From the beginning I found the case involving two GIs that were accused of attempting to rape an off duty female police officer strange.  The doubts only continued to build as the case went to trial and culminated with a conviction of both GIs with a judge urging one of the soldiers to lodge an appeal because he was probably unfairly convicted. 

Now more details are coming out with the news that one of the convicted GIs was coerced into lying by the Korean prosecutors:

A soldier convicted in July of trying to rape an off-duty policewoman in a public bathroom said Thursday that South Korean prosecutors told him to lie about a second soldier acting as a lookout during the attack in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Sgt. Anthony Q. Basel is appealing his 3 1/2-year sentence for attempted rape. He gave prosecutors a statement soon after the attack that said Pfc. Mark Feldmann, who had spent the day drinking with him in Seoul, was in the bathroom and shouted, “Run!” when a nearby restaurant owner entered the bathroom. Basel gave prosecutors a contradicting statement during a second round of questioning, saying that he didn’t remember if Feldmann was in the bathroom.

During the first hearing in the appeals case on Thursday, South Korean prosecutors said they wouldn’t have told Basel to lie, because the South Korean justice system, unlike the United States, doesn’t have a plea-bargaining system.

Basel responded by saying he thought he would get a lighter sentence if he told prosecutors what he thought they wanted to hear.

Feldmann, who is serving three years for his role in the attempted rape, also is appealing his sentence and has said he is innocent.  [Stars & Stripes]

If Basel was coerced into lying by the authorities would it take a stretch of the imagination to assume that the restaurant owner was also coerced into lying when he originally wrote a sworn statement that there was only one man in the restroom and then changed it two days later to seeing two people in the restroom?  This case is very dubious and a perfect example of how justice for GIs in Korea can be hard to find. 

The Koreas
–  Here is an exclusive picture from the 2nd Inter-Korean summit you won’t see on Korea.net anytime soon.  
–  Nothing better clarifies the hypocrisy of the Korean left than there current advocacy for human rights in Burma.  
–  Here is an example of how not to cheat on your English homework. 
–  More evidence that fan death is real.
–  This is just weird. 
–  Only in Korea would you find "The Catholic Cosmetic Surgery Clinic". 
–  I have no complaints about the dress.  There are some even nicer dresses here. 

Japan
–  Interesting debate over funding Ainu culture in Japan.
–  Who would have thought an old water bottle could scare off cats?
–  This is what happens in Japan when fascists break the law. 

China
–  101 misconceptions about China. 
–  The coming demographic crisis in China.
–  This is one crazy story about a property owner in China being pushed off his property. 

Milblogs
–  Bored with staff duty?  Well here are some tips to pass the time. 
–  Could you imagine the Air Force dropping this on Iran?
–  Interesting link about tactical anthropology in Afghanistan.
–  Here is another perfect example of the left hating soldiers. 

Forward Deployed
–  Code Pink Defaces Marine Recruiting Station
–  New Regulations for Blackwater
–  US Military Meets 2007 Recruiting Goals, What’s Ahead in 2008?
–  Is it Mission Accomplished?
–  Tribute to Fallen Comrades
–  Uncovering Government Travel Fraud
–  Did Rush Limbaugh Call Veterans "Phony Soldiers"?
–  Casualties Drop in Iraq, Is this A Sign of Success?
–  Attacks Kill 10 Peacekeepers in Darfur
–  Joint Training Between the US and India

Another day in California and another recruiting station vandalized:

Why aren’t these people arrested? These people should be arrested and at least fined for defacing private property. The Code Pink loons are probably in a state of shock right now and had to act out because the US military met their recruiting goals again this year.

I like what the Marine Captain in charge of the recruiting station had to say in response:

…Next, scrawled across the doorway to my office, you wrote, “Recruiters are Traitors.” Please explain this one. How exactly am I a traitor? Was I a traitor when I joined the Marine Corps all those years ago? Is every Marine, therefore, a traitor? Was I a traitor during my two stints in Iraq? Was I a traitor when I was delivering humanitarian aid to the victims of the tsunami in Sumatra? Or do you only consider me a traitor while I am on this job? The fact is, recruitment is and always has been a part of maintaining any military organization. In fact, recruitment is a necessity of any large organization. Large corporations have employees that recruit full-time. Even you, I’m sure, must expend some effort to recruit for Code Pink. So what, exactly, is it that makes me a traitor?

