It looks like some our international allies that took part in the Korean War may get some cushy jobs in Yongsan courtesy of the US Congress: The U.S. Congress has asked the Department of Defense and the State Department to report on chances of reviving UN Command in Korea, a body nominally still made up of countries that took part on the South¿s side in the Korean War. The move comes in the midst of plans to dissolve Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, return wartime operational control of forces to Korea and other signs of a lesser role for the U.S. forces in the country. (…) One of the conditions of the armistice that halted the Korean War was that the UNC has to approve any freight or equipment that crosses through the DMZ — a question that would become pertinent if the reconnected inter-Korean railways ever start operating. UNC members the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand have signaled they would increase the number of staff officers in Korea in response to a recent UNC request. U.S. Forces Commander Burwell Bell earlier told a congressional hearing he planned to revive the international alliance by increasing international staff at the UNC, which is now effectively in sole U.S. control, writing up emergency and operational plans, and training observation. So what exactly would these additional international staff do all day with no actual army to over see?

UPDATE #7:  Sitting here checking out the news sites before going to work and no new missiles have been fired yet.  However, the White House is saying that the North Koreans may fire more today:

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Wednesday that North Korea has additional missiles that could be launched in the next day.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also said more launches could be coming, the AP reported.

“We think they probably do intend to launch more missiles in the next day or two,” the AP quoted Downer as saying after he phoned North Korea’s ambassador to protest the launches.

Looking at the news sites cooler heads are prevaling in Washington however the news networks are continuing to hype military action over these missile tests.  War is good for TV ratings.

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UPDATE #6:  This is great, I come back from work and there is still missiles being launched and talking heads on TV demanding military action against North Korea.  Reportedly a seventh missile was launched just a few minutes ago and it lasted for six minutes.  I’m watching Larry King and he has Clinton era officials Sandy Berger and Madelline Albright trying to rewrite their failed history with dealing with North Korea.  They are complaining that President Bush isn’t using diplomacy and engagement with North Korea like they did.

Let me see the Clinton era government used diplomacy and gave the North Koreans massive amounts of aid and what did they get for it?  North Korea went ahead and secretly continued their nuclear program and fired a missile over Japan in 1998 not to mention the mini-sub incidents in South Korea that led to the deaths of numerous Korean soldiers and civilians.  This is what the Democrats consider successful diplomacy?  The North Koreans have actually been much better behaved during the Bush administration than during the Clinton era, thus the need by these people to rewrite history.

Now Bill Richardson is on the TV saying the US needs to continue the momentum of the six party talks.  Momentum?  What Momentum?  I think the US government will probably set up some further six party talks but I really think the government shouldn’t do anything that makes it appear they are giving into North Korean demands.  That just encourages them to be more belligerent.  Ignoring them and being cool about the missile test is the best way to go.  If anything this missile test weakened Kim’s hand because his big bad missile failed.

Oh God, Albright is now saying we need to request the UN to do something about North Korea.  Yeah that will scare the Norks, the big bad UN.  I must change the channel I cannot take anymore of these Clinton era people.

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UPDATE #5:  Here is my favorite international response so far:

Asked about the missiles, Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview: “We diplomats do not know what the military is doing.”

Fox News is now reporting that NORAD is saying that a fourth, fifth, and sixth missiles were just fired..

I just saw some guy on Fox News advocating a military strike on North Korea because of this “in your face” provocation.  The news anchor asked what if the North Koreans in response nuked Seoul and the guy just said that we need to bomb all their military capacity in order to prevent them from being able to strike Seoul.  This is a perfect example of how little the American media understands about the military situation in Korea.  To take out every missile, rocket, and artillery piece that could strike Seoul would require a full scale war, which no one wants.  An attack on North Korea would not be like a bombing campaign of Kosovo.  If you attack North Korea you best be ready to fight a bloody second Korean War.

