Here is something you won’t read anytime soon in the Korean newspaper:

It is belatedly known that a KATUSA and a USFK soldier saved a drunken man who fell down to a railroad track.

It was found later that they were PVT Yoon-min Baek, a KATUSA soldier (25 years old, EUSA 18th Medcom support unit), and SGT Eric Ziegenmeyer of the same unit.

They were returning to Yongsan Garrison after participating in an education program. Suddenly, they witnessed the scene of a male in his fifties accidentally fell down to the railroad track at the KTX Seoul platform 7 p.m. June 11th. Without knowledge of when the next KTX runs into, they with 5 other colleagues rushed in to the track and drew him up to the platform.

Even after they drew him up to the platform, this male already fainted seemingly by the shock he had when he fell down. They decided to apply emergency measures quickly or he might lose his life.

You can read the rest here, along with another story in the Stars and Stripes here.

These two soldiers risked their own lives to save this man’s life which is highly commendable and unfortunately very few people in the Korean public will even hear about it. However, the next drunk GI Crime incident is sure to make headlines.

UPDATE:  As expected this ad has opened a firestorm of debate.  You can read a whole lot more on this development over at the Marmot’s Hole, Ampontan, and Occidentalism.  Occidentalism has a blown up version of the ad that you can read here.

Just by reading the comments on each of these sites you can see that this ad has done nothing more than just polarize even further each side on this issue.

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This is definitely not going to help this issue go away:

A group of Japanese lawmakers in a full-page ad in the Washington Post on Thursday denied the Japanese government and military had a hand in conscripting women from Asian countries as sex slaves for the Imperial Army during World War II. Titled “The Facts”, the ad published Wednesday claims “no historical document has ever been found” proving the direct involvement of the Japanese government and military, contrary to a recent U.S. congressional resolution sponsored by the Democrat Representative Mike Honda. The ad was co-sponsored by some Japanese academics, political commentators and journalists.

This ad is going to do nothing to change anyones attitudes about the comfort women issue and will only inflame passions on each side. I have laid out before what I think the Japanese government should do on this issue and I will explain it here again.

I believe that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should turn the tables on all the holier than thou demagogues criticizing Japan over the comfort women issue by apologizing for war time sexual slavery again, but this time in a large public speech to draw maximum media attention. During this speech then announce that Japan to atone for its past sins would become a champion of women’s rights beginning with the plight of modern day sexual slavery of North Korean women in China that both the South Korean and Chinese governments choose to ignore. Than announce that Japan would then start accepting North Korean defectors into Japan and become an outspoken advocate of NK defectors unlike South Korea which has a quasi governmental policy of stopping NK defectors.

Then make sure to have a translation of the speech in English to hand out to reporters so the New York Times can’t intentionally misquote translations again. Such a change in rhetoric and policy would instantly shine a spotlight on the moral bankruptcy of both China and South Korea while simultaneously aiding the plight of the NK defectors.

Would governments and the media go after China like they are currently attacking Japan? Probably not because China consistently gets a pass from the media and international governments, but it should be enough to silence them about the comfort women issue. As it stands now Abe’s approach of fighting over definitions of “coercion” and funding advertisements in the Washington Post only plays into the hands of the demagogues who have no intention of letting this issue go.

Prime Minister Abe could apologize for everything from the comfort women issue and the Nanjing Massacre to the Hideyoshi invasions of Korea starting in 1592 and the Japanese piracy of Shilla and Tang dynasty shipping even before then, followed by committing seppuku on top of Namsan mountain in Seoul for everyone to see and it would still not be enough for these governments because it provides them with a great domestic political weapon to disguise their own government failures by encouraging anti-Japanese sentiment. The only way to combat these demagogues is by making it embarrassing for these nations to bring up more demands for apologies when it would reflect negatively on their own current human rights failures to do so. It would no doubt be a bold measure, but I see no other way of ending the comfort women issue.

