Links from this week worth checking out

-  Ever wondered about differences between Korean and Japanese bath houses?  Well Ampontan has the scoop here.

-  The Western Confucian has some strong words about suicides in Korea.

-  Cool XK2 video can be view here.

-  Ever wondered where Koreans learned to drive?  Find out here.

-  Speaking of driving in Korea, a couple of excellent posts on this subject can be found here and here.

-  gdimension has the low down on Cheju Island myths and has a great sandscape photo here.

-  See douchebaggery in action here.

-  Have you taken any of the Top 10 photos in Japan?

-  Caution, a child molester is on the loose in Japan.

UPDATE #2: You can watch the video here.

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UPDATE #1: YouTube has pulled Inside North Korea from their site due to copyright reasons. For those interested you can click the link to buy the Inside North Korea DVD from Amazon.com.

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Living overseas I wasn’t able to watch Lisa Ling’s National Geographic Explorer’s, Inside North Korea, but fortunately Nomad posted links to two You Tube postings here and here of the show. Lisa Ling travels with a Nepalese eye doctor and secretly films what she can of life inside North Korea during her trip. It was amazing to watch the eye doctor restore eye sight to people who had been blind for years and they immediately walk up to pictures of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il to thank them for giving back their eye sight without a word of thanks to the Nepalese doctor. The most chilling scene was when one old woman pledged to work harder in the salt mines for the glory of Kim Jong-il for returning her eye sight.

Lisa Ling rightfully points out how a system of fear governs the country. If these people didn’t give thanks to the Kim regime they and their whole families would have been sent to one of the massive concentration camps that Lisa Ling spent plenty of time covering. The funniest portion was when Lisa Ling visited a North Korean family and asked them if there was anything wrong with Kim Jong-il. The North Korean interpreter kept pretending he didn’t understand the question. Overall, definitely a must see documentary about life in North Korea. I’m definitely going to purchase a copy of the complete program once it is available on DVD.

Looking on the National Geographic webpage for purchasing information, I began reading through some of the comments left by people about the show. I really shouldn’t have been surprised about this, but there was people comparing North Korea to what America is today under President Bush. There were also people condemning Lisa Ling for filming the show because the Nepalese doctor could never be allowed back into North Korea to help more people and the North Korean minders with them would probably be sent to labor camps for not clamping down on the filming. I for one thank Lisa Ling for presenting an accurate picture of North Korea which is a personality cult that many people just don’t understand. It is one thing to read about it in a book or newspaper, but when you see what North Korea really is staring you right in the face on television, it is hard to ignore.

You can read more over at OFK.

This poll is just another indication of how discontented the general Korean population has become with President Roh Moo-hyun and the Sunshine Policy in general.  Here are some of the results of the poll:

In the politics category, some 83.3 percent of respondents said it is senseless to give aid to North Korea unless that country shows a basic change in attitude. The figure is an increase of 15 percent from four years ago. Other questions also triggered a clear majority of conservative answers: "Union members should restrain from staging strikes as they lower corporations’ international competitiveness" (75.6 percent, an increase of 20 percentage points); "National unification should be realized only within a framework of a free market economy" (68.8 percent); "It’s justifiable for police to use force when public order is threatened by demonstrators" (62.5 percent); and "The National Security Law should be maintained as it is" (61.5 percent).

As you can see in the graphic above, Gallup compiled their findings between conservative and progressive positions and assigned point values to them.  Koreans are actually more conservative now than they were 5 years ago, which is bad news for any progressive candidates in this year’s presidential election.  Are Koreans finally going to stop drinking the "Sunshine" Kool-Aid spoon fed to them by the progressives these past 6 years?  If this poll is any indication it appears the answer is yes and this year the population will be able to prove it with their vote in the presidential election.

(HT: Joe)

Well, here we go again, another 2nd Infantry Division Pass Policy, which pretty much just recycles from past division pass policies.  So in other words, really nothing new.  The curfew times are remaining the same, 2400-0500 on weekdays and 0100-0500 on weekends. 

