Lawmakers of the National Assembly Defense Committee inspect the K2 main battle tank built by Hyundai Rotem during their visit to the company’s plant in Changwon, southeast South Korea, on Oct. 22, 2014. (Yonhap)
Here is a perfect example of why the safety and cheating culture that is pervasive in South Korea is so hard to change:
In this Sept. 5, 2014 photo, Ryu Young-joon speaks during an interview at Kangwon National University Hospital in Cuncheon, South Korea. Ryu, the whistle-blower who exposed breakthrough cloning research as a devastating fake says South Korea is still dominated by the values that allowed science fraudster Hwang Woo-suk to become an almost untouchable national hero. (AP Photo/Joyce Lee)
The whistleblower who exposed breakthrough cloning research as a devastating fake says South Korea is still dominated by the values that allowed science fraudster Hwang Woo-suk to become an almost untouchable national hero.
In an interview with The Associated Press after almost a decade of silence, Ryu Young-joon, one of Hwang’s former researchers, said the cost of telling the truth still weighs on him but he doesn’t regret his decision to out Hwang as a false prophet.
The revelations in 2005 rocked South Korea which had celebrated Hwang’s research as a historic achievement, focused unfavorable attention on the country and diminished the reputation of its scientific establishment. The memory of the scandal is still painful today and Hwang, though convicted of embezzlement and violating bioethical laws, discredited and relegated to the scientific backwater of pet cloning, retains a loyal following among sections of the public and media.
In the nearly 10 years since Hwang’s accomplishments were found to be built on lies, Ryu feels little has changed in a society where cozy ties between government, business, the media and academics stifle criticism and foster blind nationalism. And junior researchers still face great pressure to produce the results their scientific mentors want and lack a formal channel for whistleblowing.
South Korea, said Ryu, is still obsessed with joining the ranks of advanced countries and to achieve that end, many people believe it is acceptable to sacrifice ethics, safety and other concerns.
“Mr. Hwang is not a peculiar person. He is a portrait of us. He shows the South Korean society as it is,” Ryu said. “Most people believe that if we play by the rules, we can’t catch up with the advanced economies.” [Associated Press via the Korea Economic Reader]
You can read the rest at the link, but what I find ironic about South Korean society being so caught up in catching up with advanced economies is that South Korea already is an advanced economy. The country economically has caught up and now it is time for Korean culture to change to realize this.
What is really sad about this is that Ryu instead of being thanked for exposing this fraud nearly a decade ago was demonized and lost his job. Even after learning of the fraud the then Roh Moo-hyun administration tried to cover it up. After the fraud could not be covered up, many Koreans still viewed Hwang as a national hero instead of the fraud that he was.
You can read more about Hwang’s fraud by digging back into the ROK Drop archives at the below links:
I am not sure how big Army can claim they are trying to weed out toxic leaders when they accept this as appropriate conduct for a battalion commander:
The commander of a Fort Carson helicopter battalion objected when subordinates talked about a toxic command climate, according to documents obtained by The Gazette.
“You want toxic? I’ll show you toxic,” Lt. Col. Tammy Baugh allegedly told soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the 25th Aviation Regiment, documents said.
A 263-page Army investigation report released under the Freedom of Information Act portrays Baugh as a foul-mouthed boss who belittled soldiers, threw things during a meeting and sometimes stormed out of battalion gatherings.
Baugh and the battalion’s command sergeant major were temporarily relieved in July, but later placed back in command despite the scathing report.
“Too many soldiers and leaders in the battalion, across all ranks, have been negatively impacted by her belittling, disrespectful and caustic interaction, and the results of that interaction have been detrimental to morale, effectiveness and climate of the organization and the morale and well-being of soldiers,” the report says. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read much more at the link, but this commander would throw flight schedules at people, cursing them out, and storming out of meetings. It was so bad that the colonel that conducted the investigation recommended that she should be removed which the 4ID commanding general decided not to do for whatever reason.
So does anyone think that LTC Baugh would tone her act down a bit during a high profile investigation? If you did you would be wrong:
In her statement, Baugh said her critics are slackers.
“It seems that those who cannot meet the standard have the loudest voice,” she wrote.
And the colonel denies that she belittled troops.
“I have made spot corrections,” she wrote.
