Another MP this time a sergeant is convicted of a crime:

A court-martial jury found an Army sergeant guilty Friday of indecently assaulting a private earlier this year on Camp Casey.

The nine-member jury found Sgt. Anthony Medellin Jr. guilty of the indecent assault and two specifications each of maltreatment and disobeying orders, but cleared him of two additional specifications of maltreatment.

The jury sentenced Medellin to reduction in rank to E-2; three months hard labor without confinement; two months restriction to his barracks, dining facility or place of worship; and forfeiture of all pay and allowances for two months.

This sergeant ended being another convicted criminal that ended up having time reduced from his sentence due to the chain of command imposing pre-trial punishment on the sergeant:

But because military judge Col. Gregory Gross credited Medellin with 34 days credit for time served for pre-trial punishment he received, officials said there would be some reduction in his sentence. <…>

Medellin testified that when he was moved from Camp Casey’s 55th Military Police Company to the 94th MP Company at Yongsan after he was accused of the assault, there was no room ready for him in the barracks, and he was forced to spend the night sleeping in his uniform at a desk.

He said he was deprived of his personal property for about two months because it had not been shipped.

He also said he was confined to Yongsan, restricted from drinking and his chain of command made him remove the green leadership tabs from his uniform on the second day of the court-martial.

Gross said there was “no legitimate reason” for Medellin to have received the punishments and reduced his sentence 20 days for being deprived of his property, 10 days for being restricted from drinking, one day for sleeping at the desk and three days for losing his leadership tabs.

Gross also said Medellin could not be forced to forfeit more than one third of his pay since he was not being confined.

These infractions leading to criminals receiving less punishment is a reoccurring issue I see happening over and over again.  There needs to be some kind of training for commanders and first sergeants to educate them about how to treat soldiers accused of crimes.  Bottom line is that soldiers and innocent until proven guilty and deserve to be treated that way.

This is all so predictable:

The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has clarified how to monitor the shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear facility and it is now up to Pyongyang and its five negotiating partners to decide on a date, an official said on Saturday.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official Olli Heinonen said negotiations in North Korea had achieved an understanding on how to monitor the sealing and shutdown of the Yongbyon facility.

But he stressed the timing of the long-negotiated shutdown needed consultation between North Korea and other countries in six-party talks to iron out the details.

“The next logical step is that they talk with each other and agree on technical arrangements. The IAEA doesn’t have any role on that,” Heinonen, IAEA Nuclear Safeguards Director told reporters in Beijing after several days of talks in Pyongyang.

What is so interesting about this is that there is already a date set for the reactor shutdown that was agreed upon in the February 13th agreement between the US and North Korea. In the deal North Korea agreed to shutdown their reactor 60 days from signing the deal. April 13th came and passed with no signs of North Korea shutting down their reactor without receiving first $25 million dollars in money frozen by the US Treasury Department in a Macau bank due to the money being obtained through counterfeiting and money laundering. The return of the money was never in the original agreement and was something North Korea added after signing the February 13th deal.

The US government desperate to cut a deal with Kim Jong-il bent over backwards to return Kim Jong-il’s ill gotten money, but no banks wanted to do business with North Korea; that is how dirty his money is. The US government was so desperate they asked the US Wachovia bank to launder North Korea’s money for him. Unsurprisingly Wachovia declined. So the US government was left to use the US Federal Reserve to launder his money through a Russia based bank. Even with the Federal Reserve laundering the money the Russian bank was still very hesitant about accepting the deal. Incredibly the US government went through all this hassle to launder money for Kim Jong-il and circumvent US counterfeiting laws in order to meet a demand by North Korea that was not even in the original deal. Even more incredible is the fact that the US government agreed to these demands due to a vague promise from North Korea to use the money to buy humanitarian aid. The odds of Kim Jong-il using this money to buy humanitarian aid is about equal with the odds of him dismantling his nuclear program, which is none.

