As many of you may remember, last year South Korea decided they would rather send a over a billion dollars to North Korea this year rather than properly fund the US-ROK alliance. Well now the impacts from this decision may effect the USFK transformation plans:

In a written statement to a Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on Monday, Gen. Burwell Bell said, Without more equitable allied SMA funding, we may be forced to recommend a range of fiscal measures to the U.S. government, including a review of base relocation and consolidation plans.

Commenting on a new Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on Korea’s cost sharing support for the USFK for 2007-2008 concluded at the end of last year, Bell said, The two allied nations should contribute approximately 50 percent each of the non-personnel stationing costs (NPSC) for U.S. forces in Korea.

But Korea paid 38 percent of upkeep last year and is to pay 41 percent this year. Bell said that was still short of the principle of equitable 50-50 cost sharing. He added, I cannot allow readiness to suffer, and I will not allow the quality of life of my service members or families to suffer.

In other base transformation news, if the expanded Camp Humphreys is to be built a contracting consortium has been selected to build the base expansion. There is only one problem, of one of the five contractors chosen; the company’s president is the husband of the commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers Far East District, Colonel Janice Dombi who’s department was responsible for awarding the contracts. Can anyone say conflict of interest?

Here is my nominee.  Unbelievable.

The Party Pooper has the scoop (here and here) of one of the biggest news stories of this year, the showdown between King Bhumibal and Rain.  Funny stuff, and yes we all do owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Thailand. 

Courtesy of OFK, he reminds us that North Korea is now 11 days past the agreed upon deadline to shut down their nuclear reactor. Since North Korea has once again failed to live up to their end of an agreement what penalties have they faced for this? Well not much. First of all the US agreed to give them back $25 million dollars worth of frozen funds in a Macao bank that were linked to the counterfeiting of US currency. The funds were given back to them for a “pledge” from the North Koreans to use the money for humanitarian purposes. Yeah right.

Secondly, the South Koreans went and handed over $400,000 worth of cash in a suitcase to the North Koreans to use to supposedly buy computers. Sure they will. Then to top it of 400,000 tons of rice aid was sent to North Korea despite their failure to meet the nuclear deadline. Additionally the slave labor park in Kaesong is still being allowed to operate in violation of a UN resolution.

If these are the penalties for non-compliance I would hate to see what the rewards will be.

Here is a cartoon from Naver that was linked to by a commenter at the Marmot’s Hole that I found interesting.  My Korean skills are limited but here is my translation, native speakers let me know if I’m off.  The top frame has the American tank running over the names of the two girls killed and GI crimes while above it, it says the US has a culture of excuses in regards to these issues.  In the bottom frame it says that the US is a culture of condolences after the Cho shooting at Virginia Tech. 

Of course this cartoon is nonsense because USFK made apologies for the 2002 armored vehicle accident and made restitution payments to the families involved.  Additionally US president George Bush made an additional apology to the Korean people over the accident.  Now lets compare that to when US Army Major David Berry was murdered in Itaewon in 2000 by a Korean man, no restitution was made, much less an apology from the President of Korea. 

Additionally absurd is that for every GI crime that happens apologies are made from the chain of command even before the offender has even been convicted of anything.  Perfect example is with the recent taxi cab related incident in Kunsan.  The base commander apologized to the victim and locked down the camp before anyone has been convicted of anything.  Heck when I was in 2ID I can still remember when the Assistant Division Commander, General Martz went to apologize to the mayor of Uijongbu for a taxi cab related incident. 

Now let’s compare this to when Koreans have raped on multiple occasions, sexually assaulted, stabbed, assaulted, or kidnapped and paraded on TV, American soldiers.  Koreans are usually not even arrested for crimes against US military servicemembers and on the rare occasions that they are, they serve no jail time.  So which country really has a culture of excuses?

Everyone in USFK is getting into taxi cab related incidents now, even the GNC employees:

Kunsan Air Base’s commander restricted all airmen to the base Monday after two Air Force police officers and a third American allegedly pummeled a local cab driver and tried to make off with his car early that morning.

Col. Jeffrey Lofgren, 8th Fighter Wing commander, also pledged a “thorough investigation” and “appropriate action” against those involved in the assault, according to a news release.

The 48-year-old driver, identified only by his surname of Lee, was treated for bruises at a hospital and released after the 1:30 a.m. attack in Kunsan City, South Korean police told Stars and Stripes.

Police said two of the suspects are two members of Kunsan’s 8th Security Forces squadron. The third American is a 23-year-old of Korean descent who works at a GNC health products store on base, police said.

(more…)

Is what Kim Dae-joong claiming, that your childhood was ruined by coming to America, true?:

The children led their lives apart from their parents and roamed the streets. Living in blue-collar neighborhoods, the schools the children attended were often prone to crime and offered a poor educational environment. Not all of them, of course, but the children of many Korean emigrants, lived lives without pride or community consciousness, and eventually ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. In the end, many Koreans who went to America for the sake of their children’s education saw their children ruined by it instead.

 I don’t think it is true that all these Korean-American kids are ruined by coming to America and Kim Dae-joong is just overreacting to one isolated incident of violence from one emotionally disturbed person.   However, I am interested in hearing opinions from those who live in the community.  

The Stars and Stripes has a profile of Korea’s coolest taxi:

For the cost of regular taxi fare, Cho Young-ho gives servicemembers and others a veritable Hard Rock Cafe on wheels — minus the $10 hamburger — while they drive toward their destination.

Cho worked as an amplifier technician before beginning driving his own taxi 15 years ago. Music soon became a passion; he began searching for rare recordings in markets and secondhand stores throughout Seoul.

He added the audio equipment and decorations about four years ago, to rave reviews from servicemembers.

I have never caught this guy’s cab, but I have been in a few other cabs that had been greatly customized much like what this cab driver has done.  The coolest cab I was ever in was one that had on the outside these really awesome custom rims with a ground effects kit that lit the ground underneath the cab green.  Then on the inside he a karaoke system, TV, and a disco ball among a host of other customizations. 

Check out what this guy had to say about Americans:

“They are usually very amazed and enthusiastic. Some go mad, really!” Cho said. “Their positive reactions bring me a lot of joy, too.”

Cho says he’s had some problems with passengers leaving without paying or roughing up his taxi. But overall, he says he often enjoys Americans most among his foreign passengers.

“The American passengers are mostly open-minded, so generous and sincerely appreciate my effort, including an unexpected tip,” Cho said. “Above all, they know how to enjoy the music from their hearts.”

Hopefully idiots like this don’t ruin Cho’s good attitude towards Americans.

Kim Yun-jin is ranked only one spot ahead of Lindsay Lohan?

Via Gar, comes what will probably be one of the most disgusting news stories of the year out of South Korea:

Police in Korea arrested five people for trafficking 443 underprivileged people, including the disabled, to sea farms and slave ships on remote islands. Three more suspects possibly involved in the smuggling ring are wanted by authorities.  (…..)

Then they sold a 25-year-old mentally retarded man who visited them for a job to an owner of a fishing boat. Before that, they bought drinks for him, made him have a sex with a prostitute and burdened him with 5 million won of debt, the police said.

They also charged him 13 million won in pre-paid wage; he tried to escape from the boat three days after he was sold.

I sure hope there is some outrage over this.