Eminent domain is something used in the US as well that forces people to relocate thus North Korea probably should not be criticized for forcing people to move for a public works project like a highway. However, the article is probably accurate that the highway is being built to make it a little more difficult to defect to China:
The North Korean regime has resettled some 10,000 households to build a 270 km highway section along the Chinese border, a source said last Friday.
“The aim is to prevent people from fleeing the North,” the source said. Construction of the highway, which runs from Hyesan, Ryanggang Province to Musan, North Hamgyong Province, is nearly complete.
The regime reportedly forced the residents out because the border regions along the Apnok and Duman rivers are notoriously porous, and defections and smuggling are rife. [Chosun Ilbo via reader tip]
This is probably a good idea considering that all of the transmissions of the MERS virus has occurred in Korean hospitals:
U.S. Forces Korea is recommending that troops and civilians avoid South Korean hospitals as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome continues to spread across the peninsula.
USFK is also recommending that members of the military community who have been seen since May 15 at any of two dozen South Korean hospitals affected by the potentially deadly virus call their health clinic for a phone evaluation and guidance.
Those who have been treated at other hospitals and are displaying MERS symptoms – fever, cough or shortness of breath – should contact their military medical care provider.
The South Korean government on Sunday listed hospitals that have treated MERS patients, all of whom have contracted the disease in hospitals.
No U.S. troops or USFK civilians have been diagnosed with MERS.
As of Monday morning, 87 people in South Korea had been infected with MERS, including the first teen to contract the disease on the peninsula, and six patients have died, South Korea’s Yonhap News reported. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link. By the way here is a complete list of the hospitals in Korea that the government announced had cases of MERS:
MERS affected hospitals
Samsung Seoul Medical Center (ER)
365 Seoul Yeolin Hospital (Outpatient Clinic)
Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital
ChoongNam Asan City Asan Seoul Hospital (Outpatient Clinic)
Daejeon Seogu DaeCheong Hospital
Seogu GeonYang University Hospital (ER, 10th Floor)
Seoul Asan Hospital
Seoul Asan Medical Center (ER)
Yoido St. Mary’s Hospital (ER)
Hanaro Clinic
Yoon Chang Ok internal Medicine Clinic
Pyeongtaek Good Morning Hospital
Pyeongtaek Pooren Hospital
Pyeongtaek 365 Yonhap Clinic
Pyeongtaek Park Ae Clinic
Pyeongtaek Yonsei Hub Family Medicine
Dongtan Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital
St. Vincent Hospital (ER)
Medihalls Clinic (Outpatient Clinic)
Bucheon St. Mary’s Hospita21 Gunpo City St. Mary’s Family Medicine Clinic
Osan Hanguk Hospital
CheonAn Danguk University Hospital
Daecheon 365 Yonhap Clinic (Outpatient Clinic)
Soonchang Choi Seonyeong Internal Medicine Clinic (Outpatient Clinic)
It appears most of the hospitals are in the areas of southern Seoul and the Pyeongtaek area. So people living in those areas should be a little bit more vigilant in regards to washing their hands and going to public places until this outbreak is contained.
A group of South Korean cultural heritage officials and historians take the first shovelfuls of dirt during a ceremony held in the North Korean border town of Kaesong on June 4, 2015, to mark the start of this year’s inter-Korean joint excavation of the site of Manwoldae, a Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) palace, in the city. The project will continue for six months until Nov. 30. (Yonhap)
Here is a unique soju commercial launched on YouTube featuring rhythmic gymnast Lee Su-rin which has gone viral in Korea:
A video ad for a recently introduced domestic soju Soonhari Chum Churum (meaning “soft, like first” in Korean) is going viral.
The video shows Korean gymnast Lee Su-rin, famous for being look-alike with idol singer Suzy from four-member girl band Miss A, performing her club event using two bottles of the product, introduced by Lotte Chilsung Beverage in March, as her clubs.
