Have you ever wonder who has been cutting Kim Jong-il’s hair all these years?  In a ROK Drop exclusive the dictator’s barber has been uncovered.

I just got done watching the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Lynne Cheney absolutely unloaded on Wolf.  Cheney was there to talk about a childrens book she wrote and it turned into a complete media ambush on Cheney.  Lynne Cheney though absolutely smashed Wolf Blitzer.  If for some reason you still aren’t convinced of media bias at CNN then watch this video or the transcript over a Hugh Hewitt.

Lynne Cheney made a great point when she said she wrote a children’s book about the great things about America because of all the negativity in the media that children were seeing every day.  She wanted to write a book reminding them about all the great things about America and what does CNN do during a book interview with Lynne Cheney about her book, turn it into a ambush involving sex, lies, lesbians, rape, and whatever else the Democratic talking points accuse her of.

I think it is still a toss up of whose media is worse, the Korean media or the US media?  I can’t wait until this election is over so maybe some sanity can return to US television news but I’m not getting my hopes up.

A North Korean spy ring has been uncovered in South Korea and it’s members are really not surprising:

Authorities are holding a U.S. citizen, Michael Chang (44), who they say was trained as a spy in North Korea between 1989 and 1993, became a member of the ruling Korean Workers Party, pledged allegiance to the party, and spied for the North for 10 years. The National Intelligence Service and prosecutors on Thursday also alleged that a former member of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party’s central committee, Lee Jung-hun (42), and businessman Sohn Jung-mok (42) were persuaded by Chang to join him in spying for the North and until recently provided classified information to North Korean agents.

The Seoul Central District Court issued arrest warrants for the three former student activists on Thursday. The NIS is expanding its investigation and also arrested the vice DLP secretary general Choi Ki-young and another former student activist identified as Lee (42) the same day.

By using the DLP’s political organization and cover, the spy ring’s tentacles stretched throughout just about every anti-US movement in Korea including the Camp Humphreys protests:

The DPL vice secretary general has reportedly taken a leading role in pro-North Korean activities. He played a key part in organizing protests against the move of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province and was also involved in demonstrations condemning the government’s support for the UN resolution sanctioning North Korea in the wake of its nuclear test. Party sources said Choi showed more interest in issues like the abolition of the National Security Law and anti-American protests in Pyeongtaek than questions of public welfare. He also participated in candle light vigils over the killing of two middle school girls by a U.S. Army vehicle some years ago.

Lee Jung-hun also leaned toward a pro-North Korean ideology of national liberation when he was a member of the DLP’s central committee. National liberation, along with proletarian democracy, was one of the two major ideological strands among student activists in the 1980s. Since former student activists of the national liberation faction reportedly took a more active part in protests against free trade talks with the U.S. and the move of the USFK base, there is speculation linking the espionage scandal to the organized anti-American movement.

The spy ring has also been linked to the USFK environmental issue and even to trying to influence the election for the mayor of Seoul. Here is a report from One Free Korea:

A new report, not yet available in English, claims that North Korea used the Fifth Columnists of the “Il Shim Hue” to help the ruling leftist Uri Party in local elections last May. The report, based on leaks from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, claims that North Korea used Il Shim Hue (rough translation: The One-Minded Hundred) to direct the Democratic Labor Party throw its votes and support to the Uri Party to prevent the GNP candidate, Oh Se Hoon, from winning. Oh won, defeating Uri Justice Minister Kang Kum-Sil.

North Korea also directed Il Shim Hue to assemble detailed dossiers on South Korean politics: politicians, civic groups, issues, parties, you name it. One particular issue that concerned them was how South Koreans reacted to North Korea’s recent nuke test. The NIS claims that Il Shim Hue members canvassed popular sentiment about the test throughout South Korean society. Recent polls show a substantial minority (but thankfully, still a minority) blamed America for North Korea’s nuke test, something the ruling party eagerly latched onto.

Another huge shocker: North Korea had plans to infiltrate environmental groups to use them to inspire more anti-American sentiment. You may recall the recent South Korean film, The Host, a monster flick loosely based on a 2000 incident in which a civilian mortician on a U.S. Army post dumped a small amount of highly dilute formaldeyde into the Han River. The incident became a huge story in the South, and The Host inspired some icky and unhinged anti-American comments from one ruling party legislator, which neither the legislator nor his party have retracted, to my knowledge.

I and other K-bloggers have long chronicled the anti-US hate groups activities in Korea so really none of this is surprising to me. You can read more about my postings on the Camp Humphreys relocation issue here and the USFK pollution issue here.