The fact is this: any independent nation must maintain a military (or be allied with those who do) to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. Regardless of what your opinions are of the current administration or the current conflict in Iraq, the U.S. military will be needed again in the future. If your counter-recruitment efforts are ultimately successful, who will defend us if we are directly attacked again as we were at Pearl Harbor? Who would respond if a future terrorist attack targets the Golden Gate Bridge, the BART system, or the UC Berkeley clock tower? And, to address the most hypocritical stance that your organization takes on its website, where would the peace keeping force come from that you advocate sending to Darfur? [CPT Richard Lund]

Maybe Code Pink can do us all a favor and deploy to Darfur and deface Janjaweed recruiting stations there? If military recruiters keep getting attacked by the rabid leftists the Pentagon may need to start authorizing them combat pay.

Anyway make sure to go to Gateway Pundit who has more pictures and news of this latest attack on recruiters by the left.

UPDATE:  Thanks to Brendon in the comments section who pointed out the Stars & Stripes mis-read the orginal Chosun Ilbo article.  Rest easy Korean men, your gochus are not getting smaller, but actually bigger.  So all that western food isn’t so bad after all.

_____________________________________

That is one of the things Korean condom experts are set to discuss next week:

Five hundred condom experts will meet at South Korean’s Jeju Island next week to talk about condoms, according to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

The focus of the convention: quality and shelf life.

Condoms typically are in circulation for five years, but that period may be reduced to three to four years. The Chosun Ilbo said that could increase the effectiveness of condoms against AIDS, and increased quality standards could help South Korean condoms compete against cheaper condoms from China, Malaysia and India.

South Korea produces 30 percent of the 12 billion condoms manufactured worldwide each year.

The Chosun reported that condom sizes won’t really be an issue because global standards exist. According to the report, small condoms are 1.9 inches wide and 6.6 inches long; medium condoms are 2.08 inches wide and 6.6 inches long; and large condoms are 2.24 inches wide and 8.07 inches long.

Large condoms are typically sold in the U.S. and Europe.

The Chosun Ilbo reported that the most popular size of condom in South Korea changed from medium to small several years ago. [Stars & Stripes]

Draw your own conclusions.

I pointed out earlier this week the continuing string of criminal acts from military police and security forces in USFK and now Stars and Stripes has provided some more details about the lastest incident involving nine Osan security forces personnel busted for drugs:

An Air Force police officer at Osan Air Base pleaded guilty Thursday to abusing the drug Percocet, becoming the latest in a series of security officers from his unit to face punishment on drug-related charges.

A jury of Air force officers was to weigh a sentence Friday in the court-martial of Senior Airman Chance W. Slaughter, 27, of the 51st Security Forces Squadron, part of Osan’s 51st Fighter Wing.

Slaughter testified he became addicted to the drug while taking it legally after knee surgery, but went on to abuse it often, sometimes taking it with alcoholic beverages.

“I just had to have it,” he testified.

Slaughter is one of nine security police officers from the 51st Security Forces Squadron to face disciplinary action in the wake of an investigation by Osan-based agents of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, said Lt. Col. Scott Ecton, the wing’s chief legal officer. Those disciplinary actions can range from non-judicial punishment to courts-martial.  [Franklin Fisher, Stars & Stripes]

The article doesn’t say, but I would be interested in knowing if they got busted because someone told on them or if they came up hot on a urinalysis.  Either way it is good they got caught and they will hopefully be made example of that even if you abuse presciption drugs you will not get away with it for long. 

You can read more about the Percocet Gang over at Lost Nomad. 

Here is a good run down of links with information and opinions about the Second Inter-Korean Summit:

Answering the "Tabloid Questions"
As Always, Optimistic and Skeptical about the Koreas
Ass Kissing and Stunt Doubles
Intra-Korean Summit Postmortem
More Summit Notes
South Korea’s Generosity Encourages N.K’s Bad Behavior
Little Expected from Inter-Korean Summit
$11 Billion Cost to Implement Summit Projects
Roh was Rebuffed by Kim on DMZ Pullout Plan
No Peace Treaty Without Six Party Success: US
Roh Gets Third World Treatment in Pyongyang
Taking the Roh Moo-hyun Show to Pyongyang
Mini-Marshal Plan Burdensome to Tax Payers

This is actually a pretty smart policy being implemented by the State Department and makes me wonder why they didn’t do this long ago:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday ordered federal agents to ride with Blackwater USA escorts of U.S. diplomatic convoys in Baghdad to tighten oversight after a shooting in which private guards are accused of killing 13 Iraqi civilians.

She also ordered video cameras installed in Blackwater vehicles.