The 1:26 minute-long ad, with help of computer graphic effects, shows Lee managing a perfect performance, throwing and catching the bottles in collaboration with other gymnastic techniques. The ad’s fun is added by two TV commentators who slyly mimic real sports commentators and exaggerate their reaction to Lee. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link or just watch the video below:
https://youtu.be/laRZ1JjVX7U
I could not find out what Lee Su-rin’s age is, but if she is under the age of 24 she is not supposed to be doing alcohol commercials. I wonder if that is why this commercial was released on YouTube as a work around to not be in violation of the new alcohol law?
If the North Koreans are planning to conduct a nuclear test it looks like it will be at least until the fall before it happens:
North Korea is unlikely to conduct another nuclear test at least until this fall, a U.S. think tank said Friday, citing satellite imagery showing no signs of preparations at the country’s underground test site.
“Recent commercial satellite imagery indicates that North Korea is conducting regular spring construction and maintenance activities at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site,” the website 38 North said in a report by analyst Jack Liu.
“There are no indications of nuclear test preparations at this time. Given the time and effort such preparations require, North Korea is unlikely to conduct another nuclear test until at least fall 2015 at the earliest,” the report said.
The North has conducted its three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, all at the Punggye-ri site in the country’s northeast. [Yonhap]
When I was first stationed in Korea 15 years ago I can remember people both Korean and retired Americans telling stories about how a black soldier was hung by Korean civilians outside of Camp Humphreys for killing a Korean man. I was always skeptical of this claim, but as it turns out there was a grain of truth to the story. I recently decided to research this story to see if I can make a GI Flashbacks article about it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the always informative Popular Gusts blog had already researched this very topic. The site posted an article from the Stars and Stripes that was published in 1971 that explained what caused a race riot to occur in the Anjeong-ri ville just outside of Camp Humphreys:
Korean protesters in Anjeong-ri hold signs after riot occurred in the ville back in 1971. The sign on the left says BLACK, BLACK, BLACK” and “Go back to cotton field,” and the sign on the right looks like it says “We don’t need any N*****”
Black GIs on Rampage
Riot-Torn Anjong-Ni—Why It Happened
By M. SGT. JIM FREELAND and JIM LEA
S&S Korea Bureau
ANJONG-NI, Korea—A sign hangs on the rear wall of the security guard house at the Camp Humphreys main gate which lists the names of 12 bars.
Beside each is a pair of nails from which a small plaque is hung to tell American GIs who are the life’s blood of this village of perhaps 2,000 population, 60 miles south of Seoul, the situation in each bar. A black plaque means the place is on limits; a yellow one means it is off limits.
Since 9:30 p.m. July 10, all the plaques have been yellow. The sign will remain that way for a very long time, Camp Humphreys commander, Col. John C. McWhorter, says.
A few minutes past 9 p.m. that Friday, 50 black soldiers from Camp Humphreys walked into Duffy’s Tavern, one of the plushest of the bars which line a pathway GIs call “the alley,” climbed up on the stage and told everyone to leave the club. In minutes, they had demolished it and moved on to three other clubs which, they say, discriminate against blacks. Those were demolished too. “They didn’t stay around each place very long,” McWhorter said.
“They hit one place, then moved to the next. Some news stories have said there were whites involved, but that is not true. This was between a group of black soldiers and Koreans.”
More than 200 MPs and Korean National Police swarmed into the area and struggled to separate the combatants. McWhorter ordered the village put off limits and the MPs began moving Americans back up Anjong-Ni’s single dusty street.
“We had about 80 men who were moving back toward the gate with a crowd of Koreans following them. The Koreans started throwing rocks and, to break up the crowd and protect the camp, we used tear gas grenades/’ he said.
“Some shots were fired from .45 cal. pistols.
“No one was shot down here. There are rumors that some people were shot but that isn’t true. All the shots were fired into the air to break up the crowds.”
Four bars were extensively damaged. Four days after the riot, young Korean men loafed amidst the wreckage, playing go (Japanese chess), coming alert only when newsmen came in too look at the damage. Then, they hobbled about.
The bar owners are claiming 20 million won ($54,000) damage and the 8th Army Claims Office is accepting claims. If they are legitimate, they will be paid, an Army spokesman said.