The anti-US hate groups have been doing everything possible to stop the USFK relocation because the North Korean puppet masters did not want the US forces along the DMZ and in Seoul to be relocated further south on the peninsula and outside of North Korean artillery range. So they turned to their “activist” groups in the south to stop the relocation by playing towards Korean pride and trying to portray USFK as bullies because of the relocating of farmers to expand the base. The vast majority of the farmers took the compensation money and moved but the anti-US hate groups latched on to a handful of farmers as cover to launch their violent attacks on Camp Humphreys and have delayed the relocation. Here are the “activists” in action:

The pollution issue is the second front in stopping the USFK relocation. These “activists” claimed that the vacated Second Infantry Division bases were heavily polluted and were a danger to the civilian population if USFK did not pay to clean the bases up. The estimated costs to clean the bases by the “activists” was a completely unrealistic number they knew USFK would never pay. For those who have never served in Korea, the USFK camps are literally an oasis of green in the middle of dense urban cities. The camps after the Korean war were located on the outskirts of Korean cities but the camps have now been swallowed up by the growing cities which are a sign of Korea’s amazing development since the war. It is partly because of this development that USFK wants to relocate the camps to the sparsely populated Camp Humphreys area. If anything the USFK camps are the cleanest piece of land in the surrounding communities and some have been designated to become parks when handed over; yet the anti-US hate groups have successfully used this issue to further delay the USFK relocation.
However, none of this is anything new. Even before the USFK relocation issue surfaced the anti-US hate groups jumped on other anti-US issues in order to create a wedge between the US and the general South Korean population to great success. In fact this spy scandal has to be the worst kept secret in South Korea. The real scandal is why didn’t the ruling government do anything about it a long time ago? How high up the political ladder does this spy ring extend? The police do allegedly have a list of more possible spies that they intend to investigate:

However, the progressive party cannot but concern the aftermath, as its several leaders are scheduled to visit Pyongyang next Tuesday. DLP spokesman Park Yong-jin said the visit plan would not change, but some political watchers say they wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the visit would be cancelled.

Politicians of the 386 generation are also keeping a close eye on the case, as the prosecution secured a list of some 386 generation figure names at Chang’s house.

The 386 generation refers to those who were born in the 1960s and participated in pro-democracy struggles in the 1980s, and many of them are regarded as core members of the Roh administration.

Chang’s list had six figures names, including Choi. Four figures among the five arrested are also in the 386 generation, all except Chang. Because he is acquainted with many other members of the 386 generation, the case may develop into the largest spy scandal since 1997.

How far is the Korean government going to allow investigators to dig? This may just be the tip of the iceberg.

More from One Free Korea here.

This happens more than you would think:

A Camp Casey soldier was sentenced to 17 months in prison Tuesday after admitting he used another soldier’s credit card in a Dongducheon shopping spree.

Sgt. Jeffrey Mitchell of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 15th Field Artillery, Battery B pleaded guilty to multiple larcenies and signature forgeries, making a false official statement and wrongfully disposing of property.

Military Judge Col. Gregory Gross also sentenced Mitchell to reduction to pay grade E-1, forfeiture of all pay and a bad conduct discharge during Tuesday’s general court-martial at Camp Casey.

Mitchell is the second Army sergeant jailed this week on theft charges. On Monday, Sgt. Jeffrey A. Minnick of the 2nd ID’s 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery pleaded guilty to charges of theft, attempted theft and property destruction. He was sentenced to four months in jail, reduced to the lowest rank of E-1 and given a bad conduct discharge for stealing fellow soldiers’ debit cards from the battalion’s mail.

Mitchell was working as a bus monitor Oct. 14, 2005, at Camp Casey, when he found a wallet on a bus seat at the end of the night. Bus monitor duty is an extra duty shifted among soldiers to oversee others returning from a night on the town in Dongducheon.

“[Mitchell] took the credit cards out and pitched the wallet out the window,” said prosecutor Capt. Charles Halverson.

I haver personally seen multiple people go down for credit card fraud before. What kills me is that I saw one guy go down for credit card fraud only a few weeks after another guy in the unit had been caught and imprisoned for credit card fraud. Mail clerks for example receive extensive training about properly handling mail and the penalties for fraud yet I have seen multiple mail clerks go down for credit card fraud as well. Some people just think they are smarter than the system and won’t get caught, but what do they do? They go and withdraw money from a post ATM in full view of video cameras or go shopping in the PX with the stolen credit card in full view of the cameras there. It is a good thing most criminals are stupid so they can be easily caught.

