Congratulations to Mark Lippert for being picked as the next US ambassador to South Korea:

Mark Lippert via Wikipedia.

Mark Lippert, one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s oldest and closest aides, has been nominated to be the United States’ next ambassador to South Korea.
Multiple diplomatic sources say the U.S. government notified Seoul of the impending announcement during President Obama’s visit to the nation last week.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lippert will replace the current ambassador, Sung Kim, in the second half of the year.  Kim, who’s three-year term is nearing an end, is expected to return to the State Department in September. As for Lippert’s credentials, the 41-year-old is currently Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s chief of staff. At the age of 32, he became the foreign policy advisor to then-Senator Barack Obama.

Four years later he was appointed as National Security Council chief of staff, and in 2012 as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.  [Arirang News]

You can read more at the link, but reading Lippert’s biography of note is the fact he joined the Naval reserve in 2005 and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as an intelligence officer.  Something that caused some controversy was that while serving on active duty he was accused of still receiving his $147,500 White House salary.  He is also accused of having a history of leaking information to the media to discredit rivals.  This is supposedly why former Defense Secretary Robert Gates did not want him in the Pentagon and he was moved over there after Chuck Hagel took over:

We’re also told that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was opposed to Lippert’s appointment at the Pentagon and the White House was waiting until Gates was gone. Gates was a staunch defender of Jones and might have held a grudge against Lippert. Also, Gates might have been wary of having someone who is so close to the White House embedded in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, especially one with a history of leaking and insubordination. Republican critics also say he lacks the qualifications for the job of being the Pentagon’s top Asia policy official.

“Lippert is a guy who has no experience working in the Pentagon, no qualifications for leading defense policy on East Asia, and who is super close to the White House,” said one Bush administration Asia official. “Other than that, he’s perfect for the job.” [Foreign Policy]

 

His East Asia experience is studying Mandarin at Peking University as part of his graduate school program at Stanford and then in 2012 when he became the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Pentagon when Secretary Hagel took over.  As far as specific experience with South Korea I have not seen anything.  Overall though if you read about him he is a major insider within the Obama administration, which should mean the Korean government will have someone at the US embassy with ready access to the White House.

It is expected that one of Lippert’s biggest tasks will be to try and get South Korea and Japan to better cooperate with each other politically and militarily.  Good luck with that.

Via a reader tip comes this CNN video about the alleged sexual slavery of ‘juicy girls’ in Korea:

Anyone who has spent time in Korea knows that this video report does not describe the whole issue with the juicy girls in Korea.  I am not going to speak to whether or not the woman in the video knew what she was getting herself into, but I am willing to bet the vast majority of the girls in the Philippines do know what they were getting themselves into coming to Korea.  Just Google “Philippines hostess Korea” and a number of articles about juicy girls comes up.  Additionally CNN made no mention of the fact that most of these girls go to work in Korean bars.  This is hardly just a US military issue that CNN chose to focus on.  Heck trafficking Filipinas is not even just a Korea issue.  So why did CNN focus on just the US military?  Could it be because just as I suspected they would the special interests using the juicy girls to push the military sexual assault issue?  That is why I believe USFK officials have been especially proactive about trying to change the juicy bar system this year.  However, I continue to maintain that USFK should just put clubs that hire third country nationals off limits which would largely end the criticism.

Here is another indication of an impending provocation cycle from the North Koreans:

Blue: UN declared western sea boundary
Red: North Korea’s declared western sea boundary
1–Yeonpyeong Island
2–Baengnyeong Island
3–Daecheong Island

Thousands of North Korean propaganda leaflets fell yesterday on a frontline South Korean island, warning of an attack on soldiers stationed there, a report said. A South Korean marine unit based on Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea had collected the leaflets which were carried across the border, Yonhap news agency said. The South’s military declined to confirm the report.

The leaflets carried threats of bombings, describing the marines as the first target to be wiped out.
The North also warned in the leaflets that its troops were always ready to strike the island with their “unprecedented” fire power and turn it into “a large graveyard”, Yonhap said.  [The Daily Star]

Here we go again with the Korean media claiming that the Status of Forces Agreement allows US soldiers to commit crimes and not be held accountable in Korean courts:

(Image from Stars & Stripes)

South Korea and the United States are set to revise their joint guidelines on U.S. Forces Korea’s patrol activities, sources said Monday, following a controversial incident last year in which a group of American military officers handcuffed three local civilians using force.

South Korea’s prosecution is seeking to indict seven U.S. military police officers on charges of violence for handcuffing three South Korean citizens last July in Pyeongtaek, a provincial city 70 kilometers south of Seoul. (……….)

Despite continuing crimes by U.S. soldiers here, South Korean authorities have often fallen short of taking proper legal actions due to the SOFA regulation that helps the accused soldiers end up in the hands of U.S. authorities.  [Yonhap via reader tip]

Many ROK Heads may remember the incident the article is referring to which is the Osan Handcuff Scandal.  There is no doubt that those SP’s acted unprofessionally and handled the incident very poorly.  However, they were clearly on duty which falls under USFK jurisdiction which gives them the authority on whether to hand them over for Korean criminal prosecution.  USFK handled the incident themselves by punishing two of the town patrol members.

