I have no issues with this craze though I wonder if the plastic surgeons will find ways to make women look fit:

Today, Korean woman are seeking more of a “healthy and sexy” image. A sharp increase in fitness centers in what seems to be every building in Seoul has brought about a “fitness syndrome.” Moreover, a number of fitness gurus, such as the 46-year-old Jung Da-yeon, are now as popular as celebrities.

It used to be all about the so-called “S-line,” which refers to the curve of a woman’s waist to hip. Korean women would take pictures from the front to show off their “wasp” waist and big hips, but the current trend is to take pictures from the side, to show their “apple hips” they worked on in the gym.

Current representatives of this new beauty standard include Yoo Seung-ok, Yeh Jeong-hwa and Nancy Lang. Their muscular bodies are more distinct compared to those of traditional Korean beauty models.

Yoo Seung-ok became popular immediately after photos of herself in an international fitness contest went viral. She came in fifth at Fitness Universe Weekend, the first Asian woman to place in the top five.  [KoreAm Journal]

You can read more at the link.

1967 is when the first US-South Korea Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was signed which handed over legal jurisdiction of crimes committed by US troops while off duty to the Korean authorities.  The most serious case that was first tried in a Korean court involving a US servicemember was the 1967 murder of Chun-ja Kim by Private Eugene D. Taylor.  Taylor was a cook assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry DIvision.  Taylor was just days away from completing his tour of duty in Korea when he arrested for the murder of his Korean girlfriend on November 5, 1967.

From the November 27, 1967 edition of the Stars & Stripes.

Before redeploying to the US, Pvt. Taylor decided to go on a drunken bender at his girlfriend’s residence.  For some reason during his drunken bender he decided to strangle and kill his Korean girlfriend, Chun-ja Kim that he supposedly had plans to return to Korea to marry.  He committed this murder two days before redeploying to the US.  This just shows that even back in the 1960’s soldiers at high risk of getting in trouble are those within 30 days of going home.  It also shows that the old Korean complaint of GIs committing crimes in Korea and then getting away with them by flying back to the US was also not true back then.

From the February 8, 1968 edition of the Stars & Stripes.

The landlord of the home that Ms. Kim lived at discovered the body in the morning along with Taylor bleeding with a neck wound.  He claims that when he woke up and discovered Kim’s dead body that he tried to commit suicide by slashing his neck with a piece of broken glass.  It appears he was drunk enough to kill someone else, but not drunk enough to kill himself.

From the March 7, 1968 edition of the Stars & Stripes.

Ultimately Pvt Taylor was convicted of the murder of Ms. Kim and sentenced to 8 years in a Korean prison.  It seems like a pretty lenient sentence, but the Korean court took into consideration the mitigating circumstances of him being a soldier deployed to defend Korea and the fact he was drunk.  So being drunk back in the 60’s was considered a mitigating circumstance just like it is today in Korean courts.

From the April 11, 1968 edition of the Stars & Stripes.

Taylor’s crime is now long forgotten in the dustbins of USFK history, but he does have the dubious distinction of being the first American servicemember convicted and sentenced for murder in a South Korean court.  This case shows that US servicemembers were held accountable for the crimes in Korean courts back then and continue to be held accountable today.

Note: You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link: 

(LEAD) Park urges Japan to back up its pledge on history with actions http://t.co/ScYReLvSKO

— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) August 15, 2015

Engineers setup a pontoon bridge somewhere on MSR 3 on July 8, 1952 during the Korean War.  [Defense Media]

Via the Stars and Stripes comes this YouTube video which shows when the two ROK Army soldiers were hit by the planted North Korean landmine:

Here is what experts in the article had to say about detecting such infiltrations:

A South Korean military official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that while South Korean troops aggressively monitor the border with advanced surveillance equipment and their naked eyes, their ability to monitor some portions of the DMZ is limited.

North and South Korean troops man outposts along the Military Demarcation Line, often in forested areas.

“It’s very difficult to keep watch there for 24 hours a day, especially if it’s rainy or foggy,” said Kim Seongmin, a defector and former North Korean military officer who now heads Free North Korea Radio. “If North Korean troops want to violate the armistice agreement, they can do it there,” he said.

An Chanil, who was stationed at the DMZ as a platoon sergeant in the North Korean army, agreed.

“Nobody can see everywhere,” said An, who defected in 1979 and is now president of the World Institute for Korea Studies, a Seoul-based think tank.

He said ordinary North Korean soldiers would have difficulty crossing the demarcation line, though specially trained reconnaissance soldiers could do so with ease.

“The DMZ is their home ground,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but this is why any North Korean soldiers caught violating the armistice should be shot on site.  In the past warning shots were fired when they were caught crossing the DMZ.  It is now time to start attriting their operatives who are specially trained for these missions.  That will be a deterrent to continuing to launch such attacks.

seems DPRK fears the leaflet drops more then border broadcasts and that they are more a pain to regime at this time then broadcasts are.

— Nathan J Hunt (@ISNJH) August 14, 2015

Participants unfold a big banner during a rally near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Aug. 12, 2015, for the elderly Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japan’s World War II soldiers. (Yonhap)

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Obesity emerges as major health threat in South Korea http://t.co/yEGCAho2V3 #Korea #Health #Obesity pic.twitter.com/RUGYpSji3z

— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) August 13, 2015

This file photo, dated Dec. 19, 2011, shows SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won surrounded by reporters as he enters the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to be grilled over allegations that he embezzled a massive amount of group funds in collusion with his younger brother. Chey was included in the list of special pardons that President Park Geun-hye granted to high-profile businessmen and more than 6,500 people on Aug. 13, 2015. The pardons are part of celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary on Aug. 15 of Korea’s independence from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. (Yonhap)