If you have ever wondered how much money is to be made black marketing items from a USFK PX this article should give you some idea:

Camp Long soldiers seeking anything beyond basic food and living products must now take one extra step before shopping — to catch a bus to Camp Eagle.

The remote installation’s Army and Air Force Exchange Service store closed Sept. 14, leaving the roughly 150 Camp Long-based soldiers waiting for an hourly shuttle bus to ride the seven miles to Eagle. […]

Officials say the store hemorrhaged money until it bled to death: Total sales dropped from about $2.77 million in 2004 to about $2.17 million in 2005. Sales dropped again to about $1.61 million in 2006 and, as of Sept. 10, sales for 2007 were only about $172,000, according to AAFES officials.

That meant earnings of $584,145 in 2004; $229,897 in 2005; $66,181 in 2006; and a loss of $16,919 for this year as of Sept. 10.

Army Maj. Bruce Townley, installation commander for Long and Eagle, said the reason the store lost so much money was that authorities busted a major black-market ring there last year. [Jimmy Norris, Stars & Stripes]

Here is my prior posting on the Camp Long black marketing ring.

The Camp Long PX is a small PX and was able to make $2.77 million in sales in 2004 and then once the black marketing ring was caught and shut down sales dropped to $172,000 this year.  That is a difference of $2,598,000 dollars.  Just think how much money the larger PXs and especially the commissaries are bringing in for the black marketers?  The amounts of money being made is mind boggling.

Is it any wonder why the AAFES employees black market when there is this much money to be made?  Additionally the punishments if you are caught are so light the black marketers really have very little to lose and a whole lot to gain.  For example the manger of the Camp Long PX received a year in jail but since he has been black marketing for years he is most likely a millionaire now.  A store employee received only a 10 month suspended sentence.  Who knows how much money he saved up during his time black marketing.

Since General Bell took over there seems to be an increased effort to crackdown on the black marketing, but this does beg the question of why a crackdown did not come long ago especially when the black marketers are so easy to identify.  I think that is a can of worms nobody wants to open now.

Is it just me or is it amazing that a member of the US Congress is doing more to free kidnapped South Koreans in North Korea than the South Korean government?:

A U.S. congresswoman submitted a legislation Tuesday opposing North Korea’s removal from a terrorism watch list until the communist state stops exporting weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and accounts for foreign nationals it has kidnapped and South Korean prisoners of war.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) introduced the legislation, the "North Korean Counterterrorism and Nonproliferation Act," co-sponsored by nine other Republicans.  [Yonhap]

I have never heard of Representative Roh-Lehtinen before so I decided to do a little research on her.  It turns out that she is very consistent at condemning dictators.  She has been very outspoken about what is going on in Darfur and even caused a prior controversy by advocating for the assassination of Fidel Castro.  A few days ago she announced legislation against Syria as well and has an op-ed in the New York Sun explaining her position against Syria, North Korea, and Iran.  She is definitely no apologist for the world’s tyrants. 

A recent article from McClatchy Newspapers in regards to the upcoming Inter-Korean summit offered little of any real new analysis of the meeting, but it did have a few good quotes in it worth sharing:

"That was his campaign promise. He’s a one-term president. Why should he transfer (the summit) to the next president? If he can have a summit, why not do it?" said Moon Chung -in, a political scientist at Yonsei University who advises Roh and will be attending the summit with him.

Judging by this statement it appears this summit is more about what good it will do for Roh than what good it will do for the country.  I can’t say I’m surprised by that. 

"A peace treaty for Roh Moo-hyun is very important," said Park Syung Je , a military analyst with the Asia Strategy Institute in Seoul . He added that the 61-year-old president wants to return from Pyongyang telling his countrymen: "We don’t need such a large army anymore, and we can spend that money on social issues."

That money will not be spent on social issues, it will spent on giving it right back to Kim Jong-il as well as raising taxes to give him yet even more money:

In a memo, the ministry detailed several possible ways to raise funds, saying that the government may need to come up with more financial resources if the summit brings about a number of large-scale economic cooperation projects between the two Koreas.

It also said the government may consider diverting part of the defense budget to finance inter-Korean projects.
About 26.7 trillion won was allocated for the defense budget next year, up 9 percent from this year, despite eased geopolitical risks associated with North Korea.  […]

Also, the memo indicated that the government may contemplate creating new taxes, which could be dubbed as either a “peace tax” or “unification tax,” as well as issuing lotteries and bonds to raise funds for inter-Korean economic cooperation.

What is so unbelievable about this is that South Korea has to increase their defense spending to buy the new technology that USFK once provided for them when they take over operational control on the peninsula and US forces continue to withdraw from Korea. 

Anyway here is the final quote from the McClatchy article I found of interest:

"The summit is going to turn out to be a stage where they can create a false image of peace that they can take to younger voters," said Lee Dong -bok, a Korea specialist in Seoul with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a veteran negotiator with North Korea . "They may not prevail."