I have been in units where senior leaders felt like they had to come in hard to change the culture. Cursing I think people can live with, but if it is meant to belittle others that is where it becomes a problem. I once saw a first sergeant in 2ID replaced due to cursing soldiers out in front of others much less throwing things at them. In my experience it seems like senior NCOs get less the benefit of the doubt compared to a battalion commander or higher. Also the storming out of meetings seems childish to me unless it was a one time thing to make a point. However, it is her meeting so if she wants to storm out than so be it, but it does not set a healthy command climate. I do have to wonder though that if she felt her staff was letting her down what had she done to properly train them to meet her standards? I seriously doubt everyone in her unit, but her was incompetent. For the most part if you tell people exactly how you want things done they will usually do it.
Anyway it takes something pretty big to remove a battalion commander like committing a crime or making inappropriate comments about women or gays. She did nothing like this just demonstrated the toxic leader traits the Army has claimed it is trying to weed out. The 4ID commander may have felt since she did nothing criminal it may cause a bad precedent to remove her because of an investigation that began due to a poor command climate survey. He may not want to send the message that soldiers can get rid of leaders they don’t like by giving poor ratings on a command climate survey.
In my experience I have never seen a battalion commander removed for toxic leadership if like this if everything claimed is true? Than again I have never served under a commander who regularly cursed people out, stormed out of meetings, and threw things at people. Has anyone else?
Is anyone that has been paying attention to this issue surprised by this announcement?:
The United States on Thursday agreed to maintain wartime control of South Korean troops in the event of an attack by North Korea for the foreseeable future, delaying the transfer of authority to Seoul that had been scheduled for 2015.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that delaying the handoff “will ensure that when the transfer does occur, Korean forces have the necessary defensive capabilities to address an intensifying North Korean threat.”
The agreement to delay the transfer has been discussed for more than a year and comes at the request of the Seoul government. There is no longer a deadline for the transfer; instead, it will be based on the progress of the South Korean military and the ongoing situation there, including tensions with North Korea and its ongoing nuclear ambitions. [Associated Press via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but the only thing I am surprised about is that it took this long to reach this conclusion. One down side I see with this is that the ROKs now have less incentive now to purchase equipment to replace capabilities the US is providing for them. Anyway this whole OPCON issue had little to do with military strategy and more to do with being a reactionary response to Korean nationalism. I had reach way back in the archives, but ROK Heads can read how this whole issue began from this 2005 posting.
I wonder if this was a quid pro quo to get North Korea to return to talks or even release Jeffrey Fowle?:
A giant steel Christmas tree near the border with North Korea that served as a propaganda symbol for the South for 43 years has been pulled down.
It used to stand at Aegibong Peak in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province and twinkle a message of progress, consumerism and born-again Christianity across the border, to the fury of the North Korean regime.
The local government now plans to build a peace park with the budget of W29.6 billion (US$1=W1,052) there.
Military authorities pulled it down on Oct. 15-16 citing safety reasons. The structure “was rated very dangerous in a safety inspection of military facilities and structures in November last year,” a Defense Ministry spokesman said. [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but few people seem fooled by the safety reasons cited when it has been there for 43 years.
Going by John Kerry’s statement it appears that US troops will remain in South Korea for decades to come because the North Koreans have no intention of ever denuclearizing. Why would they?:
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se has played down U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks about the possible downsizing of the U.S military in South Korea.
“Any discussion on reducing the number of U.S. troops in South Korea should be dealt in the future when the denuclearization of North Korea is realized,” he told reporters during a visit to Washington D.C., Wednesday (local time.). “I think he meant to urge North Korea to step forward promptly for denuclearization.”
Yun and Defense Minister Han Min-koo are in the U.S. to attend the-called “2+2 meeting” with their U.S. counterparts, Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in the U.S. capital, Thursday.
Kerry made his remarks before flying back to Washington from Berlin where he held a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“We’ve said from day one that if North Korea wants to rejoin the community of nations, it knows how to do it. It can come to the talks prepared to discuss denuclearization,” Kerry said, according to a transcript provided by the State Department. “And the U.S. is fully prepared ― if they do that and begin that process, we are prepared to begin the process of reducing the need for American forces and presence in the region because the threat itself would then be reduced.” [Korea Times]
An Army soldier, identified only as Sgt. Lim, who was arrested on charges of killing five fellow soldiers in a shooting rampage in June, leaves a military court in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on Oct. 23, 2014, after trial. Lim claimed he committed the rampage after being ostracized for years. (Yonhap)
