The “TDC Ville” known in Korean as Bosan-dong, is the section of the city of Dongducheon located just across the street from the front gate of Camp Casey.

Camp Casey front gate, with Soyo Mountain in the background. I once saw a soldier arrested by the KNPs for pissing on the Indian statue.

This area is known as the “TDC Ville” because Dongducheon used to spelled Tonducheon and was shortened by soldiers to TDC. The ville is a bunch of old run down buildings that house a mixture of eating establishments, clubs, and shopping stores. The ville has actually seen much recent change. A large portion of the ville was knocked down to make way for the new subway line that runs through Dongducheon now.

New Dongducheon subway station

The new subway station is just a short walk five minute walk south of Camp Casey’s gate one. The subway is connected to the Seoul subway system and the trains running from Dongducheon actually reach Uijongbu in about 20 minutes. To reach downtown Seoul it takes about an hour and a half. Soldiers can even take this subway line all the way to Songtan, just outside of Osan Airbase, but it is a long two and a half hour ride.

Some of the new buildings across the street from Camp Casey. 

One of the fortunate things about knocking down the old buildings is that it has actually brought some much needed urban renewal to the ville. Some park like features have been constructed along with some newer buildings. There are still a number of vacant lots where nothing has been built yet, but I’m sure additional buildings will be constructed in due time.

Vacant lots left over from the subway construction

The ville is boxed on its eastern side by Highway 3 while on its western side is the Highway 3 bypass and to it’s north is Camp Mobile. The south of the ville is the Korean portion of Dongducheon known as the 2nd Market area.

Ville area highlighted in red

Shopping in the Ville
The shopping in the ville is really outstanding. You can buy a great hand made suit for about a $100. The tailors can make any suit that you have a picture of. I currently own three suits made in the TDC ville and I have never had any problem with them. You can also have leather jackets made. My leather jacket has lasted seven years so far with no defects. In the ville you can have unit coins, plaques, and other memorabilia made for the half the price it would cost you in the states. I actually had a buddy state side who sent me money to buy some plaques for his unit and to mail them to him because it was cheaper buying plaques from Korea and shipping them then buying them at his current post.

Plenty of shopping to be found in the TDC Ville

You can also buy lots of great Korean trinkets to send to your friends and family. Plus if you like furniture, Korea sells lots of beautiful hand crafted furniture with great oriental designs on them. This is just a small sample of what is for sale in the ville. If you need something the shop owners will find it and sell it to you at a reasonable price. Just make sure you bargain with them because the shop owners will initially give you a high price. In Asian culture you are expected to haggle over prices. So don’t feel rude trying to drive a hard bargain with the local shop owners because it will save you money.

The view from the entrance into the TDC Ville

The Food
The only American fast food establishment off post is the Subway located just outside the front gate. There is actually a Kentucky Fried Chicken located in the actual Korean part of Dongducheon but it is located quite a distance from the camp. The other restaurants are local Koreans who cook up everything from hamburgers, steaks, pizza, and Korean food for hungry GIs. Also it is possible to find Filipino eating establishments as well.

The Night Life
As far as the night life is concerned the TDC ville is loaded with clubs. The majority of the clubs are really sleazy joints with the infamous “drinky girls” in them. If you don’t know what a drinky girl is, let me explain it to you. A drinky girl is usually a third country national from mostly the Philippines that you can buy a drink of usually orange juice for $20 bucks and they sit there and make conversation with you. I’m not kidding it costs $20! What is more amazing is that people keep buying them these drinks. The last time I was in Korea the girls would at least hang all over you and you could feel them up but things have changed now quite a bit.

Picture of a “juicy girl” in the TDC Ville from a Time Magazine article on human trafficking and the US military in Korea.

Plus the last time I was in Korea the prostitution was quite public and in the open. The bar owners would always hit you up to buy the girl’s time for $200-$400 and to go back to the hotel and do whatever. However, things now are much more concealed due to the recent exposure the whole prostitution scene received due to multiple exposes’ in multiple media outlets expressing their outrage at prostitution in Korea. The problem I got with this publicity is that it is implied that the US Army is allowing this prostitution to go on when it is the Koreans that are allowing it.