I cannot see the South Korean public being duped yet again with the "image of peace" tactic by the Korean left.  What has the "image of peace" gained the average Korean?  Absolutely nothing.  Kim Jong-il has more forces deployed on the DMZ than ever, shootings on the DMZ still occur, six South Korean sailors were murdered in 2002 by the North Koreans, ballistic missile testing has increased, and they even have a nuclear bomb.  Than to top it off Kim Jong-il may have been caught proliferating nuclear technology to Syria, human rights violations in North Korea are as bad as ever, and he has not returned the thousands of kidnapped South Koreans and Korean War POWs to South Korea. 

What exactly has the Korean taxpayer’s won actually gained South Korea?  A few reunions, an overpriced tour trip to Kumgangsan, and a tax payer funded slave labor operation at Kaesong.  But hey it is all in the "image of peace". 

It appears the Roh administration is trying find every way possible to send every last Korean tax payer won to North Korea before they leave office:

While the Ministry of Unification plans to incorporate the power supply cost for North Korea’s Gaesong Industrial Complex into South Korea’s electricity fee system, the Ministry of Justice reportedly released its official opinion on the plan yesterday, saying, “There are no legal grounds for it.”

The Unification Ministry has been seeking ways to subsidize KEPCO, South Korea’s only electricity distributor, in the amount of two billion won, which corresponds to the annual losses incurred by supplying power to Gaesong. The losses have been compensated by government funds for inter-Korean cooperation, but the Unification Ministry was seeking to offset future costs by incorporating the power bill into South Korea’s fee system. [Donga]

So the Ministry of Justice says it is illegal, who cares we are going to do it any way appears to be the attitude of the Roh administration. 

The above title is not something you will see headlining a Korean newspaper anytime soon, however when you compile the statistics it is true:

Five types of serious crimes _ murder, robbery, rape, theft and assault _ are on a steady rise in South Korea, while the ratio of arrests to those crimes is on a decline, the Korean National Police Agency said Monday.

The total number of those crimes committed nationwide rose from 455,840 in 2004 to 487,847 in 2005 and 489,575 in 2006, said the agency. [Korea Times]

After reading this article about rising Korean crime rates I decided to crunch the numbers and compare the ratio of total serious criminal offenses committed by Koreans to the ratio of total serious crime committed by foreigners in Korea. When a total population of 49 million South Korean citizens is divided by the total number of serious crimes of 489,575 the ratio is one crime per every 100 Korean people. Below is the raw statistics provided by the Korean National Police Agency:

Korean Crime Data 2006
Murder – 1,074
Robbery – 4,832
Rape – 8,759
Larceny – 192,808
Violence – 282,102
Total – 489,575

Now let’s compare this number to the foreign crime statistics for 2006. In 2006 there was a total of 3,701 total serious foreigner crimes. Recent headlines show that the foreigner population in Korea has exceeded 1 million for the first time ever for a grand total of 1,000,254 foreigners. The ratio of serious crime for foreigners in Korea comes to 1 crime out of every 270 foreigners. Below is the raw statistics for foreigner crime once again provided by the Korean National Police Agency:

Foreigner Crime in Korea 2006
Murder – 72
Robbery – 107
Rape – 68
Larceny – 971
Violence – 2483
Total – 3,701

Let’s look at these numbers again. For every 100 Koreans walking around in Korea there is at least one serious criminal while for every 270 foreigners walking around there is one serious criminal. The average person walking down the street in Korea is nearly three times more likely to have a serious crime committed against them by a fellow Korean than a foreigner.

Let’s break down the numbers even further by sub-categories.

The ratio for murders for Koreans is one murder for every 45,623 Koreans. The same murder ratio for foreigners comes out to one murder for every 13,892 foreigners. This murder ratio is much higher than the Korean murder ratio. Before any Korean citizens reading this begins to fear their kid’s hagwon teacher or the next GI they see walking down the street is going to murder them, keep in mind that in 2006 no Koreans were murdered by either a US soldier or a foreign English teacher. None. In fact a Korean has more recently murdered a GI than the other way around when Major David Berry was murdered in Itaewon by a crazed Korean man. I can’t even recall the last time a foreign English teacher murdered anyone. The murders that I have seen in the Korean news by foreigners against Koreans are coming from Chinese and third country national workers. Just for clarity once again I repeat that in 2006 not one English teacher or GI murdered a Korean. The kids can stay in the hagwon and the next GI you see walking down the street will not murder you.

Now let’s look at the robbery numbers. The ratio for robberies is one robber for every 10,140 Koreans. For foreigners the ratio comes out to 9,348. So you are slightly more likely to be robbed by a foreigner in Korea than by a Korean though once again this number is probably inflated by the 3D workers.