The CNN guy was just talking to the Seoul correspondent and was surprised by the shoulder shrugging reaction of the South Koreans.  When you have lived within artillery range for the last 50 years who would care about a missile.

Here is a BBC graphic of missile ranges if anyone cares:

Alright I have to go to work but this was enough early morning comedy for me watching the American media.  I’m sure other K-bloggers will keep everyone up to date on  this “threat to world peace” as quoted by CNN.  I think the greater threat to world peace was Italy advancing to the World Cup finals but that is a whole other story.

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UPDATE #4:  Here is what the BBC is reporting::

After news of the missile launch Mr Bolton said: “We are urgently consulting with members of the Security Council.”

Japan “strongly protested” North Korea’s move, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.

The BBC’s Charles Scanlon says North Korea has been feeling under pressure in recent months with the US refusing to negotiate on its demands over its nuclear plans.

This may be a way for North Korea to get attention and break the diplomatic log jam, our correspondent adds.

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UPDATE #3:  Yonhap News is reporting the South Korean reaction:

Th South Korean government confirmed Wednesday that North Korea test-fired at least three missiles.
But the government said it was still trying to confirm details of the missiles..
South Korea immediately called an emergency meeting of security-related ministers.

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UPDATE #2:  I’m watching CNN right now and they had some guy on there blaming Bush for not giving enough carrots to the North Koreans and not preventing the launch.  The CNN is questioning some guy about if North Korea can still nuke the US with a missile.  The “expert” says they cannot nuke the US yet. Isn’t that a stupid question to ask after their ICBM failed miserably just an hour ago?  The expert did say we need to see what the trajectory of the missile was to see if it was aimed at the US and react accordingly.

I think it is safe to say that North Korea is getting exactly what they wanted from this launch.  Attention and scaremongering from the US media in order to pressure the US government into taking them seriously.

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UPDATE #1:  Coming Anarchy has a post on the launch up and here is the Fox News report on the launch:

North Korea may have tried to fire a long-range missile, but it failed in flight, two U.S. officials told FOX News on Tuesday. Two non-guided, medium-range Scud-style missiles were also fired, North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed.

Japanese public broadcasting channel NHK first reported the missile launches. The two Scud missiles landed in the Sea of Japan, the first about 360 miles from mainland Japan, NHK said. Japan’s Kyodo news agency said the missiles were believed to be mid-range Rodong missiles, and landed about 300 miles off the western coast of Japan’s Hokkaido Island.

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North Korea has finally test fired their stupid missiles and guess what, like I have been saying all along the long range Taepodong-2 missile failed:

North Korea launched a long-range Taepodong-2 missile early Wednesday in an apparently unsuccessful test that failed in flight, a senior State Department official said.

North Korea also tested at least two smaller missiles, U.S. sources told CNN.

Both missiles were launched from a site other than the one intelligence officials have watched for weeks ahead of the long-range missile test, a senior State Department official said.

I’m watching Fox News right now and they are saying the Taepodong-2 missile failed after 35 seconds of flight and of course the news programs are repeating over and over again that the US is not under attack.  Boy, what a relief (sarcasm).  What a joke, I still can’t believe people mostly Democrats have been advocating starting a war over this stupid missile.  I’m curious to what these people are going to be saying over the coming days.

I will post more as developments happen.

One of my favorite Korean actresses is going to be on Letterman this month:

The Korean actress Kim Yun-jin, who thanks to the ABC hit series “Lost” now has considerable star appeal in the U.S., will appear on the long-running “Late Show with David Letterman,” an honor last accorded a Korean when the teenage golfer Michelle Wie made an appearance last year. Being a guest on the show will give Kim a sense of having finally arrived.

I just can’t pass this up because there goes the Korean media claiming non-Korean citizens as one of their own.  Since when was Michelle Wie Korean? I have covered this before, but the Korean media continues to label her as Korean.  I could live with Korean-American Michelle Wie, but at least put American in there somewhere.

Check out Nomad for more on this.