It didn’t take a prophet to know that when this agreement was signed in February, Kim Jong-il had no intention of keeping it. At some point when Kim Jong-il cannot get any more concessions from the US and other six party talk members he will then shut down his reactor. This current ploy for more six party talks is just a tool for further delay and to test the waters to see how desperate the US is to get him to comply. The North Koreans know the US government is desperate for a deal and will thus demand a premium price for any concessions on their part. To the North Koreans shutting down the reactor is not a big deal because they can always kick out the IAEA inspectors and restart the reactor any time they want. They have already done it once before.

Now getting them to dismantle their nuclear program is going to be the impossible part of the February 13th deal. It is unlikely North Korea will admit to their secret uranium program as well as it is totally unlikely they will actually dismantle the nuclear weapons they currently possess. A second goal of the North Korean strategy for using the six party talks is to buy time. The more the North Koreans delay the more time they buy for their scientists and researchers to further develop their infant nuclear program and improve the capabilities of their tactical ballistic missile program. In just the past few month the North Koreans have been conducting regular missile tests of their newly developed missiles. Once the North Koreans have developed their nuclear and missile programs to a level they feel would ensure the regime’s survival from external attack they will then begin to implement the policy of Strategic Disengagement.

So why is the US government so desperate to keep this deal at all costs? The reason is to keep the myth of “progress” alive. The Bush administration is desperate for a non-military foreign policy success in order to bolster their diplomacy credentials once the eventual showdown with Iran over their nuclear program materializes. So in order to keep the myth of a “diplomacy success” alive, the Bush administration is willing to appease the North Koreans and mortgage the North Korean problem for the next US presidential administration to handle. It is 1994 all over again and this time Jimmy Carter wasn’t even needed.

However, the big difference from 1994 is that when North Korea decides to act up again under the next US presidential administration to test and see what they can get out of them, they will be playing with a much stronger hand with possession of nuclear weapons and a tactical ballistic missile program to deliver them. The payoff next time for appeasement will come at a much higher cost.

I you haven’t seen them yet, Jack Hanna Nomad has some great pictures of a wildlife encounter during one of his fishing trips.

This is actually quite incredible, the Korean Prime Minister has attended the memorial yesterday of the six sailors murdered by the North Koreans during the West Sea Naval Battle five years ago:

Navy sailors who survived a sea battle with North Korea’s navy on June 29, 2002 pay tribute yesterday at a memorial service in Pyeongtaek, South Chungcheong, to six fellow sailors who died. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo attended, the most senior government official ever to do so at the annual event.

President Roh is still missing in action of course, but I do have to give recognition to Prime Minister Han for attending the ceremony.  He is fairly new to the job having taken over the Prime Minister job just three months ago.  Before that he was a finance minister.  It is good to see that at least one person in the ruling government has not forgotten the six sailors who were murdered while serving their country. 

Michelle Wie’s abysmal play continues in the US Open:

Michelle Wie was in good company at the U.S. Women’s Open, but in the worst way.

In a rugged start to the biggest event in women’s golf, the 17-year-old from Hawaii continued her free fall Thursday by hitting only four fairways and matching her highest score ever in this championship with an 82.

While her bad play continues, the backlash against Wie continues as well:

In the two weeks since Annika Sorenstam publicly criticized 17-year-old Michelle Wie for a "lack of respect and class" in the way she withdrew from the Ginn Tribute tournament this month, Sorenstam said Tuesday she has had no contact with Wie or anyone else from her camp. Asked specifically if an apology this week at the U.S. Women’s Open would be too little too late, Sorenstam replied, "It’s never too late." <…>

"I just voiced my opinion a few weeks ago," she said, referring to Wie’s withdrawal, when she left the course citing a wrist injury after being 14 over par through 16 holes. "But I think I have said what I wanted said and I’m over it. I’m here and I’m playing and that’s really what matters to me. I’m not really sure how they deal with these type of things. All I can say is I said what I wanted to say and I stand for what I say and I still feel that way."