Here is a group of some of the stupidest 2ID criminals of all time who just lost their legal appeal:

Three of five 2nd Infantry Division soldiers convicted of robbing a taxi driver and stuffing him in a trunk on Christmas lost their legal appeals, the Korean Supreme Court confirmed Wednesday.

Pvt. Kidrem Cortez Porter will serve four years in prison for his role in the crime, minus 67 days of time served at a Seoul detention center, Chief Justice Kim Yong-ran ruled Oct. 13.

Porter, who was turned over to Korean authorities in February, will serve the sentence after he completes an unrelated 18-month sentence for a March 2005 theft. Spc. Nicholas John Durkin and Spc. Ivey Nathaniel Westbrook, both sentenced to three and a half years in prison, had their appeals rejected.

The 2nd Infantry Division is complying with the decision and will transfer the two soldiers to South Korean custody on Friday, a 2nd ID spokeswoman said.

Pfc. John D. McCall Jr. and Pvt. Javon Joshua Reid did not appeal their three and a half year sentences and were transferred to South Korean custody Aug. 11.

The infamous “Stuff em in the Trunk Gang’s” stupidity is going to be hard to top. I’m sure some stupid criminal is going to try though.

With South Korea toying with the idea of implementing increased UN sanctions against North Korea, Pyongyang has come out and threatened South Korea in usual Nork rhetoric fashion:

North Korea warned Wednesday if South Korea joins U.S.-led sanctions against the Stalinist country, it will regard it as “a declaration of confrontation.” The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said it will treat South Korean cooperation with a UN resolution sanctioning the North as “a declaration of confrontation against its own people” and a negation of the 2000 Joint Statement by former president Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il “and take corresponding measures.” “The South will bear the entire responsibility and pay dearly if international sanctions it backs have destructive results for inter-Korean relations,” a committee spokesman said in a statement.

I tend to agree with Dr. Lankov that the South Koreans will only implement sanctions to a degree to where it appears they are doing something to get international pressure off of them, but not enough of anything that effects or changes the current situation.  Think of it like the Korean Zaytun unit in Iraq, they are just there as a symbolic presence and have no real value, that is what I expect any South Korean sanctions against North Korea to be, symbolic and with no real value.

However, I do wish that for once that somebody in South Korean government, even if they are only planning symbolic sanctions, would just get some balls and tell the Norks after one of their rhetorical attacks to go F__k Off!

Dr. Lankov has an article up in the International Herald Tribune regarding the sanctions debate in South Korea:

Since the UN Security Council ordered sanctions against North Korea, Seoul has done its share of tough talking, and it will probably support the embargo once it is imposed. But it is unlikely that South Korea will maintain pressure on the North for long.

More likely, South Korea will use the first available excuse to walk away from the sanctions, citing, for example, humanitarian concerns (i.e. a major flood in North Korea). Already now, South Korean diplomats are working hard to make sure that the sanctions will not be too harsh, and they will probably find some support from China and Russia.

(…) 

 This might appear strange: after all, South Korea would seem to be the country most threatened by North Korean nuclear weapons. Some Americans blame South Korean indecisiveness on the nationalist left which now dominates Seoul’s politics. The major reason for Seoul’s attitude, however, is not an inability to grasp the seriousness of the situation, but rather a very real divergence of interests with Washington.

For those who have been following the North Korean nuclear issue, Dr. Lankov really doesn’t bring up anything new, but he is educating a wider audience by being published in the International Herald Tribune about the South Korean reaction to the nuclear crisis, which I have not seen one MSM media source accurately explain until Dr. Lankov’s article.

The cynical side of me just wonders if this will be used by the ROK government as an excuse to keep North Korean defectors out of South Korea:

South Korea said Thursday it will ban the entry of North Korean officials who fall under a U.N. travel restriction — Seoul’s first concrete move to enforce sanctions imposed after the North’s nuclear test.

Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok also said Seoul will control transactions and remittances relating to inter-Korean trade and investment with the North Korean officials, Yonhap news agency reported.

A U.N. committee on the sanctions, passed in response to North Korea’s Oct. 9 nuclear test, has been working to outline how they will be implemented.

So who exactly are they keeping out?

The Marmot’s Hole is reporting that a Korean film about the events of the No Gun-ri tragedy has been completed:

After many news reports and documentaries about Nogeun-ri came out, director Lee Sang-woo felt obliged to make a fictional film to tell the story. He wanted to ask the U.S. government whether there was no other way than war, a question still relevant today.