The damage does not appear that extensive.
There were no houses damaged. One shop window was broken, apparently by a rock, and the Koreans reportedly were throwing the rocks.
By 11:30 p.m., most of the Americans were out of the village and safely behind concertina wire which had been stretched across the gate. About 10 U.S. dependents were moved out of the village and onto the compound.
“There was one man down here on leave with his wife. We brought them on the base Friday night and moved them out the next day,” McWhorter said.
Saturday, U.S. MPs swept through the village twice in a door-to-door search for other Americans.
“There was a lot of anger out there, a lot of tension. The men who got caught in it went into hiding. They were afraid,” McWhorter said.
One man, a Negro, was caught by villagers as he tried to make his way back to Camp Humphreys Saturday and was beaten. Police rescued him. Another man, who was injured Friday night, was found during a search and was taken back to the post dispensary.
“This man was not involved in the riot. He’s one of my best EOT (equal opportunities and treatment) men, and he definitely was not involved in it.
“We don’t know, yet, exactly who was involved. We’re investigating, but no one has been charged yet. There were many people hurt, but just because a person was hurt doesn’t mean that he was involved in it. Many were simply bystanders.
Anjong-Ni is not an unusual village.
Its single unpaved, pot-holed street is lined with vegetable stores, a hotel — which the manager says soon will boast a miniature golf course and a swimming pool—tailor and shoe shops which hawk the outlandish fashions of the young and souvenir stores which offer everything from peace beads to intricately etched Korean brassware.
The 12 bars which dot “the alley” are by GI bar standards in Korea, plush, but they are like GI gin mills anywhere. Camp Humphreys is Anjong-Ni’s major industry. It is the reason the village was built and the people and the village could not exist without it.
Its future is now shrouded in a cloud which has put the economy of other towns, other people, in jeopardy: racial discrimination.
Duffy’s, where Friday night’s riot began, is a major source of the discrimination, blacks say.
“We have no place here to relax. The bartenders don’t like to serve us, the girls don’t like to sit with us,” they say.
These are the same complaints that other GIs in Japan, the Philippines, in other areas of Asia, have. They are difficult to prove.
In Friday night’s riot, 14 Americans and Koreans were injured and were treated at U.S. military medical facilities. One Korean, a slim man nicknamed “Johnny,” the manager of Duffy’s, was evacuated to the 121st Evac. Hospital in Seoul for treatment of three stab wounds in the abdomen.
In town, people were saying Johnny was dead and a secret funeral had been held for him Monday.
Monday afternoon, Johnny was returned from Seoul and he was driven from the base to his home in a Pacific Stars and Stripes station wagon, one of the few U.S. forces vehicles allowed into the village that day. As we moved through the concertina wire at the gate, people in a crowd glared at us. The crowd had gathered a few moments earlier when base officials decided to allow Korean women through the gate to visit their boy friends.
Then someone recognized Johnny and word that he was not dead spread quickly down the street. In seconds, the hostility vanished and people ran alongside the car, shouting welcome home and smiling for the first time in four days.
As we took him home, Johnny told us about his club and about what happened.
“I was in the club about 9 p.m. and a bunch of black soldiers came in and told everybody to get out. I ran next door to call the police. We’ve had a lot of trouble here before and I knew, there was going to be trouble again.”
“When I got back to the club, I couldn’t get inside because the black soldiers had pushed everybody out. I could hear them tearing up the place. When they left, I followed them to the street. There were a lot of people around and suddenly someone stabbed me. I don’t know who did it. There were too many people around.”
“I don’t know why they did it. Somebody said it was because there was fight between a black soldier and a white soldier at my club early in the evening. That’s not true. There wasn’t any fight before 9 p.m.
We asked point-blank if there was racial discrimination in Duffy’s.
Johnny lowered his head and answered very quietly, “no.”
“Is the service you give whites any different than that you give blacks?”
He ignored the question and waved out the window at a woman who was running beside the car, waving at him.
The manager of another bar gave at least one piece of concrete evidence of discrimination.