Who can name where this picture is located?:

Here are this year’s current Korea Finder Leader’s Board:

Mark – 8

James – 2

Sonagi – 2

Peekstr – 1

HumKor – 1 

Farty – 1

Mike -1 

Note that who ever totals the most points at the end of the year, I will purchase for them a Korea related book or DVD of their choice using the proceeds I have accumulated by people purchasing books from Amazon.com on my website.

This really isn’t surprising:

The number of traffic incidents involving U.S. military vehicles has dropped sharply since two schoolgirls died in 2002, according to 2nd Infantry Division figures.

The 2nd ID recorded 292 military vehicle accidents, ranging from minor to serious, during fiscal 2002. That number has dropped each year since.

So far in fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30, the division has logged 40 accidents.

Although several 2nd ID camps have closed in the past five years, division officials attribute the drop largely to an increased safety focus since the schoolgirls’ deaths in 2002.

First of all, driver’s safety programs in 2ID are quite thorough. At times the safety procedures approaches levels of absurdity, but with the strategic consequences one fatal traffic accident can have you can never be too safe. This is the approach the division is taking and this has definitely contributed to reduced accidents.

Secondly, the reduction in soldiers and the closing of camps has played a big part in reducing accidents. Less soldiers means less chances for an accident. Also before the camps closed you had vehicles driving in between these camps to conduct military business. Now with units consolidated on camps not as much driving off post is needed.

Next, the infrastructure in northern Kyeongi Province is improving with more highways and roads being widened and sidewalks installed. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done but the improvements are definitely noticeable. These improvements also help prevent accidents.

Lastly, units are not going out to the field as much as in prior years. This has dramatically reduced the number of convoys going off post. Also the convoys that are going off post that include tracked vehicles are often being loaded on trucks.

There are many reasons for the reduction in accidents and is not solely driven by the 2002 accident.  Anyway any reduction in accidents is good news, but all it takes is one fatal accident to have strategic consequences.  That is why the sooner the USFK relocation to Camp Humphreys is completed the better because then 2ID soldiers will not have to worry about driving in the congested and dangerous roads of the current 2ID area of operations that are notorious for traffic accidents.

The first ever export of rice from Korea to the US has been announced:

A shipment of South Korean rice was headed to the United States on Tuesday, marking the first time that the country has exported its staple food amid efforts to protect the rice market from foreign imports.

The 2-ton shipment, set to be airlifted later Tuesday, is part of 52.5 tons of rice that a Korean-American businessman in Los Angeles, Warren Jung, is importing, said Song Mi-ryong, an official of the North Jeolla provincial government in the country’s southwest.

Koreans living in Los Angeles were expected to be the main consumers of the Korean rice, Song said.

The 136 million won (US$146,000; �109,000) deal marks South Korea’s first rice export.

Song said the importer, Jung, agreed to buy an additional 1,050 tons and is scheduled to sign a US$2.73 million (�2.04 million) contract Wednesday.

The export to “the U.S., a major rice producing nation, represents evidence that U.S. consumers recognized the quality of North Jeolla province rice,” said Kim Wan-joo, governor of the province.

Actually no Mr. Governor because like the article states Korean-Americans are the ones expected to buy the rice, not the general American public.  Additionally what I find interesting is that the US is allowing South Korea to export their rice to America and yet the US cannot export rice to South Korea.

One of the bigger news items this week was the announcement that General Peter Pace would not be recommended for a second term as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.  The reason given was that the Democrats would fight his nomination:

On Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the stunning announcement that he would not recommend Pace to serve a second two-year term as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Marine Corps four-star general had not been a target previously of Democrats’ ire on the war, but Gates said lawmakers made it clear the confirmation process would be ugly.

“It would be a backward looking and very contentious process,” Gates said at a Pentagon news conference.

What is interesting about this is that the Democrats are trying to spin this as that they are against Pace’s nomination because of the handling of the Iraq War.  This reasoning is highly flawed when the Democrats overwhelmingly voted to confirm the current US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and also voted to confirm General George Casey as the Chief of Staff of the Army.  Both of these generals have much more to do with Iraq War policy than General Pace and yet they were overwhelmingly confirmed.