What really annoys me is that the drinky girls in the media are treated as victims even though most of them know what they are getting into and enjoy the attention and financial incentives of being a drinky girl. The few Russian girls that are left are in it for money and are really smart about playing soldiers and sucking as much money out of them as possible. I know many a GI that has lost his shirt to a Russian drinky girl. The Filipino drinky girls are mostly looking to get married to a GI so they can escape the poverty of their home country. I can’t say I blame them.

A street filled with sleazy bars in the TDC Ville.

However, the juicy girls that do play soldiers are extremely effective and if you go through my USFK Crime Archive you will see many cases of soldiers committing crime to feed their juicy girl habit. For some soldiers these girls are like drugs and is a leadership challenge that is unique to Korea that NCOs and officers coming to Korea should be aware of. Some of these relationships between young GIs and these girls in the bars end up becoming a marriage that from my own experiences I have seen filled with problems and with most of them failing.

Despite everything I have said about the juicy girls there are some good clubs in TDC. The website for Mojo’s Bar. has a pretty good list of the various bars in the ville as well as which ones to look out for. Some additional clubs worth checking out are located in the actual Korean part of Dongducheon commonly referred to as the 2nd Market Area. Have a KATUSA buddy bring you to one of these clubs so you can try something different out. Who knows you might like it. Plus there are also lots of coffee shops in the area that have phones on the tables where you can call other tables in the shop on. Weird, but fun believe it or not.

Be careful in the 2nd Market area though because there is an area near the bus station where Korean prostitutes display themselves in windows for potential customers that is known as the “Turkey Farm” that is off limits by the army. It is supposed to be off limits due to health reasons but I think it is more because the Koreans don’t want GIs messing with their prostitutes. Also in the 2nd Market Area there is lots of shopping you can do, but once again be careful because the infamous TA-50 Alley is also off limits to US personnel where they sell military equipment stolen by “slicky boys“.

A small park that has been built in the TDC Ville in recent years.

You can view more updated pictures of the TDC Ville now known as Bosan-dong at this link.

The Toko-ri Ville
Another ville area in Dongducheon is the village of Toko-ri right outside the back gate of Camp Hovey:

Toko-ri as viewed from Google Earth.

Toko-ri a few years ago used to be one dirty, sleazy, and crazy place. If you have ever watched the first Stars Wars movie and remember the bar with the space aliens in it, in the city of Mos Eisley, that is what Toko-ri was like.

Obi-wan Kenobi once described Mos Eisley as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy”, Toko-ri wasn’t much different. However, instead of horned, green, or beady eyed aliens, Toko-ri had Filipino and Russian juicy girls covered in chocolate and wax, a retarded barmaid, strippers that used to hold what was known as the P***y Olympics led by a Korean woman known as the Dragon Lady who did anatomy defying things with cigars and beer bottles, and to top it off there was even a midget. Before I had even ever stepped foot in Korea I had heard about the Midget of Toko-ri from old crusty NCOs about how they used to “stick to the midget” especially on New Years; that is how well known she is in the US military. After seeing the midget for myself I can’t imagine why anyone would want to “stick it to the midget”, but hey to each their own.

Anyway I have heard that Toko-ri has really died down and is not the wild place it used to be. I wasn’t able to confirm this myself on my last trip to Korea since my wife probably wouldn’t like the idea of me trying to confirm the status of the P***y Olympics, chocolate covered juicies, and the Midget of Toko-ri. So if anyone reading this knows the current status of Toko-ri feel free to offer you two cents in the comments section.

You can view more updated pictures of Toko-ri which is now spelled Teokgeo-ri at this link.

Overall – As you can see, the options in the TDC Ville are quite numerous. Great shopping, adequate eating establishments, and a very lively night club scene is enough to keep any GI stationed at Camp Casey occupied. It should be enough to do to get you through a year in 2ID. However, just don’t lose your shirt in the ville. Remember drinky doesn’t love you, she loves your wallet. Keep that attitude and you will be alright.