I think Sorenstam is going at this the wrong way because I really can’t blame Wie for what is going on, she is still only 17 years old.  Everything that is going on with Wie can be linked right back to her father.  He is the guy that should be apologizing for what he is doing to his daughter’s career and its effects on women’s golf in general.  Need I remind everyone what her dad had to say about his daughter to the Korean media in order to score endorsement dollars in Korea.  He has completely sold out his daughter to make money and the expense of developing her talent. 

Remember her father is also the same guy who blew off advice from Tiger Woods to develop her talent at the amateur level in order to learn how to win before competing in professional events:

"Michelle shot even par on the PGA Tour at age 14. How old was Tiger when he did that?" he added. "Whenever we hear these statements by Tiger, we don’tunderstand. It [Woods’ position] doesn’t make any sense."

Michelle Wie is still young enough to turn it around and hopefully turn her career into a Jennifer Capriati story instead of the Anna Kournikova route she is currently going. 

The Transformers movie has finally opened in Korea and the turn out and reception according to the AP have both been positive:

Steven Spielberg‘s "Transformers" premiered Thursday in theaters in South Korea, after notching up the country’s highest online ticket bookings of any movie this year.  The action film — featuring vehicles that transform into warring robots — will initially be shown on some 530 screens nationwide, rising to around 700 by the weekend, distributor CJ Entertainment said.

Here is a quote from the AP article that I found quite interesting:

"Movies that do well in South Korea tend to do well in other parts of Asia," Kim said, attributing the trend in part to the growing popularity of South Korean movies, TV dramas and music across the region.

"A movie’s popularity in Asia seems to be affected by its popularity in South Korea," she said. "In that sense, South Korea has emerged as an important movie market in Asia in recent years."

Give me a break, the Transformer movie could have been screened in Bhutan and it still will do well world wide.  It is going to do well globally because it is a Steven Spielberg movie with advanced special effects during a time when the theatres are filled with crap movies other than Shrek 3.   

The Korean government is using one of its favorite political weapons by targeting four major media outlets with tax probes:

The National Tax Service has sent notices on the investigation to the media outlets – the JoongAng Ilbo, MBC, BBS and the weekly Ilyo Shinmun, the sources said.  The office is planning to start the investigation Monday. The inquiry into MBC is expected to focus on its payments of corporate and value-added taxes in the 2003-04 fiscal year, while the content of investigations into the other companies was not immediately known.

I’m sure this has nothing to do with controlling the South Korean media before the upcoming presidential election. 

Some sad news from Taegu where the Command Sergeant Major for the 6th Ordinance Battalion passed away at age 54.  The cause of death is still being investigated.

From the Chosun:

According to the roadmap, the two countries will set up a new system of military cooperation to ensure initial operational capability by 2009, and formulate a new operational plan to replace the existing joint strategy codenamed OPLAN 5027. The Korean military is to expand and restructure its Joint Chiefs of Staff. And the two countries agreed to set up an "Alliance Military Coordination Center" under the Korea-U.S. Military Committee, a consultative body consisting of the chairmen of the Korean and U.S. joint chiefs of staff, to assist the military committee and strengthen cooperation.

The two countries are to establish altogether six cooperative bodies, including a joint information center, a joint operational center, and a combined logistics cooperation center to ensure smooth cooperation between Korean troops and the USFK. They also agreed to maintain a combined aviation and space operations center between Korean Army, Navy and Air Force operation commands and their USFK counterparts. They will conduct five joint military exercises in preparation for the handover from 2010 until early 2012 to make sure operational capability is up to scratch.

All of this is really nothing new and talked about before, it is just now finally been agreed upon.  The big questions is what kind of command relationship and size of reinforcements the US will have in case of hostilities with North Korea.  The Korea Herald provides some answers:

Under the new alliance system, ground and naval forces operations will be led by the Korean military, while the United States will provide aerial-centric support to the Korean troops. The alliance’s air forces will create a combined air and space operation center to enhance joint command for U.S.-led aerial operations in wartime.