Soldiers remain on a regular pass status at all times unless pass privileges are revoked by the unit commander:

This is something I would actually like to see improved upon.  Right now when a soldier looses his pass privileges to leave post the unit is limited on ways to track the guys movement.  Usually the guys that violate the removal of pass privileges are caught by other leaders in the unit who happen to see them in ville.  I can think of numerous examples of where guys who had their pass privileges revoked went off post anyway and proceeded to get into more trouble.

Why doesn’t the command program the BIDS systems to tell if an ID card has had its pass privileges revoked or not?  After the company commander revokes pass privileges, the commander should be able to call the MP station to program into BIDS that the soldier lost his pass privileges.  This would make it impossible for the soldier to get back on post without getting caught.  It would mean more work for the MPs, but it would be worth it because any troublemakers with pass privileges revoked would know they cannot beat the system if their pass status is loaded into BIDS. 

Here are the ordinary pass limits:

The percentages are all unchanged and the distance for the pass is the same as well.  So nothing new here. 

The Warrior Pass policy is pretty much staying the same as well.  This is the pass that allows you to stay in a hotel room off post during curfew.  It also allows you to stay in a off post home as well if you brought your non-command sponsored family with you to Korea.  However, there is one slight change, now even family members need to carry a Warrior Pass:

I would like to see how this is verified by MPs since many of the non-command sponsored wives are third country nationals.  Do the MPs start carding every third country national they see out past curfew? 

I have said it before, but I will reemphasize it here again the Warrior Pass should be revised to what it was just 6 years ago.  Back then a Warrior Pass meant the holder of the pass could stay out past curfew and additionally allowed these soldiers to go to an area like Hongdae.  The Warrior Passes were great because they created competition within the unit every week to get one of the limited number of Warrior Passes authorized for each unit.  Our unit First Sergeant was responsible for giving out the Warrior Passes and maintaining accountability of them.  My First Sergeant would only give a pass to soldiers that were doing a great job and were deserving of a Warrior Pass.  A side benefit of this that my unit First Sergeant really liked, was that it gave him even more leverage to influence soldier behavior when he was the holder of the coveted Warrior Passes. 

Will Warrior Passes end off post incidents?  No it won’t because the vast majority of soldiers who get in trouble off post are usually not top notch soldiers that could win a Warrior Pass to begin with.  Since they are not usually top soldiers that means they are more willing to bend the rules and get in trouble.  So if you have a curfew and off limits places you will still have that select few who will push their luck and think they can get away with it.  When they do break the rules they need to be slammed for it.  There is a saying in the Army that leaders spend 90% of their time dealing with the 10% of the problem soldiers in their unit and this 10% are the ones that get in trouble and unit leaders worth the rank on their uniform need to constantly supervise.  Since unit leaders have to constantly spend so much time dealing with this 10%, at least a Warrior Pass is a way to tangibly tell that other 90% doing the right thing that, hey we appreciate what you are doing and thus trust you enough to act like a responsible adult after curfew. 

The approval authority for the passes is staying the same with the unit commanders responsible for signing people out on leave, however with one caveat:

I am a big believer that all passes should go through the First Sergeant and then final approval of the Commander.  What this one exception causes is soldiers going on pass without being accounted for by the First Sergeant.  Only a certain percentage of soldiers can go on pass and by allowing staff officers to sign off on pass forms I can see soldiers slipping through the cracks and not being properly accounted for or counseled before going on pass.  Every soldier should look their First Sergeant and Commander in the eye before going on pass, not their staff captain at the office.  The soldiers of the staff sections of 2ID headquarters all have a First Sergeant and a Commander, let them do their jobs.

Here is part of the policy that alludes to one of my old tricks:

Hold a few random Saturday and Sunday formations and account for everyone in your unit.  You will be amazed by what you find out. 

Overall, this policy is nothing new.  It would be nice to see some bold and creative leadership for a change, but in 2ID just like in years past, bold and creative leadership is hard to find. 

From the Stars and Stripes:

Prince Harry learned last week that his royal status will curry no favor with Army and Air Force Exchange Service employees — unless he calls ahead.

The prince, who made an unannounced visit to the home of the 48th Fighter Wing last Sunday, was part of a contingent of British troops turned away from the register for failure to have a proper American identification card to shop at an AAFES facility.