Here are the ratios for rape. There is one rapist for every 5,594 Koreans while there one rapist for every 14,709 foreigners. So the possibility of being raped by a Korean man is nearly three times greater than being raped by a foreigner.

Here are the ratios for larceny. Larceny is one person out of every 254 Koreans while for foreigners it is one person out of every 1,030 foreigners. So basically you are four times more likely to be ripped off by a Korean than by a foreigner. This shouldn’t be surprising at all considering the number of shady characters that have tried to rip me off in Korea before and this doesn’t even include the shady taxi drivers. I can only imagine what this number would be if they actually cracked down on the taxi drivers.

Finally let’s look at the violence ratio. There is one person committing an act of violence for every 173 Koreans. For foreigners it is one person committing an act of violence for every 402 foreigners. Koreans are about two and half times more likely to commit an act of violence than a foreigner.

So to summarize the average person walking down the street in Korea is per capita three times more likely to have a crime committed against them by a Korean, more likely to be murdered by a foreigner even though as I pointed out it wouldn’t be by a English teacher or a GI, slightly more likely to be robbed by a foreigner than a Korean, three times more likely to be raped by a Korean, four times more likely to be frauded by a Korean, and two and half times more likely to be assaulted by a Korean. Despite the wide spread media attention condemning foreigner crime in Korea it is quite clear foreigners are not a criminal problem in Korea outside of the murders being committed by 3D workers and a few thiefs. Statistically speaking if you live in Korea it is safer to hang out with those bastard GIs and the low quality foreign English teachers than the native Koreans. Who would have thought it?

I wonder if there will be a KBS2 special on this any time soon?

More details are coming out now in the international media about the Israeli airstrike in Syria three weeks ago that provides details about how the attack was carried out and further explains the Syrian and North Korean reactions to the airstrike:

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.

They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Israeli special forces had been gathering intelligence for several months in Syria, according to Israeli sources. They located the nuclear material at a compound near Dayr az-Zwar in the north.  [Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter, Times of London]

The seizing of nuclear material by Israeli commandoes would explain the muted reaction by Syria to being bombed by Israel.  The typical ploy after a bombing strike such as this is to claim a wedding party was bombed and to roll out a few corpses from the morgue for the eager international media to bash Israel with.  Syria did none of this because Israel must have obtained something extremely sensitive in order to receive such a muted reaction from the Syrians and the world community at large.

What is also interesting is that the Bush Administration which has so much invested in "diplomacy" with North Korea that whatever evidence the Israelis had was enough to get the President to give his blessing for the raid:

Evidence that North Korean personnel were at the site is said to have been shared with President George W Bush over the summer. A senior American source said the administration sought proof of nuclear-related activities before giving the attack its blessing.

Diplomats in North Korea and China believe a number of North Koreans were killed in the strike, based on reports reaching Asian governments about conversations between Chinese and North Korean officials.

Syrian officials flew to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, last week, reinforcing the view that the two nations were coordinating their response.

After reading this report the probability that some kind of nuclear material was captured by the Israelis is more likely.  However, lets go through the possible scenarios.  Some reports have claimed Israel bombed weapons going to Hezbollah in Lebanon.  If that was the case Syria would have rolled out the wedding party bombing defense plus the raid happened no where near Lebanon.  Additionally this raid was conducted with the approval of Turkey since it appears the Israelis may have used Turkish airspace during the raid and there has been no protests from Turkey.  Bombing an arms shipment to Hezbollah probably would not have been enough justification for the Turks to give Israel use of their airspace.  Thus I think a Hezbollah arms shipment can pretty much be ruled out. 

Next is that a ballistic missile program supplied by North Korea was taken out.  The fact that North Korea has been supplying missiles to Syria as well as Iran and Pakistan is well known.  Four years ago a North Korean ship was intercepted smuggling missiles to even Yemen.  So why would the Israelis want to bomb Syria over ballistic missiles when they have been living for years with the ballistic missiles Syria already has?  Plus would bombing a missile program be enough to get the Turks to give approval to use their airspace?  I doubt it.  Also would the Syrian reaction be so muted to bombing a ballistic missile site?  Once again I doubt it. 

The only other scenario I can think of besides some kind of nuclear material is that maybe some chemical and biological weapons facility is what was raided.  Possibly the Israeli raid captured some of these weapons as evidence and then bombed the place afterwards.  The Syrians probably wouldn’t need the North Koreans to aid them with making these weapons however the North Korean engineers might have been there to help them mount the weapons on to their missiles.  If the Israelis captured chemical and biological warheads that would cause the muted reaction we have seen from the Syrians so far.  Could it be possible if WMDs were captured that they could be linked to being from Saddam Hussein’s former regime in Iraq?  That would definitely have the Syrians squirming. 