The steps will require the State Department to deploy dozens of additional in-house Diplomatic Security agents to accompany Blackwater guards and are the first in a series of moves Rice is expected to take to boost control of contractors the agency depends on to protect its diplomats in Iraq. [Matthew Lee, AP]

Police officers in the US long ago installed video cameras to help protect the police from all the false claims of police brutality and now the State Department has to do the same thing.  The deploying of additional diplomatic security agents once again leaves me wondering why didn’t they do this a long time ago?  I can only guess it is because when Blackwater guys die in Iraq no one cares when a State Department guy dies it will makes news. 

Don’t expect this issue to go away because I fully expect more manufactured controversies to be forthcoming in Iraq if not against Blackwater than against other government contractors.  Another important question that needs to be asked is that as Iraq transfers more and more into a police role for the US military will the military need cameras installed as well? 

Has anyone else noticed that the fact that the US military met their 2007 recruiting goals is hardly mentioned in the media? Back in August I called the media’s attempts to politicize the fact that the active duty Army did not meet their June and July recruiting goals a “False Recruiting Crisis” and the final statistics prove me right.

Could you imagine what the headlines would be if the military did not meet their recruiting goals? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Now here is my prediction for headlines next year. In 2008 the military is going to have a hard time making the recruiting mission because of the plan to expand the force. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates shares my concerns:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that he is “inclined to approve” an Army request to cut a year off of the five-year plan to expand the active-duty force.

“I’m probably going to recommend that they go ahead and give it a try,” he told reporters during a Pentagon press conference.

However, Gates said, “my questions are focused principally on whether they can do it, in terms of recruitment, and whether they can do so without lowering standards.” [Stars & Stripes]

To increase the Army by 74,000 soldiers over five years means that the Army would have to recruit at most an additional 14,500 soldiers a year. This number can be off set by the number of re-enlistments which I think will continue to be strong. However, recruiting next year is going to be tough because of the January announcement to further expand the military. If the military does not meet the recruiting goals expect sensationalized media reports with little no context about the expanding of the military. Additionally it’s an election year and the final recruiting stats will be released a month before the presidential election.

So I fully expect the Democrats to jump on this as an example of a “broken military” as they have in the past. Remember next year that you heard it here first; to expect the politicization of US military recruiting numbers in 2008.

Here is the photo op that President Roh has poured billions of South Korean tax payers money into securing:

Is it just me or is Roh the only enthused about this moment?

Now that the summit is over we can now begin to take stock of the damage done. A joint declaration has been issued from the summit and here is the preamble to this declaration:

(more…)

The Cheonggyecheon Stream in downtown Seoul was a controversial project when it was first proposed, but I would think just about everyone would have to agree it is now a winner. The Cheonggyecheon wasn’t always a winner though.

Since Seoul is surrounded by mountains there are a number of streams that rush down the side of these mountains to drain rain water into the mighty Han River. One of these streams is the Cheonggyecheon. The Cheonggyecheon only tended to be full of water during the summer monsoon season and dry the rest of the year. However, occasionally during periods of heavy rain fall the stream would jump its banks and flood the downtown Seoul area.

To solve the problem with flooding, the Korean monarchy in 1406 under the reign of King Taejong, ordered the construction of a drainage system for the stream to prevent flooding. Workers labored for two years to dredge and expand the stream in order to flood proof the stream. In 1411 more work was done on the stream with up to 53,000 workers building stone embankments and stone bridges across the stream.

However, as Seoul expanded the Cheonggyecheon took on another purpose besides being used for flood prevention, it also became the city sewer. Residents would dump their excrement and trash into the stream so it could all be washed down the stream to the Han River and eventually out to sea. However since water didn’t continuously flow through the stream often the excrement and garbage would just sit in the stream bed. It is easy to imagine how bad Seoul must have smell not to long ago when the local sewer was the Cheonggyecheon that ran right through the center of town. Here is a picture of the Cheonggyecheon right after World War II in September 1945:

With the end of the Japanese occupation Korean leaders would look to develop the Cheonggyecheon area. In the 1959 South Korean President Syngman Rhee had the Cheonggyecheon covered over with concrete. In 1968 an elevated highway was built over the concrete covered stream in order to relieve traffic congestion in the city:

Well now you can see the Cheonggyecheon again and you don’t have to worry about it stinking either because it is no longer a sewer but a city park. The decision to revert the Cheonggyecheon back into a stream was the brain child of former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak. Mayor Lee wanted to use the Cheonggyecheon project to jump start urban renewal in Seoul. The urban renewal did not come cheap though:

The construction of the Cheonggyecheon began in July 2003 and concluded to much fanfare in September 2005. The total budget was a whopping 386,739 million won and just like any construction project in Korea it had it’s own corruption scandal as well.