“As soon as the first soldier got turned away, the prince and the other soldier left the line,” said AAFES spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Konop.

A local British paper reported that Prince Harry was trying to buy an iPod, Apple’s popular music player.

I only have one question about this, how is it AAFES can turn away Prince Harry, but for some reason can never seem to turn away an ajumma in the commissary who shows up every week with a cart full of ox tails, pork strips, Spam, Herbal Essence shampoo, Ritz crackers, among a host of other items popular in the Korean blackmarket?

The USFK Commander General B.B. Bell recently spoke in front of the US House Armed Services Committee about the situation on the Korean peninsula.  Really nothing ground breaking, but he rightfully brings up the announcement of a ROK military draw down:

The USFK chief cited worries over the reduction of troops and military service cuts in accordance with Seoul’s Defense Reform Plan 2020. "It is our hope that [South Korea] carefully consider these large force cuts unless they are matched by similar North Korean reductions,” he said.

The statement was unexpected, since Bell neither discussed the matter with Korea’s Defense Ministry nor notified it. The 2020 Defense Reform Plan envisions cutting South Korean troops from about 680,000 to 500,000 by 2020, and Seoul recently decided to shorten compulsory military service by six months, from 24 for Army and Marines to 18 by 2014.

This reduction in forces may or may not happen due to a new administration taking over the Blue House next year.  The force reductions and mandatory service reduction I think are just election year gimmicks by President Roh.  When a new president takes over I’m sure national security related matters such as potential force reductions will get a thorough review. 

Interestingly enough General Bell also commented on perceptions of the younger generation of Korea on the USFK presence:

Turning to perceptions among South Koreans of the threat, Bells said, “As memories of American sacrifices in the Korean War fade, Korean citizens, seeking what they see as a more equal alliance relationship, question the importance of our long-standing alliance. Many raise the issue of [South Korean] sovereignty, and a desire for what they characterize as more self-reliance and independence."

The ROK Army today is self reliant enough to defeat any North Korean attack without US military assistance, however the war would be more protracted and the devastation to the peninsula would be extensive compared to a war that would be ended quicker with US military assistance. 

Plus the ROK government is saving a lot of money by not having to buy systems such as signal intelligence, early warning, among a host of other technical systems that the US military is providing for Korea free of charge.  Jodi has a discussion going on her site about this issue of Korean self reliance and she brings up that the ROK military may never be truly self reliant unless the US leaves and the Korean government is forced to buy the systems the US currently provides for them.  My fear is they won’t spend the money to buy these systems and keep drinking the "sunshine" kool-aid that the Norks are really just misunderstood brothers and hope for the best.  Hoping for the best is not a national security strategy, but with the current Korean government it is. 

The US has security agreements with many nations around the world such as Germany, Italy, Australia, UK, Japan, etc.  Are any of these nations not self reliant?  The next time you hear someone in Korea complaining about self reliance just simply point out the delays for moving the 2nd Infantry Division off the DMZ and Yongsan Garrison out of Seoul.  Then the next thing to point out is the operational control delay.   If anyone in Korea feels like their nation isn’t self reliant then it is clearly a situation of their own making and their own government is doing everything possible not to change it. 

The Marmot is reporting that the soldier involved in the despicable grandma rape case has been sentenced to 4 years in prison.  The Marmot thinks that the soldier got off light.  In a US court system and especially a military court it appears he did get off easy.  Take the 2003 Camp Jackson sexual assault case for example, the NCO involved in the rape of a KATUSA soldier was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

However, if you compare the soldier’s sentence to Korean rape cases he was actually punished quite heavily.  Take this case of a Korean national raping a US Army private just arriving in country and missed the bus to Yongsan and instead decided to take a taxi.  Instead of a ride to Yongsan she was raped by the cab driver.  What happened to the cab driver you may ask?  Not much:

The Seoul High Court yesterday overturned the conviction by a lower court of a 49-year old taxi driver who had been charged with the rape of a 19-year old U.S. female soldier.
The man had received a 10-month prison term in the original trial after being convicted of luring the newly-arrived servicewoman from Incheon International Airport to a hotel near there where the woman said he raped her.

