Farmers are busy harvesting cabbages on a field in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on Oct. 27, 2014, ahead of South Korea’s kimchi-making season. (Yonhap)
Via the USFK website I was able to get a copy of the actual policy letter signed by USFK commander General Scaparrotti. Here is the text of the policy letter:
HEADQUARTERS, UNITED STATES FORCES KOREA
UNIT #15237
APO AP 96205-5237
15 Oct 2014
FKCC
MEMORANDUM FOR SEE DISTRIBUTION
SUBJECT: United States Forces Korea
(USFK) Command Policy Letter #12, Combating Prostitution and Trafficking in Persons (CTIP)
1. This policy applies to all military personnel assigned or attached permanently, on temporary duty, or on rotational duty in Korea, and to USFK units or organizations supported by USFK units. Department of Defense (DoD) Civilian Employees and DoD-invited contractors/technical representatives, family members of military, DoD civilians, DoD contractors, and visiting guests are encouraged to follow this order.
2. DoD policy condemns practices that subjugate, enslave, and demean individuals, including prostitution and human trafficking. Prostitution and the patronizing of a prostitute are crimes in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and are punishable under the UCMJ. Trafficking in Persons is also illegal under Korean and United States law.
3. There are establishments outside our installations that support human trafficking , usually of young women, many of whom are brought into the country under false pretenses as entertainers and forced to work in bars or other establishments in violation of their visas. They are subjected to debt bondage and made to sell themselves as companions, or forced into prostitution.
4. Service members are often encouraged to buy overpriced “juice” drinks in exchange for the company of these women, or to pay a fee to obtain the company of an employee who is then relieved of their work shift (commonly referred to as “bar-fining” or “buying a day off”). The governments of the Republic of Korea, the United States, and the Republic of the Philippines have linked these practices with prostitution and human trafficking.
5. Installation commanders have the authority to put off-limits those establishments that engage in activities detrimental to readiness, good order, and discipline and I expect them to exercise that authority, particularly as it applies to establishments that support prostitution and human trafficking. I also expect service members to respect the dignity of others at all times. Paying for companionship directly supports human trafficking and is a precursor to prostitution. This practice encourages the objectification of women, reinforces sexist attitudes, and is demeaning to all human beings. Preventing service members from supporting human trafficking and prostitution outside our installations helps ensure the highest levels of readiness, promotes good order and discipline, and provides for the health, welfare and safety of our personnel and community.
6. Military personnel subject to this order shall not provide money or anything of value to an employee or establishment for the primary purpose of obtaining an employee’s company or companionship, inside or outside a bar or establishment. This includes paying a fee to play darts, pool, or to engage in other entertainment with an employee, or buying a drink or souvenir in exchange for an employee’s company. Service members who fail to comply with the provisions of this paragraph may be subject to punishment under the UCMJ, adverse administrative personnel action, and/or other adverse actions authorized by applicable laws and regulations.
This paragraph supersedes USFK Regulation 27-5, paragraph 8-6, dated 7 July 2011, until amended to conform to this policy letter.
7. If any member of USFK observes this conduct or sees indicators of prostitution or human trafficking, they should immediately contact their local law enforcement desk or the USFK Prostitution and Human Trafficking Hotline at DSN 736-9333 or Comm 0505-336-9333.
8. Questions concerning this policy should be directed to your servicing legal office or USFK/JA at DSN 723-7349 or Commercial 050-5333-7349.
//ORIGINAL SIGNED//
CURTIS M. SCAPARROTTI
General, U.S. Army
Commander
DISTRIBUTION:
A References.
a. DoD Instruction 2200.01, Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP), 15 September 2010
b. USFK Command Policy Letter #1, Zero Tolerence Policy, 2 January 2014
Fortunately General Scaparrotti did try and pull a LaPorte and make this policy applicable to DoD civilians, contractors, and dependents. It only applies to soldiers. This does beg the question of how this will be enforced. A juicy bar is still going to have a bunch of non-servicemembers buying drinks for juicy girls and some of them may look military. So will the CPs demand ID of everyone they see that may look military? That is asking for trouble to happen. Fortunately the vast majority of soldiers being professionals will comply with the policy letter, but there will assuredly be those who will try and get around it.
The policy letter also tries to capture all the work-arounds the juicy bars might use to get around this policy. For example the policy letter bans paying for darts and pool in exchange for time with juicy girls. A couple of work-arounds I do not see it covering would be a cover fee to enter the bar. What if a bar owner charges servicemembers $50 to enter the bar that has juicy girls in it? The job of the juicy girl would then be to wait outside the bar and try to get servicemembers to come inside. Or how about the bar owner charging inflated drink fees for servicemembers? So instead of the juicy girl trying to get the servicemember to buy her drinks, her job becomes to get the servicemember to buy drinks for himself. If the servicemember does not buy a drink for himself then she moves on to the next customer.
