The Camp Casey First Sergeant that was charged with rape has been convicted of a lesser charge and sentenced:

Sgt. 1st Class Carlos Reynolds remained steadfast in his innocence, even as a court-martial jury Friday sentenced him to 2½ years in prison for indecently assaulting two female soldiers.

Reynolds, formerly acting first sergeant for the 2nd Infantry Division’s 302nd Brigade Support Battalion, Foxtrot Company, also received a bad-conduct discharge and rank reduction to E-1.

The NCO in question had some heated words for the court:

Reynolds said he “acknowledged and respected the findings” of the eight jurors, then apologized for their having to be in court.

But he did not apologize for the assaults and two other counts for which he was convicted: filing a false official statement and obstructing justice. Reynolds faced up to 20 years prison for the four offenses.

Prosecutor Capt. Marlin Paschal asked Reynolds at the sentencing hearing if he had thought of the crime’s effect on the family of one of the victims.

“Why should I do that, sir?” Reynolds responded, adding that the victim hadn’t considered him or his family.

Reynolds, 40, has a wife and three children, age 20, 15 and 11, living in Tennessee.

As you can see when it comes to these cases there are victims all around that are effected. If the NCO didn’t do what he was convicted of he still put himself in a compromising position to be accused of sexual assault by not having any witnesses with him. If you are a senior NCO or officer especially a First Sergeant of Commander only go into soldiers’ rooms with a witness to avoid opening yourself up to accusations that may be untrue.

USFK leaders are once again emphasizing the danger of an off post terror attack in wake of the Fort Dix terror bust:

“The terrorists are being more wide range,” said Lt. Col. Anthony Allen, deputy chief of antiterrorism and force protection. “They’re not here looking at striking the United States. They’re looking at representatives of the United States, and a representative of the United States is an American soldier.”

He also said South Korea is “the perfect place to plan a future attack” because it is safe and has stable businesses, a growing Islamic community, and a small group of people who oppose the U.S. military presence here. “They want to pick places that haven’t been hit,” he said. “Korea is a prime target.”

The terrorist threats against South Korea is nothing new considering the number of terror cells including Hezbollah, Al Qaida, and Jemaah Islamiah have been detected or broke up in Korea before.  I still think an attack on the Seoul subway system is more likely than an attack on a club because of how easy it is to transport a bomb on the subway and the amount casualties it would cause.  Can anyone imagine what the back lash against foreigners and USFK in Korea would be after such an attack?  It would not be fun to be living in Korea after such an attack.

With that said though I am very confident in the Korean authorities ability to monitor and break up terror cells in Korea as is evident by their past performance.  Any guesses on how many bugging devices are in the Itaewon Mosque right now?

From Reuters:

Japanese motorists may one day pump their cars full of sake, the fermented rice wine that is Japan’s national drink, if a pilot project to create sake fuel is a hit with locals in this mountain resort.

The government-funded project at Shinanomachi, 200 kilometres (124 miles) northwest of Tokyo, will produce cheap rice-origin ethanol brew with the help of local farmers who will donate farm waste such as rice hulls to be turned into ethanol.

"We want to present the next generation a preferable blue print — a self-sustainable use of local fuels," said Yasuo Igarashi, a professor of applied microbiology at the University of Tokyo who heads the three year project.

I will be amazed if this works, but maybe this is what Japanese Prime Minister Abe was referring to when he proposed to cut greenhouse emissions by 50%.  No word yet on the potential fuel benefits of soju. 

I have to admit I have always wondered why the North Korean soldiers wear so many medals and now I know why:

South Korea is not the only country that is fascinated by the secretive North Korea. The same goes for China. Recently, a Chinese entertainment internet site 56ent.com posted a collection of photos titled, “Hard to get photos of North Korean soldiers.” These photos exposed North Korean soldiers covered in badges and medals as well as young students in military training.

The interesting thing is that the people with the badges stuck on their chest are not only retired officers, but soldiers still in service.

First, students from the Revolutionary Academy are introduced. In response, netizens questioned, “Are medals some decorative ornament in North Korea?” ridiculing that the medals were awarded to soldiers at such a young age.

Furthermore, Chinese people find it interesting that the majority of students from the revolutionary academy, whose parents performed meritorious deeds and died for the country wear badges inherited from their parents.

HT: Reader

So says the environmentalists:

South Korean fishermen caught 80 percent more whales than they officially reported, a finding that is fuelling suspicions that — far from accidentally netting cetaceans — they deliberately try to snare them, New Scientist says.

In a report carried in this Saturday’s issue, the British science weekly cites DNA experts, who estimate South Korean trawlermen caught 827 minke whales between 1999 and 2003.

This compares with the figure of 458 that the fishermen officially reported to the authorities. Whale meat can be sold legally in South Korea if the animals are caught by accidentally in fishing nets, but these deaths must be reported to the authorities.

I wouldn’t be surprised that some illegal whale hunting is going on in Korea, but I have to wonder about the data collection methods of the researchers to determine this:

Scientists led by Scott Baker of Oregon State University bought minke meat in South Korean markets and used DNA "fingerprinting" — getting the genetic ID of each animal — to calculate how many individual whales had been caught.

The figure of 827 is arrived at mathematically, using the number of signatures to estimate the whales’ population and the size of the so-called bycatch over the four years.

I fail to see how genetically testing a few strips of whale meat leads to the number of 827?  I like whales as much as the next person, but whale protesters have very little creditability with me, especially when read things like this and the fact that the top whale environmentalist Paul Watson preaches that mankind is a virus that needs to be wiped out. 