Note: You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:

Deadly flooding has allegedly hit North Korea:

Heavy rains spawned flooding that left "hundreds" dead or missing in North Korea and destroyed more than 30,000 homes, the country’s state media reported Tuesday.

The official Korean Central News Agency said preliminary information revealed massive casualties after the storms that began last week, but gave no specific figures.

It said the rain also flooded tens of thousands of acres of farmland in the impoverished country that suffers from regular food shortages.

As bad as this sounds I take such reports with a grain of salt because the North Koreans use these natural disaster excuses to get more aid money from South Korea and it provides the ROK government the cover it needs to send it.  So when the big massive bribe aid package is announced during the 2nd Inter-Korean summit the ROK government can claim that it is also part of flood relief for North Korea.  Talk about a well timed flood. 

I recently began reading a book that people have been telling me for quite some time that I really need to read and it is even on the official US Army reading list. I’m glad I finally decided to start reading this book. This book was written in 1959 and it amazing how many of the themes of the book fit in with contemporary attitudes today. Take this passage for example:

I didn’t say anything. None of it was news to me; I’d thought about it. Father stood up and put a hand on my shoulder. “Son, don’t think I don’t sympathize with you; I do. But look at the real facts. If there were a war, I’d be the first to cheer you on – and to put the business on a war footing. But there isn’t, and praise God there never will be again. We’ve outgrown wars. This planet is now peaceful and happy and we enjoy good enough relations with other planets. So what is this so-called “Federal Service”? Parasitism, pure and simple. A functionless organ, utterly obsitism, pure and simple. A functionless organ, utterly obsolete, living on the taxpayers. A decidely expensive way for inferior people who otherwise would be unemployed to live at public expense for a term of years, then give themselves airs for the rest of their lives. Is that what you want to do?

Reading that passage brought back memories of what my guidance counselor in high school told me about how I was wasting my time joining the military. I was much too smart for it. The wall fell, the Cold War is over, and the military is being cut and really not needed.

Than also compare this passage to the attitude today pushed by some on the left that the army is filled with low life, uneducated, criminals.  This author was writing about this same perception from the 1950’s as well.  It is interesting to read about the perceptions of the military that existed in the 1950’s that the author framed his science fiction story around.

So does anyone know what book I’m talking about?

Two Korean hostages have been released.

Many developments as the Korean hostage crisis moves into its 25th day. After the conflicting reports of the release and then reimprisonment of two Korean hostages the Afghan government has banned all media from the city where direct negotiations with the Taliban have been taking place:

(more…)

Bad News for Contractors and Augmentees and good news for soldiers, the computer simulation portion of Ultimate FutiLity is still on while the field training portion has been cancelled.  This just begs the question of who is really running South Korea now a days, Roh or Kim Jong-il? 

Suzanne Scholte the President for the North Korea Freedom Coalition has a list of important questions that should be answered before the Second Inter-Korean Summit proceeds:

• Who will represent the North Korean people?

• Will South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun ask for the political prison camps to be closed?

• Will Roh ask for the return of the South Korean abductees and prisoners of war as well as the abductees from other nations?

• Will Roh ask for North Koreans to be granted freedom of movement and travel so they can avoid starving to death?

• Will Roh ask Kim to stop torturing, imprisoning and executing the refugees who are repatriated from China because they were simply trying to feed their families?

We all know the Korean government’s answers to these questions, pretend they don’t exist. 

One of the most ironic things about the whole Taliban hostage crisis is that the Korean government and public wants the hostages returned to Korea at all costs, but the fact that Kim Jong-il has hundreds of South Korean hostages that were kidnapped from South Korea; no one cares about.  Where is the endless news coverage of the crying families of the South Korean citizens kidnapped by Kim Jong-il?  Why are 66 year old grandmas having to spearhead rescue operations to free their kidnapped husbands from North Korea, while the missionaries kidnapped by the Taliban have the entire Korean government working towards their release?  All questions that the Korean government would prefer to pretend don’t exist.