Anyway the Yonhap article pushes many of the myths about the US-ROK SOFA.  First of all in the article it claims this is the first change to the SOFA which is not true.  The SOFA has been updated many times over the years.  Also the article claims that the SOFA is preventing ROK authorities from taking legal action against criminal GIs.  I have challenged people over and over again on this topic to name one GI that committed a crime while off duty and USFK hid behind the SOFA to allow him to get away with the crime?  Maybe someone should first provide an answer to this question before bashing the SOFA.

Anyway with all that said I do agree with this effort to change the SOFA to better specify what the town patrols should be doing in order to prevent another Osan Handcuff Scandal like incident from happening.

Is this the pre-lude to yet another OPCON delay?

Amid escalating threats from North Korea, U.S. and South Korean defense officials will meet over the next few days and discuss whether to extend America’s wartime control over the South’s armed forces, 60 years after a truce ended the Korean War.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel flew to Seoul on Sunday, and said there will be conversations about the possible extension of the 2015 deadline, but likely no decisions will be made.

“We’re constantly re-evaluating each of our roles,” Hagel told reporters traveling with him. “That does not at all subtract from, or in any way weaken, our commitment – the United States’ commitment – to the treaty obligations that we have and continue to have with the South Koreans.”

U.S. officials have acknowledged that the South Koreans have informally expressed an interest in delaying the deadline when Seoul is supposed to assume wartime control of the forces that would defend the country in the event of an attack by North Korea.

The target date initially was in 2012, and was pushed back to 2015.

Defense officials said they expect to have discussions about it with the South Koreans that will help map out the way ahead.  [Stars & Stripes]

There was recently a huge fire in Itaewon that burned nearly a block worth of buildings near the Hamilton Hotel:

A large fire broke out this morning in the Itaewon district of Seoul. According to news reports the fire started in local shop in the early morning hours and spread to surrounding buildings in the area. The fire was able to be contained relatively quickly and was reportedly extinguished by 9AM.  It is also being reported that no one was seriously injured in the blaze. Here are few stunning images and some video of the fire that were posted to social media.  [AsiaPundits.com]

You can see much more at the link to include video of this huge fire.  Even more pictures can be seen over at 10mag.com as well.

Here is an article that provides the left’s view on the UPP spy scandal in South Korea:

As the debate over the NIS in the National Assembly intensified and militant mass demonstrations continued to call for reform, the National Intelligence Service struck back on August 28, raiding the homes and offices of 18 members of the Unified Progressive Party. Three party officials were arrested and charged with treason. As the principal target for vengeance, Lee Seok-ki would later be arrested after a vote in the National Assembly stripped him of immunity.

Wild claims were made, as the NIS charged that Lee headed a group called the “Revolutionary Organization,” which it said was planning an armed uprising in the event of war with North Korea. The quotations attributed to Lee were provocative, and were said to originate from a recording provided by an informer who attended two meetings of a local branch of the Unified Progressive Party on May 10 and 12.

In a familiar pattern, the NIS illegally leaked selected excerpts to the New Frontier Party and media outlets. The result was as intended, and a furious trial by media ensued, even though the courts had not yet ruled on the admissibility of the transcript as evidence. Lee claimed that he was innocent of all charges, and the NIS had fabricated the quotations it had attributed to him. He charged the NIS with engaging in “political persecution” against his party.

Lee Jung-hee, chairperson of the Unified Progressive Party, announced at a press conference, “The Blue House, facing an unprecedented crisis, and the National Intelligence Service, on the eve of its dissolution after being exposed of rigging the last election, are conducting a Yushin era witch hunt in the 21^st century. This is an attempt to silence the candlelight protests as the truth of the fraudulent crimes of the National Intelligence Service are exposed, and voices demanding accountability from President Park Geun-hye intensify.” Lee warned, “Just as they accused all citizens who supported the opposition in the last election as ‘pro-North sympathizers’, they will try to crush and eliminate all democratic forces by labeling them criminal insurgents.”

There were those who questioned the timing of the raid. The NIS claimed that it had been investigating Lee Seok-ki for three years, and the meetings that provided its rationale took place three and a half months beforehand. Why was this moment chosen, they wondered? The NIS was on the ropes. The National Assembly had completed its investigation of the NIS, and the opposition parties were demanding that the NIS should be banned from domestic intelligence gathering. According to a source familiar with the functioning of the NIS, “This investigation looks suspiciously like an attempt by the NIS to justify its existence. It may be intended to block efforts to reduce and eliminate the agency’s domestic and investigative branches, which are at its heart.”  [CounterPunch]

You can read much more at the link that provides the UPP’s side of the story that everything was taken out of context.  I always suspected that the claims the NIS made of the spy ring plotting to overthrow the government were exaggerated in response to the Korean left’s attempts to reform the NIS.  However, does the UPP deny that Lee was requesting classified documents and then leaking them in an effort to harm the US-ROK alliance?  Why was Lee also trying to get his hands on US-ROK war plans?  As I said before Lee and the UPP are just a political extension of the North Korean stooges in the Korean left that inhabit organization such as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korea Teacher’s Union. These organizations have long been pro-North Korean and anti-US.  That is why I said this whole UPP spy scandal is just a continuation of the Ilshimhoe Spy Scandal and not some new organization trying to overthrow the government.  These groups coordinate with North Korea in order to cause political and social unrest within South Korea.  That is why I have also said that the UPP should not be banned in South Korea like some have suggested.  By having the UPP all the pro-North Korean politicians are all in one party and you know who they are.  What needs to be done is to ensure that state secrets are not given to them.