It is finally happening which is amazing considering how many years we have been hearing that this was going to happen.
A view from the roof of the future 2nd Infantry Division headquarters at Camp Humphreys on June 5, 2016. The Army is moving most of its forces, including the headquarters for U.S. Forces Korea, the 8th Army and the 2nd Infantry Division, to the expanded garrison south of Seoul.
U.S. forces in South Korea are finally starting to move to their new headquarters south of Seoul, although the much-delayed expansion of Camp Humphreys won’t be finished for several years.
First up is the Fort Hood, Texas-based 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, which is packing up and redeploying south this week from the mountainous area near the border with North Korea.
Soldiers loaded Abrams tanks and other armored vehicles on flat rail cars Thursday, taking advantage of a new railhead at Humphreys and using late-night convoys to avoid worsening Seoul’s tangled traffic. One whistled the theme song from “M*A*S*H,” a long-running TV series about the Korean War that was set in the area. A separate train was carrying soldiers to Humphreys along with the vehicles so they could jump out to fight if needed.
Several units, including the 304th Signal Battalion and military police, have already redeployed to Camp Humphreys — which will be spread over more than 3,500 acres near the port city of Pyeongtaek.
But the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, will be the vanguard of the historic move by the 2nd Infantry Division, which has been stationed near the world’s most heavily militarized border for decades. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link. Just think this was supposed to be completed back in 2008. According to the article USFK officials have declined to give an end date of when the move will be complete and instead call it conditions based.
This guy is quite the scumbag to have found a passed out Japanese woman in front of his hotel room and instead of notifying the hotel manager he decided to carry her into his room and rape her:
A U.S. sailor must serve 2½ years of hard labor for raping an intoxicated Japanese woman at a Naha hotel, an incident that sparked anti-base protests and contributed to tightened liberty restrictions on Okinawa.
Seaman Apprentice Justin Castellanos, 24, was sentenced Friday by a three-judge Naha District Court panel. His family was required to pay $21,789 in restitution to the victim, in addition to $2,842 from the U.S. military. Both amounts have been paid, officials said.
Prosecutors had sought a four-year prison term, but the chief judge said a lower sentence was accepted for the corpsman, who is assigned to Camp Schwab, because he had pleaded guilty and shown remorse for his actions. [Stars & Stripes]
Here is the part of the article I am surprised about and makes me wonder if this is part of the Japanese legal system where actions by the victim are taken into account to mitigate the sentence of the perpetrator?:
Judges also said the woman was partly to blame for becoming incapacitated and passing out in the hallway by the sailor’s room.
If this happened in the US we would be treated by a week long news cycle on victim blaming.
This news just causes me to smirk a bit considering the anti-US beef nonsense I saw happen in 2008:
US beef imports increased significantly as South Koreans turned away from their expensive local beef hanwoo, industry data showed on July 14.
US beef imports increased by 25.7 percent from January to May this year from the same period last year, to reach 61,062 tons, according to a report by the National Agriculture Cooperative Federation, better known as NongHyup.
South Korea became the third largest beef importer in the world during the period, after Japan and Mexico. [Korea Herald]
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn inspects the candidate site for an advanced U.S. missile defense system in Seongju, a county about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on July 15, 2016. His visit came in the face of strong opposition from residents, who are worried about health risks from the missile system’s powerful radar and question the murkiness of the site selection. (Yonhap)
Yesterday’s terrorist attack in France is an example of the type of attack these ISIS terrorists could attempt in South Korea with the massive crowds that gather for events in places like Seoul.
The French Embassy in Seoul raises the national flag at half-staff on July 15, 2016, to pay tribute to victims of a deadly terrorist attack which killed at least 80 people and wounded dozens of others in the southern French city of Nice the previous day. (Yonhap)
China has a long ways to go to restore their “Shang Guo” status in South Korea if they continue to be viewed as regional bullies which is once again how they appear with their recent reactions to both the South China Sea International Court ruling and the decision to deploy THAAD to South Korea:
In the past, China was both “da guo” and “shang guo” to Koreans. China was a powerful and highly civilized nation that smaller neighboring countries admired. This involved a historical mentality of respect that Koreans attached in reverence to a big and powerful country. But not anymore. The Chinese authors conclude: “For South Koreans, today’s ‘shang guo’ is the United States, not China” (p. 179).
The authors call on China to reclaim its high position that commands respect from Koreans by establishing superiority.
“Therefore, until the time when China completely establishes its superiority to South Korea, the (negative) image South Koreans have about China will not likely have a fundamental shift.” (p. 186–87).
Since the Chinese authors did not elaborate on it further, there is no way to know what they meant by “establishing superiority to South Korea.” This could mean that China would need to upgrade its soft-power leverage toward South Korea. This could also indicate China’s determination to outstrip South Korea in terms of economic, political and cultural prowess, a position that would make South Koreans feel overwhelmed, like in the old days. Or, it may refer to its willingness to use physical means to subjugate South Korea. The interpretation is open, debatable and includes uncertainty. This ambiguity is unhelpful as it generates uneasiness in the minds of South Koreans toward China’s future power projections.
Overall, the book reads very much like a self-conscious image-journal of China, baffled by why South Korea, its former tributary, does not revere the Middle Kingdom emperor anymore. I think this is a loaded question that the Chinese already know the answer to. Just look at the widespread panic in South Korea regarding China’s “imminent” retaliation over THAAD. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the way the ruling communist party has promoted nationalism to cement their legitimacy they can’t afford to be malevolent towards South Korea.
I must be one of the few people in the world that has not played Pokemon Go, with that said I can’t imagine myself taking a trip all the way to Sokcho to play a video game:
Smartphone game “Pokemon Go” has become an international sensation after its release on July 6 in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Now, Korean fans have found a way to access it.
The game, developed by Niantic, uses GPS and a camera to locate and capture in the real world fictional “pokemons.” The characters originate from the Japanese media franchise Pokemon in 1995.
Korean fans were frustrated when they heard the game might not be available in South Korea.
“Pokemon Go” operates with Google Maps and the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOILT) has denied Google access to a precise map of the country. Google again requested the map in June and MOILT will decide in August whether to give the information.
But Korean users have found a way to play the game after finding a loophole in the system. Niantic developed a GPS-based game called “Ingress” in 2013. During development, the company gathered GPS information around the globe, including from North Korea. The same data was used in developing “Pokemon Go.”
The data divides countries into diamond cells. Because it categorized areas around Sokcho, Gangwon Province, as a North Korean sector, the game functions in the city’s vicinity.
After the information went viral, buses to Sokcho have been fully booked for the weekend. People who failed to reserve a ticket posted on social media that they will be driving to Sokcho to play “Pokemon Go.”
Sokcho has posted a city map showing free Wi-Fi spots to help Pokemon players who will be visiting this weekend. [Korea Times]
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former head of the minor opposition People’s Party, speaks during a debate on the deployment of a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system in South Korea at the National Assembly Building in Seoul on July 14, 2016. Ahn, a potential candidate for the next presidential election, again voiced his opposition to the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here. (Yonhap)