So obviously there is another reason for the Democrats vowing to fight any nomination of General Pace and at the very tail end of this AP article is the real reason why the Democrats would fight Pace’s nomination:

Tauscher, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Pace lost standing among members in March when he said homosexual acts were immoral and that the military should not condone the behavior by allowing gays to serve openly. He later apologized, including in a personal letter to Tauscher, for expressing what he said were his personnel views.

Tauscher said his comments on gays “showed his ignorance” and “had to be deeply discounted because they came from a man who had presided over a war that we got into on a lie and what I consider to be a serious dereliction of duty in having our troops and our readiness so destroyed by the policies of this administration.”

This is just another further example of the politicization of the military I have been talking about.  Now if an Army general says anything against gays that is reason to lose their job; who cares how competent he is, what matters is if he is on board with members of Congress’s homosexual agendas.

Here is something I saw on the streets of Seoul the other day:

This name brand might be successful in San Francisco.

Today is the 5th anniversary of the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident that killed two 13 year old Korean school girls Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun. This tragedy would ultimately end up being a singular event that has impacted the US-ROK Alliance forever. For those that know little about this accident I highly recommend you read USinKorea’s round up and analysis of the reporting on the accident by the Korean media and the follow on xenophobic behavior by the Korean public. I also highly recommend you read this account of what happened that day by then SPC Josh Ray who was driving the vehicle just ahead of the armored vehicle that was involved in the accident. Contrary to all the propaganda put out by the Korean media and NGOs the soldiers involved in that accident had a very human response to an undeniable tragedy that I’m sure none of them will ever forget.

With that said I did decide recently to drive out to the scene of the accident and take a few pictures of the area and the memorial that was established the 2nd Infantry Division in remembrance of Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun:

The memorial is quite nice and sits just on a slope of the hill overlooking the scene of where the accident took place on Highway 56 in rural northern Kyeongi Province. Here is the inscription in the memorial in both English and Korean:

As you can see this is quite a nice memorial rightfully constructed by the 2nd Infantry Division in remembrance of what happened. However, what is sad to see, but what I am quite frankly not surprised about, is that the memorial has been hijacked by the anti-US groups who have put up their own plaques and markers to promote their own anti-US causes at a place that should be a memorial and not a place for politics:

The SOFA related plaque above is one of my favorites and if I was as disgusting and as insensitive as the anti-US groups I would put up my own plaque right next to this one asking why when ROK Army soldiers commit accidents or crimes while on and even off duty they are not tried in civilian courts but in ROK Army courts? Compare this to the fact that US soldiers are tried in Korean courts for crimes or accidents committed while off duty and tried in military courts for crimes and accidents that happened while on duty. I would also ask why when the ROK Army deploys soldiers over seas why they have a SOFA Agreement that gives their soldiers full immunity from any civilian courts of that host nation?  A perfect example of this is in Iraq when a ROK soldier accidently shot and killed a Kurdish Peshmerga soldier when fooling around with his weapon. No Kurdish courtroom for him. Then also in Iraq a Korean soldier had a vehicular accident that killed a Kurdish governmental official, once again it was handled by the ROK military according to their SOFA agreement.

Then I would also put on the plaque that despite popular opinion US soldiers have been tried in South Korean courtrooms since the 1960’s. Though US soldiers have been tried in Korean courts for decades after this accident most Koreans thought the SOFA Agreement allowed US soldiers to get away with crimes in Korea and fly back to America which is absolutely not the case. I have argued with Koreans before about the SOFA issue and not one can explain the inconsistencies I have listed above because such facts are completely not reported in the Korean media while rumor and innuendo are.