The woman reported the incident to U.S. military authorities, who asked for assistance from Korean prosecutors.  The appeals court ruled that the woman had shown no evidence of having refused the man’s advances, and that he used not enough violence to constitute rape.

Fortunately a higher court later over turned this ridiculous ruling and gave the guy a sentence of two and half years in prison.  But still two and half years for a predator that raped a 19 year old soldier?  Isn’t this rape case just as disgusting as the rape of a 67 year old woman?  At least this rape had some one arrested for it unlike when a US Army officer was raped by a Korean man in Taegu.  How about this rape of an English teacher in Seoul that is particularly unsettling.  Here is my personal favorite of a Korean man whose only punishment for attempting to rape a woman in his car was to lose his license.  Most recently the ROK Army soldier who sexually assaulted a US female soldier on Camp Casey only received a sentence of 4 years probation.

Going by the Korean standard of recent sentencing of sexual assaults against foreigners, the convicted USFK soldier in this rape case should have received up to two and half years in jail to a minimum of four years probation and possibly lose his driver’s license.

For all the talk about the unfair SOFA Agreement, this is just one case in many I have seen where if the military tried the case the criminal would have probably spent more time in jail.  Perfect example is the Camp Jackson case I mentioned earlier.  Either way the criminal is in jail and justice was served, but it would be nice to see justice served against the criminals committing sexual assaults against foreigners as well.

Here is a listing from Virgin-vacations of the top subway systems in the world.  Here is how the Top 11 came out:

1.London, England

2. Paris, France

3. Moscow, Russia

4. Madrid, Spain

5. Tokyo, Japan

6. Seoul, Korea

7. New York, USA

8. Montreal, Canada

9. Beijing, China

10. Hong Kong, China

11. Sao Paulo, Brazil

I have not been on any of the subways in Europe so I’m not sure if they are better than Tokyo’s or Seoul’s system, but I have been on the New York City subway and I found Tokyo’s and Seoul’s systems to be much superior.  I also find Seoul’s subway to be superior to Tokyo’s just slightly due to cost and easier for foreigners to understand.  Maybe some of my commenters can answer if the European subways are far superior than Seoul’s or Tokyo’s subways? 

HT: Durf

You would think the government would have more pressing things to work on then drafting robot ethics legislation:

South Korea is drafting an ethical charter to govern how robots will function alongside humans, officials said Wednesday.  The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said the government plans to issue a "Robot Ethics Charter" for manufacturers and users to cover the ethical standards that must be programmed into the machines.

"The government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to develop strong intelligence in the near future," the ministry said in a statement.

So what is driving this?  Well, I think Korean Information and Communications Minister, Park Hye-young, has the answer:

"Imagine if some people treat androids as if the machines were their wives. Others may get addicted to interacting with them just as many internet users get hooked to the cyberworld," she said.

I can imagine what kind of addictive interacting with them Ms. Park is talking about when I read "shocking" stories like this.

From the Stars & Stripes:

The top U.S. commander in South Korea on Wednesday proposed immediately doubling the number of troops on accompanied tours in that country, and eventually shifting most troops with families to three-year tours there.

In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Army Gen. B.B. Bell also said he plans, in the near future, to give accompanied tour status to troops with unauthorized spouses in South Korea.

I think this is a great idea if approached correctly.  First of all more family housing on post needs to be built.  I wouldn’t increase the number of families in USFK if it meant more dependents living off post.  Most housing near USFK facilities are sub-standard plus USFK would run into landlords ripping off American families in a number ways that most of us who have been in Korea a few years know about.  Plus you have many young couples that are probably not mature enough to live off post on their own in a foreign country as well.  Also the force protection considerations of having that many family members living possibly off post needs to be considered.  Finally, the NEO plans would have to be updated and tested to see if they can accommodate the increased amount of family members this would need to be evacuated in case of hostilities on the peninsula. 

So great idea if approached right and facilities and built on post; could be a bad idea if these families are just sent to live in the ville and fend for themselves.  This is the scenario the hustler Korean land lords are probably praying for. 

You can read more on this at Lost Nomad.