By 2009, the two countries will also repeal the allies’ combined war scenario, codenamed OPLAN 5027, and draw up a new war plan designed for independent operations of the two militaries.

Under the OPLAN 5027, if hostilities break out, the United States would deploy up to 690,000 troops, 160 vessels and 2,000 aircraft to the peninsula, in addition to the current troops, which number about 29,000, to remove the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and defeat his 1.17-million-member military.

It doesn’t take a military strategist to realize that a 690,000 American troop reinforcement is not going to happen.  First of all the US does not have that kind of available man power and even if the US military did, by the time they deployed to Korea the war would be over.  Any immediate reinforcements in a 2nd Korean War would have to come from forces stationed in Japan to be able to reach the peninsula in time to effect the land battle there.  The thing I wonder is if the US should use ground forces to conduct offensive operations against North Korea?

 I tend to think US ground forces should be used for other purposes such as protecting US bases on the peninsula, which will be a whole lot easier once the USFK transformation is complete.  Any ground war against North Korea will be extremely brutal and casualties will be high far surpassing anything the US has seen in Iraq.  A war on the Korean peninsula would remind people what a real war is, which the world hasn’t seen since the days of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980’s.  First of all, should the US military pay such a high price in blood when the ROK Army is more than capable of fighting a ground war themselves?  Secondly, I have long believed that no American troops should step into North Korea for a variety of reasons I have listed before which you can read about here. Providing air and naval superiority during any conflict on the peninsula should be enough to ensure the success of the ROK military without the need of a second Inchon Landing Operation.

You can read more over at the Marmot’s Hole.

I have been saying this for years that many of the Korean civic groups are nothing more than front groups for their political puppet masters.  Often the purposes for these groups are to spread anti-Americanism.  Well now my thoughts on this are being confirmed even by Korean intellectuals:

On June 28, the Liberty Union released a book on the types of malicious propaganda and the problems involving civic groups which utilized propaganda in the run-up to the 2002 presidential election. Law professor Jeong Seung-yun of Busan National University wrote a book entitled, ‘Civic Groups & Political Maneuvering.’ And former student activist Lee Dal-won, who works for the Liberty Union and runs his own company, Kyungrim R&C, wrote a book entitled, ‘Co-failure, Civic Groups & the Participatory Government.’ The two authors combined their books into a single volume, which is entitled ‘Civic Groups, are they a hope or a drag?’

Here is how the propaganda process by the civic groups work:

Professor Jeong said “Malicious propaganda in the 2002 election was carried out in four steps.”

The first step: spreading rumors through the Internet and minor news outlets; the second step: political parties and civic groups making rumors appear real and affecting public opinion; the third step: collective hypnosis meaning some mainstream media report rumors as established fact; the fourth step: civic groups aggressively incite voters.

This process perfectly describes what happened with the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident.  These same tactics were used even before 2002 with the 2000 Water Dumping Incident and the Kooni Range protests.  The tactics of these groups continues this day with their activities to stop the USFK relocation at Camp Humphreys along with their claims of pollution on vacated USFK camps. 

Expect to see these tactics used over and over again until like the article states, the members of these groups as well as the media are held responsible for spreading rumors and lies:

Regarding this matter, Professor Jeong said, “Civic groups want to get involved with smear campaigns because they know they will not be punished for their involvement.

In fact many of these civic groups and their media allies like OhMyNews are actually funded by the ruling Korean government, so of course they do not fear any prosecution for their rumor mongering and lies. In fact the government has leverage on them with the public funding to set what rumors and lies need to be spread.  Others that aren’t receiving funding from the South Korean government are front groups for the North Koreans. 

Finally some people in South Korea are waking up to the tactics and true purposes of these so called civic groups and their media allies.