“Writing the scenario, I asked myself what story I have to tell. This is not going to be about the incident, not the event, but it’s going to be about the people. It is going to tell the relationships that people had in the small community and how intimate and beautiful they were, and ask them (the U.S. military) if they knew what they were doing. They were destroying these beautiful human beings, Lee said after shooting the film’s last scene in Sunchang, South Jeolla Province, early this week.

Expect another anti-American hatefest film much like Welcome to Dongmakgol that drew record Korean audiences with it’s story of North and South Korean soldiers joining together to kill Americans in order to save a rural village during the Korean War.

Why do I think it will be an anti-American hatefest film? Just look at what the Yonhap article says about the No Gun-ri tragedy:

Cows plowing rice farms, children bathing in a nearby stream and elderly men playing chess on a lazy afternoon — this was life in Nogeun-ri, Yeongdong County, central South Korea, before a nightmarish event occurred in July, 1950.

The incident came without warning on the 31st day of the Korean War. The sky split open as U.S. warplanes appeared and strafed hundreds of villagers walking along a railroad track. They were leaving their homes under a directive from retreating U.S. soldiers in the advance of North Korean communists.

Survivors, cornered under a railroad bridge at Nogeun-ri, were indiscriminately machine-gunned. Out of about 500 villagers, only 25 remained, the witness and families of the victims say.

As usual the Korean media gets the whole incident wrong from the start. A theme in recent Korean movies is that life in rural villages was some kind of idealistic paradise until the big, bad Americans come and ruined it. If anyone wants a good cinematic example of what life before, during, and after the Korean War was like in rural Korean villages than I encourage you to see the excellent Korean movie The Taebak Mountains. Watch this movie and then compare it to the crap that is Dongmakgol. The people in these villages were dirt poor and life was hard which made many of these villages agreeable towards communism and uprise against the South Korean government including villages in the No Gun-ri area.

Also the villagers were not evacuated by US soldiers and without a doubt they were not strafed by US aircraft during the No Gun-ri timeframe as the Yonhap article claims.  Finally 500 people did not die at No Gun-ri, maybe 50 at best. How do I know all of this? Read my series of postings that I did last year on this very subject. The evidence is overwhelming about what really happened at No Gun-ri but when Pulitzer Prizes and millions of dollars in compensation money are at stake, who cares about the truth?

From the Stars and Stripes:

An airman who said he went absent without leave from Osan Air Base to escape a possible court-martial and jail time got both Tuesday for the same act he hoped would keep him free.

Airman Christopher R. Neal, 21, of the 51st Communications Squadron, was sentenced to 10 months in jail and loss of pay after pleading guilty to being AWOL and to breaking restriction.

But in a pretrial agreement, Neal’s jail term was set at eight months. Because he was jailed for 69 days before trial, he’ll spend less than six months more in jail, the prosecution said.

He also was sentenced to loss of $500 per month for 10 months.

So why did this airman go AWOL and how did he get caught you ask? Juicy girl of course:

Fearing jail time, he gathered some belongings and fled to an off-base apartment he’d rented, where he lived with his girlfriend, he told the judge.

Base authorities interviewed people in the off-base bar district and passed out flyers with Neal’s picture. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations put 14 agents on the case, OSI Special Agent Kevin McCray testified.

Neal had been AWOL for 43 days when 10 OSI agents appeared suddenly at his apartment.

Neal said that while in pretrial confinement, he learned his girlfriend “had contacted them” and led them to him.

Yes juicy “contacted them” when his money ran out and nothing more could be sucked out of him I’m sure. However, sometimes no matter how many times you warn people about juicy girl they don’t listen until they lose their shirt or in this airman’s case end up in jail at the Hump.

Like Nomad put it in his post, Ville 101 boys.

More over at the Marmot’s Hole as well.

Former Korean president Choi Kyu-hah will be layed to rest in an official state funeral:

The late former president Choi Kyu-hah will be buried on Oct. 26, the day his predecessor Park Chung-hee was assassinated 27 years ago. After Park’s death, the then prime minister shortly served as acting president and later formally president. A Cabinet meeting on Monday decided to organize a state funeral for Choi. In accordance with the wishes of their children, the remains of Choi’s late wife Hong Ki, who died in 2004, will be exhumed from her grave and laid to rest alongside her husband.

For some interesting reading about Choi’s short presidency make sure to read this great posting from Oranckay.