Whatever was raided three weeks ago I think the odds are pretty good that if it wasn’t nuclear material taken as evidence then it was some kind of other WMD program that was raided instead.  What is clear is that the ambiguity the US and Israel have been keeping with this story is being used to maximize negotiating leverage against Syria and North Korea.  I’m sure Israel would use the leverage to get Syria to stop sending arms to Hezbollah while the US would want Syria to quit funneling foreign jihadis into Iraq.  In regards to North Korea the US is going to want to maintain the illusion of "progress" with the six party talks as much as possible.  Despite all the ambiguity one thing that is clear is that however this whole issue unfolds it is going to be interesting.

To echo Joshua, where is Kim Jong-Bill when you need him?

More over at the Marmot’s Hole, One Free Korea, and DPRK Forum.

PBS Frontline programs which are in general a terrific have new photo slide show complete with commentary available on their website called North Korea: In Black & White.  I highly recommend everyone check it out.  While you are at it, check out this North Korea photo essay from Ghost Tree as well (HT: Marmot). 

The Koreas
–  Is Korea on verge of another economic crisis?  Watch the construction companies.
–  Top 10 reasons not to lose 100 pounds in Korea
–  Korean Unification and Nostradamus.
–  Some spectacular pictures of a harbor fire over on Cheju Island.
–  Need some ideas for left over soju?
–  I think we officially do away with the claim that Korea is a conservative country now. 
–  Parking in Korea.
–  "Waeguginida! Waeguginidaaa!!"
–  Honey Lee is looking good as usual.  However this just goes to show than stylists can even make Honey Lee look bad.
–  Now this is who is not looking good.  That has to be the ugliest shirt ever.

Japan
–  Japan in the Asian century.
–  Crazy lady of sumo.
–  Interesting facts about Japan’s regional differences. 
–  I can only imagine what would have happened to this guy if he tried this on a Seoul subway.
–  This is one of the weirdest fetishes I have ever seen. 

China
–  Bae Yong-joon has been banned in China. 
–  Taiwan makes power play for control of Spratly Islands.
–  It looks like the Chinese toy recall wasn’t all China’s fault.
–  The Japanese female World Cup soccer team got booed for thanking China.  Read the whole thing but a pretty disgusting display by the Chinese fans.

Milblogs
–  You have to read what this military spouse had to say after the media exploitation of the death of her husband in Iraq. 
–  Michael Yon’s latest: Hunting Al Qaeda Part III
–  Spec Ops soldiers in Afghanistan being tried for doing their jobs. 
–  The sliming by the left of General Petraeus just doesn’t stop.  Like I have said before it because they are scared of him.
–  Remembering 1LT Travis Manion.
–  Leftist war hero goes to jail.
–  Here are my quotes of the week. 

Forward Deployed
–  Desperation to Destroy General Petraeus
–  Senate Votes to Support the Troops
–  What was True Then is True Now
–  Some Truth Telling Courtesty of the US Marine Corps
–  Boobs for Sailors Down Under
–  Is Blackwater Being Framed?
–  Using Sex to Promote the Israeli Defence Force
–  US Troops in Mali Come Under Fire

Here is the most pathetic attempt I have seen yet to discredit General Petraeus.  I can only imagine what the leftists are going to come up with next.

Note to anyone thinking of committing BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) fraud, IT DOES NOT WORK especially if you put San Francisco down as the home of residence:

A staff sergeant formerly assigned to Kunsan Air Base was sentenced to six months confinement and given a bad-conduct discharge earlier this month for housing allowance fraud and related charges.

Staff Sgt. Gwenda Z. Guika, 27, was court-martialed from Sept. 4 to 8 at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. She also was given a reduction in rank to E-1 and forfeiture of all pay.

Guika was charged with larceny of basic allowance for housing, seven counts of making false official statements and two specifications of dereliction of duty. Guika claimed her minor daughter was living in a suburb of San Francisco, and collected a housing allowance for that area. Her daughter actually was living in American Samoa, where housing allowances are lower, said Capt. James Lischer of Kunsan’s legal office.

Guika stole a little more than $2,600 between May 20, 2005, and April 25, 2006, Lischer said. She was stationed at Kunsan from April 2003 to April 2004, and again from May 2005 to June 2007, including 14 months when she was on administrative hold. [Stars & Stripes]

She is an airman so I’m not sure what inprocessing procedures they have but the last time I was stationed in the 2nd Infantry Division when I inprocessed they had a finance person give a briefing and then had everyone fill out their housing forms.  He gave a five minute brief that anyone that puts down an area that has a high BAH rate will be investigated by CID.  Especially if you put down San Francisco since it has the highest BAH rate in the country.  Yet despite being briefed people still commit BAH fraud and get booted from the military and get bad conduct discharges for stealing just a few thousand dollars.  It is not worth it.