Wednesday as the site to host the U.S. Forces Korea’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system.
After arriving in Seongju by a helicopter, they met with North Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kwan-yong and visited the artillery base in Seongsan-ri. A Korean Air Force artillery unit currently stationed there will be relocated and the U.S. military will install the Thaad system by the end of next year.
Hwang then arrived at the Seongju County Office and met with Kim Hang-gon, head of the county, who has been on a hunger strike in protest. About 3,000 angry residents were waiting for Hwang and pelted him with eggs and poured water on him.
The quiet farming town of Seongju, with a population of about 45,000, has become extremely volatile since residents fear the deployment for security and health concerns. North Korea warned of a physical response to the Thaad base, while concerns were also raised that the electromagnetic waves emitted from the Thaad radar are harmful to humans. The government said the radar poses no harm to humans outside of its 100-meter (328-foot) radius. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but as I have been saying repeatedly the safe keep out zones for the THAAD radar are well known, but leftists in the Korean media continue to publish articles claiming THAAD is going to make people sick. What seems lost to these people is that US soldiers work around this radar every day, so using their logic US soldiers must have some magical immunity to these scary electromagnetic waves that can some how magically make only Koreans sick.
The incident that got the Dallas police shooter discharged from the Army has been disclosed; he stole panties from his officer girl friend in his reserve unit:
But two soldiers who knew Johnson in Afghanistan, who were reached and interviewed separately, said it was an open secret that the pair had a romantic relationship and were publicly affectionate.
In an interview with TheBlaze website, Johnson’s mother, Delphene, implied they were more than friends.
“Before, when they went to drill, during the drill weekends, she stayed here,” she said. “Yeah, they slept in the same bed.”
Gilbert Fischbach, a former Army sergeant who was Johnson’s squad leader, says that the woman has denied being intimate with Johnson and that he believes the two were just close friends.
But, he said, the nature of their relationship doesn’t matter — he was found with her underwear without her permission. [Dallas Morning News]
After the incident Johnson was supposedly ostracized from his unit and eventually moved to a different base. When it comes to a sex crime accusation in the Army of course few people are going to want to be associated with someone accused of that crime; especially one caught in the act. Here is where the reporter states that the ostracizing of Johnson led to him hanging out with “black people”:
“Everybody thought that he was just a person that stole panties,” a soldier said. “He broke down after that a little bit because they ostracized him. All of his friends started unfollowing him on Facebook. They wouldn’t deal with him, they wouldn’t talk to him.”
“He started hanging out with people he usually didn’t hang out with — the black people, honestly,” said the soldier, who is black.
So what is this passage supposed to mean? That him hanging out with other black people led to him becoming a racist killer? That if he didn’t hang out with other so called “black people” that the killings would not have happened? I also find it hard to believe he was not hanging out with so called “black people” before this incident happened. Notice how the reporter had to specify that the quoted person was black; this was intentional because the reporter does not want to be accused of passing on a racist statement if a white guy was quoted as making that statement.
Johnson was discharged for the panty incident in Afghanistan and the article concludes with the reporter insinuating that the Army should have checked up on this guy despite him no longer being in the Army:
One of the soldiers interviewed by The News reported talking to Johnson about a year after they returned from Afghanistan.
“I was like, ‘How are you doing? Has anybody called to check up on you?'” the soldier recalls. “He said, ‘You’re the first person I’ve heard from in the unit.'”
This reporter doesn’t seem to understand that the Army has no obligation to check on Soldiers when they are no longer in the service. Considering the amount of Soldiers that leave the Army every year this would be an impossibility anyway unless a large unit was stood up to do this. This article seems like a lame attempt by the reporter to pass blame on to the Army for what happened in Dallas instead putting the responsibility solely on the person that committed the crime.
Sadly if Nintendo does put Pokemons in North Korea this will probably cause a tourism boom for them which means more money for the Kim regime. I can just picture Koryo Tours offering Pokemon Go packages to North Korea:
A whirlwind of memes and jokes about “Pokemon Go” are spiraling here because Nintendo’s location-based hunting game is known to be available in North Korea.
Memes include North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, ordering his cyberforces to distribute rare pokemons in northern parts of the inter-Korean border so game-addicted South Koreans will cross the heavily armed demarcation line to catch them.
They also include Kim pointing at a huge pink fish, with the quote: “Just caught Magikarp,” a game character.
There are rumors that rare, high-scoring pokemons are hidden in the truce village of Panmunjom. Some netizens claim the game maker has hidden “Mewtwo,” one of the strongest pokemons in the early series, in Punggye-ri, North Korea’s underground nuclear test site.
Others say a “Dragonite” is at the summit of Mt. Baekdu, the tallest mountain on the Korean Peninsula, on the North Korea-China border.
There is even talk of a legendary pokemon under Kim’s palace in Pyongyang. [Korea Times]
Mud-covered tourists pose for a photo at the Daecheon Beach Mud Plaza in Boryeong on South Korea’s west coast on July 15, 2016, as the annual Boryeong Mud Festival opened the same day for a run till July 24. Boryeong mud is rich in minerals and is known to help prevent skin aging. (Yonhap)