From the Chosun:

North Korea’s immediate banking troubles will likely be resolved this week, as chances are high that the U.S. will accept the North’s demand to transfer its assets in Macau to a third country via a U.S. bank. Diplomatic sources on Wednesday said the U.S. is inclined to allow a U.S. bank to play an intermediary role in transferring the recently unfrozen US$25 million. Quoting a U.S. official, AP reported the U.S. Treasury was expected to make a decision by as early as Thursday. The official told the news agency, “The North Koreans want to use an American bank because they think the transaction would help secure their continued access to the global financial system.”

Let’s see the North Koreans counterfeit our money and then we agree to launder the $25 million dollars worth of money for them and give them access to the world financial system in return for them to implement an agreement they have already violated and we know they have no intention of ever implementing on top of all the goodies the South Korean government has already given the North Koreans.  That is what the US North Korea policy has been reduced to. 

Japanese motor companies overtook the United States in car sales last year:

Japan has regained its position as the world’s largest car producer after 13 years. China ranks third following the United States and outdistancing Germany. According to statistics for 2006 published by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles on Monday, Japan overtook the U.S. by producing 11.48 million cars, up 6.3 percent from 2005 (10.8 million cars). Japan was the world’s top car-producing country from 1980 to 1993 but fell to second in 1994.

The U.S. slipped to second for the first time since 1994, producing 11.26 million vehicles. U.S. production decreased 5.7 percent from 2005 (11.95 million cars), registering a decrease for the fourth consecutive year. China produced 7.19 million cars in 2006, overtaking Germany, which manufactured 5.82 million cars, and becoming the world’s third-ranking car-producing nation. China’s production showed a sharp increase of 25.9% from 2005 (5.71 million cars). South Korea ranked fifth, producing 3.94 million cars, up 4.3 percent from 2005. France, the sixth-ranked country, made 3.17 million cars, down 10.7 percent from the previous year and lagging far behind South Korea.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call to the US automobile industry which appears to be poised to be by passed by China in coming years as well.  What is interesting is that China manufacturing abilities are being aided through industrial espionage being committed in Korea:

State prosecutors yesterday charged nine former and incumbent employees of Kia Motors Corp., the nation’s second-largest automaker, for leaking core manufacturing technologies to China.

The illegal transfer would cause trillions of won in loss to the domestic car industry, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said.

Five of them were arrested and indicted in the first industrial espionage case involving the automotive industry in Korea. Four others were charged without detention.

They are suspected of colluding to leak confidential data on nine separate occasions from Kia to a Chinese company since November. They received a total of 230 million won ($248,620) in exchange for the data, the prosecution said.

It seems like everything is made in China now a days so why not our cars as well seems to be the trend.

Well now after initially testing positive for mercury the water at Hannam Village near Yongsan is apparently safe to drink again:

Andrew, his father and Brig. Gen. Al Aycock, who runs Installation Command Korea, all spent time drinking the tap water on Hannam Village on Wednesday in an effort to revive residents’ confidence in the water following a recent mercury scare.

“In my opinion, most of the residents at Hannam Village, their concern is for their children,” Stephens said. “I wouldn’t have my son drink this water if I wasn’t confident there was no mercury in it.”

On Friday, the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine at Camp Zama, Japan, alerted Yongsan that a monthly drinking water sample taken April 6 was positive for mercury: slightly more than allowed in Hannam’s water and nearly five times the acceptable level in samples from the Army Corps of Engineers Far East District Compound.

Yongsan officials scrambled to alert residents — warning them not to use the water for brushing their teeth, cooking or drinking. They placed several 1,000-gallon water tanks on Hannam and held a special town hall meeting on Sunday to answer concerns.

New samples were rushed through an approved South Korean lab and when the results returned Tuesday evening showed negative for mercury, officials breathed a sigh of relief.

Now the question residents have to ask themselves is if they trust the Korean lab or a Japanese lab to give accurate test results. 

There is only one catch:

Before President George W. Bush leaves office, he hopes to sign a formal peace treaty putting an end to the Korean War, the top U.S. envoy to Seoul said yesterday.
It is all contingent, however, on North Korea taking steps to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

If a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War is contingent on Pyongyang giving up their nuclear weapons it is never going happen.  First of all Pyongyang has no intention of ever giving up their nuclear weapons and secondly the North Korean regime cannot agree to a peace treaty with the US because they need the threat of an American attack to legitimize their military first policy that has lead to widespread poverty and famine of the North Korean people.  A peace treaty removes the very reason for the siege mentality over their people that the North Korean regime promotes.

There was a suicide bombing in Irbil, Iraq today which is the city located a few kilometers from where the Korean Zaytun Division is located:

According to the Associated Press (AP), a suicide truck bomb struck at 8 a.m. on Wednesday in Irbil, the northern Iraqi city where Korea’s Zaytun troops are stationed.

At least 19 local police and civilians were killed in the blast and another 80 were wounded, the AP report said. Officials from the Zaytun base said no Koreans were injured.

The explosion occurred outside the Interior Ministry of the local Kurdish government, which is about six or seven kilometers from the Zaytun base.

According to witnesses, a truck disguised as carrying cleaning products exploded as it drove by the building, seriously damaging the building and scattering wreckage as far as 100m.

The Kurdish government blamed the attack on Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked Sunni Islamist group.

Apparently the Kurdish government had known an attack was imminent due to arrests made last week of a terrorist cell that admitted that they received training in Iran.  Anyone surprised?