“A lot of it has to do with credit. Many of the bars use chit books. When a soldier doesn’t have any money he can use the chits and pay on pay day. We had a bar owners meeting and some of us argued that the chit books are no good. They only cause problems.”
He said other bar owners will extend credit to white soldiers, but not to blacks. He said his bar does not extend credit, to anyone.
Some people in town — and some on base — say that gangsters have been brought into town to keep the blacks out. They say the gangsters are being paid two million won ($5,400) for the job.
“All I know,” an MP said, “is that since Friday a lot of girls have been leaving and a lot of men have been coming in.”
“Those are rumors,” McWhorter said. “We’ve heard that’s being done and are investigating, but so far we haven’t confirmed it.”
The riot at Anjong-Ni Friday night has served one purpose: It has brought the black soldiers and white soldiers a little closer together.
Monday, when GIs were allowed to go back into the village with an MP escort to pick up their belongings, blacks were not allowed to go.
“No sweat, man,” white GIs said time and again, “I’ll get your stuff for you.”
Anjong-Ni’s bars now are faced with a choice: Either clean up their town and end discrimination or go broke.
“The village will stay off limits indefinitely,” McWhorter said. “It will be off limits until each man who goes out the gate receives the same treatment as the next man.” [Popular Gusts]
I highly recommend reading the whole Popular Gusts article which begins with Part 1 at this link and Part 2 at this link. The comments section above Part 2 is especially informative since servicemembers who were in Korea during this time frame provided further context of what happened. What appears to have happened is that a group of black servicemembers decided to riot in protest of the segregation of the clubs and general discrimination against them in the Anjeong-ri ville. During the riot one of the popular club managers named “Johnny” was stabbed and evacuated to the 121 Hospital on Yongsan Garrison. It is interesting that Johnny and other Koreans that were injured were treated at the military hospital at the time because such a thing would not happen today.
Korea Times article from 1971
However, rumors spread that Johnny had died which caused anger with the Koreans in the Anjeong-ri ville. The Koreans started to hunt down servicemembers in the ville which caused many to go in hiding and wait evacuation, some by helicopter to escape the vigilantes. Despite the vigilantism there was no such incident as a black GI ever being hanged. It seems like this was just a rumor that spread just like the one saying Johnny had died. Fortunately no one did die from this riot in Anjeong-ri, but it shows that Camp Humphreys and Anjeong-ri have had historically a love-hate relationship at times. Some recent example are the Braveheart style battles that occurred in 2005 over the Camp Humphreys expansion and the nasty fight over off limits club bans in 2006.
Seek psychiatric help, Camp Humphreys commander!” is the message on this sign protesting Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr. and his policies concerning access to some off-base establishments in 2006. T.D. Flack / S&SProtesters combat riot police outside of Camp Humphreys in 2005.
Back in 1971 the protests did spread to other bases in Korea such as in the TDC ville outside of Camp Casey which saw only two people injured. However as the above Korea Times article shows three black GIs attacked and stabbed a white GI to death in Busan. It is incidents like this that show how far the Army has come since 1971 and hopefully we never seen anything like this ever happen again.
Note:You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link:
I hope someone has since told Richard Armitage that the THAAD missile defense system is for the defense of South Korea and not the US mainland because the system is not designed to shoot down ICBMs:
The main purpose of U.S. efforts to deploy a THAAD missile defense unit to South Korea is to protect the U.S. mainland from North Korean missile threats, a former top American diplomat said Wednesday.
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made the remark during a security seminar on Korea, claiming that hosting a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery is a responsibility South Korea has as an ally of the United States.
“I think the United States has approached this incorrectly … I think we have not been as clear … about what THAAD does as we should have been,” Armitage said during the seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Korea Foundation.
“I see the deployment of THAAD as an alliance responsibility for the Republic of Korea because THAAD, although it covers some of the Republic of Korea, … it is more for the defense of the United States, the continental United States against North Korean missiles,” he said. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link, but the system the US has to shoot down North Korean ICBMs is the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System (GMD) which has interceptors in Alaska and California.