This is just a couple of ways I could see the bar owners subverting the policy which they will assuredly try and do. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I think USFK has effectively gotten out ahead of the special interest groups back in the US that were looking to use the juicy girl issue to bash the US military with. This new policy letter pretty much prevents whatever sensationalism on this issue they had planned even if the bar owners try to implement work-arounds.
It is probably not a good business model for an open ski resort to have more employees than guests, but then again this is North Korea where such logic does not apply:
The Dome Cafe at Masikryong Ski Resort has a fake green grass floor and wicker chairs for skiers to enjoy refreshments in
When a photographer took a trip to one of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s pet projects – built to bring in thousands of foreign tourists to the country – he discovered a sparkling clean ski resort… with barely another person or drop of snow in sight.
The communist enclave’s one and only ski destination, on top of Taehwa Peak, boasts a hotel with wood cabin style rooms, complimentary toiletries, and spa facilities and 110 kilometres (70 miles) of multi-level slopes.
However, photographer Aram Pan, from Singapore, who took the photos while on his fourth trip to North Korea from 16-20 October, did not find any other tourists to mingle with.
‘I saw one western tourist on a “private tour” at the Ski resort. I’m not sure who he was. I didn’t ask,’ Mr Pan told Daily Mail Australia. [Daily Mail]
You can view a whole bunch of pictures of the ski resort at the link.
An employee of Yongpyeong Ski Resort sprays artificial snow on the slope in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, on Oct. 28, 2014, ahead of its opening, scheduled for Nov. 8 or Nov. 15. (Yonhap)
Staff Sgts. Kim Min Kyoung and Kwon Min Zy are the first women, Korean or American, to earn the special-skills badge created in 1943.
“There were 21 soldiers from the (South Korean army’s) 21st Infantry Division that competed with them, pushing and pulling each other, helping each other out,” Kwon, 21, said through a translator. [USA Today]
You can read more at the link, but the article is a bit misleading by making it appear these are the first women to pass the EIB test. The US Army has for years allowed women to take the test:
Two Soldiers received special honors Friday during a ceremony at the Hilton Field Softball Complex recognizing those Soldiers who recently completed a week of tasks to earn the Expert Infantryman Badge.
Sgt. 1st Class Scott Wilkie, a drill sergeant with Company E, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, was the only Soldier who received the “true blue” designation, meaning that he completed all the tasks without making any mistakes. Capt. Michelle Roberts, commander of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, was the only female Soldier who passed the test.
Wilkie and Roberts were two of 42 Soldiers who passed from a field of 97 who began the testing.
“This is the first year that (I’ve seen) a (woman) compete in the 27 years I’ve been in the Army,” said Sgt. Maj. Michael Love, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Expert Infantryman Badge, or EIB, testing. “I think it’s great.”
Roberts, an activated National Guard Soldier, said she believes it is her duty to be trained as well as possible in Soldiering skills, which is why she did not want to pass up the opportunity to go through the test and the two-week training in preparation for the EIB. [Army.mil]
The problem that females that pass the EIB test have is that they are not in an infantry MOS, so they cannot wear the badge, but they receive the training certificate. This is the same for non-infantry MOS males as well. People have complained about this for years that the infantry branch are being badge protectors by not allowing other branches to wear the badge. Since the ROK NCOs are in the infantry branch they get to wear the badge on their uniforms. This seems very unfair to everyone else that has passed the testing that they cannot wear the badge, but foreign military personnel can.
This whole EIB testing gets back to my whole point of view on this that women should not be barred from any MOS or training as long as they meet the same established standards. So did the ROK soldiers meet the same established standards as the US soldiers? According to this comment left on Facebook by an NCO claiming to have graded the testing, they did not:
If this claim is true and the ROK soldiers did not have to meet the same standards as US soldiers than this was nothing more than a PR stunt by 2ID. The statistics may also give some indication that different standards were used. According to the article only 18% of 2ID soldiers passed, but 18 of 21 (85%) of ROK soldiers passed the testing. That is a big difference in percentages though the ROK Army likely sent 21 of their best soldiers. Even if it was their best soldiers should the percentages be that skewed? Anyway I would be interested to hear what others who may have been part of the EIB testing have to say about this issue.
The fact that watching South Korean dramas was added to the charges of these officials likely had nothing to do with their purge, it was just something throw in as a point of emphasis to everyone else not to watch these dramas that the Kim regime views as subversive media:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seeking to erase the remaining influence of his dead uncle, executing about 10 senior Workers’ Party officials on charges from graft to watching South Korean soap operas, according to an aide to a South Korean lawmaker.
The deaths by shooting are part of Kim’s latest round of purges, said Lim Dae Sung, a secretary to ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker Lee Cheol Woo who attended a briefing at the National Intelligence Service yesterday in Seoul. Kim had Jang Song Thaek, his uncle and de facto deputy, killed in December last year. Lee didn’t say when the executions took place, or who the officials were. [Bloomberg]