Despite the costs and scandals the Cheonggyecheon has become one of the signature landmarks of Seoul that is enjoyed by people of all ages. Visitors to the Cheonggyecheon can explore the stream by following a couple of recommended walking courses:

For this posting I decided to walk Course 1 from Dongdaemun to downtown Seoul. Here is where I began my walk in the Dongdaemun area of Seoul:

Compare the above picture of the Cheonggyecheon now to what it was just a few short years ago:

I definitely prefer the stream over the highway that is for sure. Anyway as I continued down the stream I noticed this huge statue on one of the bridges near Dongdaemun:

This statue is of a garment worker Chon Tae-il who set himself on fire on November 13, 1970 in protest of the poor worker’s conditions at the time.

Continuing down the stream it is quite obvious the kids love walking across the various stone paths across the stream:

Here is the view back towards the Dongdaemun shopping area:

Here is one of the various bridges that crosses the Cheonggyecheon:

Every bridge across the Cheonggyecheon is drastically different from each other with the above brick bridge being one of the more tamer bridges. From this bridge I started following the path adjacent to the stream and was able to get some pictures of the fish that live in the stream:

Here is another picture of a child with his parent walking across one of the stone paths across the stream:

Here is a waterfall that cascades off of one of the vehicle bridges and into the stream:

Here is a picture of a young kid playing with the fish in the stream:

This is one of the things I love about the Cheonggyecheon because a lot of kids in Seoul may have never seen fish in a some what natural setting as this. All throughout my walk I saw kids running towards the stream and pointing out fish to their parents. I think giving kids such an experience is a great return investment for the citizens of Seoul who funded the project.

Besides having different themed bridges the stream also has walls with different themes as well:

The picture above is a replication of old Koguryeo kingdom paintings while the picture below is a wall with a waterfall:

One thing you can’t help but see when walking down the Cheonggyecheon are all the drab and ugly buildings of Seoul:

There can’t be a building uglier than the Jongno Tower though, that seems to loom over Seoul no matter where you are like the all seeing eye of Sauron’s Tower in Mordor:

Seriously how many buildings out there are more gaudy than the Jongno Tower? Not many. However, something that isn’t to gaudy is this Joseon era bridge that was uncovered during the reclamation of the stream:

The Gwangtonggyo Bridge was first constructed in 1410 and was the largest bridge in the old Joseon capital of Seoul. The bridge was used by foreign envoys to pass across while visiting Seoul. While passing underneath the bridge you will see inscription on the pillars that describe the repair and maintenance history of the bridge:

What is most interesting about this bridge is that some of the stone blocks used to construct the bridge has elaborate engravings in them:

These engravings exist because some of the blocks used to construct the bridge are left over from the construction of the royal tomb of Sindeokwanghu who was the second wife of King Taejo. It is amazing that such cultural history was buried underneath asphalt back in 1959 only to be uncovered again with the opening of the stream in 2005. This is another benefit of the stream, that it is helping to reclaim Seoul’s cultural history.

Continuing down the stream not to far from Gwangtonggyo Bridge is the beginning of the Cheonggyecheon at this large waterfall and fountain:

This is located in the center of the city and not to far from City Hall. You will know you have reached the beginning of the Cheonggyecheon because you cannot miss the most God awful public sculpture I have ever seen:

Not only is this sculpture ugly, but it was expensive as well costing the South Korean taxpayer $4 million dollars. The artists who made this monstrosity found it to be so ugly they haven’t even come to Seoul to see it. Personally, I have always thought it looks like Mr. Hanky mixed with food coloring.

Beside checking out the Cheonggyecheon during the day make sure to see it at night as well:

Seoul can actually be quite beautiful at night along the stream. You can see below that even at night people still love walking across the stone paths across the stream:

Here is a shot of the stream being overlooked by the moon:

I can honestly say despite the costs and scandals the Cheonggyecheon that runs through Seoul today is a huge improvement in the quality of life for the citizens of Seoul. The Cheonggyecheon may not be the San Antonio River Walk, but it is still a step in the right direction to greening the city of Seoul.

Most importantly it is one of the few places in Seoul and the only place in the downtown area where all the citizens of the city can congregate together. You see kids playing with their parents, young couples walking hand and hand, old grandmas sitting on the park benches, and even the rich business elite eating lunch in the shade underneath one of the bridges. It is truly a place for all the citizens of Seoul to enjoy.