Here are a few more signs for everyone to look at:

Here is what the view over Highway 56 from the memorial looks like:

As you can see this is a busy road that used regularly by both civilian and ROK Army vehicles. The vehicle in the far left of the picture is a ROK Army vehicle. This road leads to the primary military training area in Kyeongi province known as Twin Bridges. It was this training area that the convoy of vehicles involved in the 2002 accident were heading towards. When looking at the above picture it is important to realize that this is not what the road looked like in 2002. This is what it did look like:

Walked down to ground level from the memorial and took this picture looking towards the west:

Then I took this picture looking towards the east:

As you can see the road has been significantly widened by cutting out the hillside on each of side of the road and then most importantly installing a sidewalk. The simple installation of a sidewalk along that highway in 2002 would have prevented the accident that happened. This is a fact that is completely overlooked and ignored. It is easier to completely blame the two soldiers involved in the accident instead of the Korean government sharing in some of the responsibility of what happened. I have always felt that the 2nd Infantry Division was partly responsible for what happened and has done everything possible to make amends for this tragic accident. To this day to division sends soldiers to help the families with the harvest of their crops or any other needs the families have. What has the anti-US groups or the Korean government done for these people? Nothing, accept in the case of the NGOs where they have hijacked these two girls memorial.

The Korean government has never accepted responsibility for creating an environment that was literally an accident waiting to happen. Back than many of the roads in northern Kyeongi province where military traffic (both ROK & US) travel on to training areas were extremely narrow, filled with traffic and pedestrians, and had no sidewalks. Heck where the accident happened there was hardly even a shoulder on the road. Since then the government has improved many of the roads in the area, but still to this day many of the roads are still inadequate for military traffic. Even on Highway 56 there are still many areas in need of sidewalks that have not been installed yet.

A perfect example of the current poor infrastructure is on road 364 that leads to a military training area that is not far from where the 2002 accident took place:

This road is extremely dangerous due to its narrow size, traffic, and pedestrians. I pulled off onto a dirt road leading to a rice paddy to take this picture. I had to because there was no shoulder to park on. Here is a picture looking at a turn on the road:

Notice the mirror that is needed to traverse the corner. Now try to picture military traffic trying to traverse this road much less this corner. Than not only do you have a difficult road to drive on but you also have civilians walking and parking their vehicles along the road:

What you see on this road today is similar to what the soldiers in 2002 were driving on with Highway 56 plus those soldiers had been out in the field for two weeks with little sleep combined with a radio problem in the AVLB involved in the accident. There was definitely leadership issues on the US military’s responsibility for this accident which lead to commanders and other leadership being relieved and their careers being ended, but to this day the Korean government has never accepted responsibility for their own part in this accident and to this day has not improved all the roads in the area used by military traffic.

Additionally the Korean government also has responsibility in improving basic safety for civilians in general in Korea as the country continues to be the most deadly OECD nation to drive in. Traffic accidents in Korea are especially deadly for children. Unfortunately no NGO felt like putting up a plaque at the memorial site to advocate for improved road safety in Korea, but instead felt compelled to put up pro-North Korea plaques instead.

With all the politics and demagoguery involved over the 2002 accident many people have lost sight of the fact two girls were tragically killed on the side of this road. I sincerely offer the families of Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun my condolences and hope that some day that these two girls can rest in peace.

The backlash against Michelle Wie began last summer when Michelle Wie pulled out of the John Deere Classic tournament early instead of finishing it. Many felt Wie pulled out of the tournament early so she would not finish with an even lower score than she already had that would damage her image. Many golfers were disapointed with her withdrawal from the tournament and considered it disrespectful to the game then.

Then she played in a LPGA tournament soon after and was even able to get under Korean golfer Park Se-ri’s skin during the tournament:

Wie was up on the chopping block at the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship early this month. A bewildered Pak Se-ri said at the time, I tried to talk to her a few times, but she wouldn’t even give me a response.

Ever since then Michelle Wie’s game has continued to collapse and the resentment of golfers of her has finally reached a boiling point this past week. Wie once again falling way behind on the golf course during a LPGA tournament, decided to pull one of her patented withdrawals from the tournament before her score even got more embarrassing. This did not sit well with the LPGA’s best golfer Annika Sorenstam:

“I just feel that there’s a little bit of lack of respect and class just to leave a tournament like that and then come out and practice here,” said Sorenstam, who soldiered on for four days despite returning from a back and neck injury.