There is more than just the human rights problems with this summit in regards to South Korean citizens, the human rights conditions in North Korea are the worst in the world and the South Korean government could care less about those conditions as well.  They have even been using the atrocious human rights conditions to their advantage with the opening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Slave Labor Camp. 

I credit Ms. Scholte for definitely not mincing words about the nature of this summit and calling it for what it is:

“Unless [South Korean president] Roh is planning on raising these issues and/or arresting Kim Jong-il for crimes against humanity, then this summit will simply allow Kim Jong-il to continue to interfere in South Korea’s elections, so that he can stay in power and continue to build nuclear weapons, produce massive amounts of drugs to poison the youth in free nations, counterfeit US dollars and work aggressively to destroy South Korea’s democracy, which is already weakened terribly by Roh’s administration,” Scholte told The Christian Post.

However, President Roh has much more important things to worry about than human rights of North Koreans and rescuing kidnapped South Korean citizens, like trying to convince Kim Jong-il to let him ride the train that he recently paid the North Koreans $80 million bucks to do one test ride.  When that test ride happened, I thought that would be the world’s most expensive train ride, but now it appears that will be eclipsed by the fare Kim Jong-il will demand for a train ride to Pyongyang.  Does anyone else find it a bit pathetic the Roh has to beg Kim Jong-il to let him use a train that South Korean tax payers have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in? 

It really is amazing the divergence from reality one must take in order to keep the Myth of Progress alive.

Unsurprisingly the Taliban promise to release two female Korean hostages has been broken:

In the first face-to-face negotiations with South Korean officials on Saturday, Taliban leaders reportedly agreed to set free two sick female hostages as a sign of good faith but they later shelved the plan, according to Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who describes himself as speaking for the Taliban.

"The plan to release two female hostages first is still valid, but the timing has not been fixed yet," Ahmadi told Yonhap News Agency by telephone.

The spokesman said Taliban’s plan to release two Korean women was put on hold at the last moment. He declined further comments, only saying, "I hope the situation will be resolved quickly."

This is all code words for the Taliban thinking Seoul will pay even more ransom than what they are already offering.  No word on how this is all America’s fault yet. 

Koreas
– Kaesong workers or rather Kim Jong-il has received a raise courtesy of the SK government.
– I don’t have a high opinion of Korean police, but they should be recognized when they do a good job.
– Korean scientists have concluded that Fan Death is not real, however Korean netizens remain unconvinced.
– This is why I take public transportation as much as possible in Korea.
– Everyone has an opinion on the upcoming 2nd Inter-Korean summit and Donald Kirk offers his.
– Choe Sang-hun offers his take on the fight over the Yanghwajin Foreigner Cemetery.
– Pooping on boshintang and dog penis soju. 
– Anyone had any cow fried pork lately?
– After all the news about Rain and the other K-pop types invading the US, who would have thought a dreadlocked, tatooed Korean in need of a t-shirt, Cho Sung-jin, would have more of an impact on the charts.
– It looks like Wentworth Miller continues to be making it big in Korea.
– Interesting list of the Top 30 English webpages related to Korea.
– Finally here is something quite spooky for everyone to check out. 

Japan
– Here is a list of the 20 most popular English webpages in Japan.
– A more muscular Japan?
– Just another example of Japanese militarism, Japanese UN peacekeepers may soon be able to use their weapons to defend other soldiers.  It is clear a Dokdo invasion is just around the corner with such a provactive development.
– Preparing for Ultimate FutiLity.
– Some interesting new film of ground zero at Nagasaki has been revealed.
– An American first in Japanese baseball.

China
– I definitely like the Chinese Army’s new secret weapon.
– Weird story, but Korea could use a guy like this minus the criminal history.
– Visa regulations tightened in China.
– Foreign journalists detained in China.