“It’s a little funny that you pull out with an injury and then you start grinding. My doctor told me to rest.”

Sorenstam was quick to note that Wie received a sponsor’s exemption to the tournament. That means she was invited. The feeling on the LPGA Tour is that Wie has mistaken invitation for entitlement.

Well her life of entitlement on the golf course is quickly coming to an end as even the media who built her up are now quickly tearing her down as well:

Phil Mickelson withdrew because of a wrist injury and flew home to San Diego for an MRI. He saw two doctors, had one cortisone shot and decided to withdraw from his next tournament.

Michelle Wie withdrew because of a wrist injury and went to the range to hit balls. In fairness, at least she took a day off.

It only gets better, look how this writer wraps up his article:

But she is no longer the prodigy that amazed the golf world with such power for such youth.

She is 17, but no longer a kid.

There was a time the LPGA Tour needed Wie a lot more than Wie needed the LPGA Tour. That might not be the case anymore.

People are far more willing to forgive a bad round than bad manners.

The criticism must have had an effect because Wie once again contemplating pulling another withdrawal yesterday in another tournament decided to stay in and finished the tournament with an embarrassing 21 over par.

I have said this once and I will keep saying this again. Michelle Wie has been playing in these PGA tour events in order to build her brand name image and make money from it. However, she is doing this at the expense of all the much better LPGA golfers out there which is effecting the image of the LPGA and their players as them being below Wie and a lesser league even though many of the golfers in the LPGA are much better than her. If Michelle Wie consistently played LPGA events and lost which she probably would her name brand image would sink dramatically, but the quality of the image of the LPGA would improve because it would show how much better the other female golfers are compared to Wie. However, by consistently playing in PGA events and losing it gives her some kind of creditbility in order to make money and that is what it is all about.

Michelle Wie is still young and has unlimited potential and will have plenty of opportunity to challenge the PGA in the future, but she should at least become a serious contender before challenging the PGA.

I really can’t blame Wie for all of this because it is clear that her image and brand name marketing strategy is all being devised by her parents. How can anyone forget this statement by her father:

Michelle Wie’s father Wie Byung-wook, a professor of transportation at the University of Hawaii, agreed to a telephone interview with the Chosun Ilbo on Thursday.
I’m well aware there that some say, since Michelle Wie is an American why is she making such a fuss. But you know what, the only thing about her that’s American is her passport, she is definitely Korean.

Than to further show how far her parents are going to create an image around their daughter to make money, the Wie’s have hired a small army of image consultants to promote her. These image consultants have definitely worked because Wie is making more money than the top female golfers despite not winning anything and often embarrassing herself on the golf course.

Wie needs to go the Tiger Woods route while she still has a chance and go to college play collegiate golf to develop her game and then play regularly on the LPGA. If she is able to dominate the LPGA like Sorenstam has done at times than play in PGA events like Sorenstam has also done before. If not we may just be looking at golf’s version of Anna Kournikova.

If she does turn into a bust any bets the Korean media will still be calling her “Korea’s golf phenomenon“?

Make sure you read more over at Iceberg and Lost Nomad.

 

My wife and I were walking through Jogno earlier this week and decided to have lunch at Mr. Pizza.  I have seen the Mr. Pizzas around Seoul before, but I have never ate there before because I figured it was probably just the usual Korean style pizza with corn and other wierdness on it, with cheese that tastes like cardboard, and loaded with tobasco sauce.  I ended up being quite surprised.  Mr. Pizza is actually a pretty darn good pizza: 

The pizza had cheese that actually tasted like cheese and the toppings were of the more typical variety, though the corn still remained.  The pizza was not spicy at all and to satisfy Korean tastes every table had a bottle of tobasco sauce if needed.  What I also liked was that the pizza came with the garlic butter dipping sauce which was quite good.  Plus for a pizza that feeds two people with two refillable cokes we paid only 12,000 won which is quite good. 

Needless to say both the wife and I were quite impressed and will definitely stop by again for some more pizza before leave.  Definitely the best pizza in Korea that I have tried.