Milblogs
– John Soltz is still a wanker.  By the way did you hear he was in Iraq?
– Canada has announced plans to upgrade their polar defenses after the Russian announcement of planting a flag under the North Pole.  Is dog sled infantry around the corner?
– By the war the Reuters had to admit the photo they used of the flag planting was actually from the movie Titanic.
– A reserve colonel who served as a chief of police in Georgia was fired by the city council because they could not regularly contact him by cell phone in Iraq.   
– Reports that Syria is negotiating with the US after a number of Syrian border guards are being killed by Al Qaida.

F.D. Postings
– Misinformation Campaign to Remove US Special Forces from Afghanistan
– News from the Frontlines
– Troop Withdrawals from Ninevah Province Announced
– The Tuscon Boneyard
– Update on Ambushed Marines

Once again using anonymous sources the media is claiming that the British military wants US Special Forces out of their sector of operations in Afghanistan:

A SENIOR British commander in southern Afghanistan has called for US Special Forces to leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

Other British officers in Helmand province, in south-west Afghanistan, criticised US Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area.

They also expressed concern that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban.

A US military spokesman denied the request for US forces to leave was made, formally or otherwise, or that they had caused most of the casualties.

No where in the article does the journalist identify one British officer making this claim so for all we know it could be the British commander of the chow hall telling this to the reporter.  Additionally the only British officer quoted and identified by the journalist had this to say:

The chief British press officer in Helmand, Colonel Charles Mayo, defended the US Special Forces, saying they were essential to NATO’s efforts to clear out heavily entrenched Taliban insurgents.

A US military spokesman said Special Forces would continue to operate in Helmand for the foreseeable future. He denied their tactics had increased civilian deaths and blamed the Taliban for fighting from civilian compounds.

So the official position of the British military in Helmand province is that the US Special Forces are wanted and will stay in the area.  So why isn’t the headline of the article labeled such?  It is because the author so desperately wants to believe US Special Forces are killing all these civilians and will quote and sensationalize anyone that feeds this belief.  Thus if the commander of the chow hall tells the reporter that US Special Forces are not wanted in Helmand Province it will become headline material despite the official British military position saying otherwise. 

This whole article sounds very familiar to the prior Taliban misinformation campaign that ended in an entire Marine unit being redeployed out of Afghanistan.  You often hear the media trumpet the "rise in violence" in Afghanistan however when you look at who is being killed 75% of the casualties are Taliban fighters.  Thus the rise in violence is actually because the US military and its allies are killing an increasing amount of Taliban.  That is why the Taliban is increasing its disinformation campaign in regards to civilian casualties.  The misinformation campaign worked to get the US Marines kicked out of Afghanistan so why couldn’t the same tactic work to get the US Special Forces, which are probably the most deadly hunters of Taliban fighters, kicked out of Afghanistan as well? 

This is just another example of the all to willing media being more than happy to aid the Taliban in this goal.   

The Taliban have attacked a US patrol base in Afghanistan and suffered heavy casualties:

A group of 75 Taliban militants tried to overrun a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a rare frontal attack that left more than 20 militants dead, the coalition said in a statement.

The insurgents attacked Firebase Anaconda from three sides, using gunfire, grenades and 107 mm rockets, the coalition said. A joint Afghan-U.S. force repelled the attack with mortars, machine guns and air support.

"Almost two dozen insurgents were confirmed killed in the attack," the statement said. Two girls and two Afghan soldiers were wounded during the fight in Uruzgan province, it said.

A firebase like Anaconda is usually a remote outpost staffed by as few as several dozen soldiers.

"The inability of the insurgent forces to inflict any severe damage on Firebase Anaconda, while being simultaneously decimated in the process, should be a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of their fighters," said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman.

Though the Taliban suffered heavy casualties they still got the effect they were looking for, media coverage.  The media coverage has focused less on the fact that the Taliban was easily and soundly crushed in the attack and focused more on the fact that the Taliban attack the base in the first place, which is supposed to be some kind of sign of a resurgent Taliban.  This is just another small part of the information war the Taliban is fighting in Afghanistan that the American media continues to unwittingly aid the Taliban in.