Just wishing all Americans out there a Happy Independence Day.

Of course Oh My News made sure to publish an article explaining why the 4th July is a evil holiday, America is evil, George Washington, Jefferson, and the rest of the founding fathers were even eviler, President Bush is the current evil equivalent of George Washington, democracy is just a tool of these evil people to stay in power, and so on.  Read it for yourself if you want to read leftist nonsense about the evils of America past and present and what a bad country we are and how great Europe and France is.  I could go line by line and dispute the author’s unsupported claims, but I don’t feel like wasting my or your time, but if you want to read accurate historical accounts of George Washington and the founding fathers I highly recommend the books His Excellency and 1776 as great summer holiday reading material to learn more about the founding of our great country.

I point out regulary the knuclehead anti-Americans in Korea, but keep in mind I still haven’t seen greater anti-Americanism than in America itself.  The American left is far worse than anything I have seen in Korea and this article is just another example of that.  However, I’m not letting these idiots get me down, and they shouldn’t get you down either; enjoy the holiday, and God Bless America.

Via Nomad, it looks like the latest Camp Humphreys controversy has ended under the following conditions:

Bar owners objected to Taliento decision, saying the agent who ordered the alcohol was of legal drinking age while the agent who paid was underage. They called it a sting operation in which they were set up to fail.

Kim said USFK personnel on Friday admitted fault in the recent undercover investigations. Kim said future checks are to be conducted by U.S. military personnel, members of the merchant association and Pyeongtaek city officials.

And while bars are required to do everything they can to prevent sales to minors, they wont be held responsible for personnel who legally buy alcohol then sneak it to underage buddies, Kim said.

That is actually a pretty weak case for putting a bar off limits by having an underage person buy a drink for a person of legal age. If that is in fact true I can understand why the bar owners are pissed off. However, this “solution” does nothing to solve the problem of underage drinkers because the people who underage drink will now just get their buddies to buy them alcohol instead. If the command really wants to end the problem put breathalyzers at the gate and that would make the people who want to underage drink have to stay at a hotel because they can’t get in through the gate. That is an additional expense for them plus they would have to get a pass from their commander to stay out. If the commander knows this person may possibly be an underage drinker the commander could not give the soldier a pass. Plus that will keep additional drunks out of the barracks where the vast majority of sexual assaults occur because of alcohol.

Then when these soldiers are caught underage drinking they need to be slammed as in losing rank and doing the maximum extra duty in full combat gear to set an example to anyone else who may be underage drinking. That will shift the underage drinking into the barracks where it is easier to monitor if there is a leadership presence in the barracks which there should be. How come I think we will be talking about off limits bar at Camp Humphreys again in another year?

The first Koreans are scheduled to be put into outer space in two years.  The Korean government is paying the Russian government to put the first Koreans into space on a Soyuz capsule in April 2008 and the Korean government is sponsoring a competition open to everyone in Koera above the age of 19 to become the first Koreans in space.  This is the quesion I pose; should whoever gets selected really be considered astronauts as the government claims or Korea’s first space tourists?

For those Coming Anarchy fans out there, Robert Kaplan was just sighted at the Korean DMZ by the News21 team:

(…) a man walked out of a different office and introduced himself as Bob Kaplan. I recognized that his name sounded vaguely familiar but was too tired to process why, so I shook his hand and introduced myself. Katie, on the other hand, asked him if by Bob, he meant Robert, and if by “Robert Kaplan,” he meant Robert Kaplan, contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and author of Imperial Grunts (…)

Katie and I started to ask him about his general experiences with the military and his observations about what’s happening. One of his main points is that one of the ways the military is restructuring itself is to reorganize itself in ways that resemble what’s happening in corporations–in particular, trying to pass responsibility down the command chain, so that individuals can take action without having to wait to get approval from above.

At some point he commented on how he thought that blogging makes people worse writers.

Kaplan point about the US military trying to empower lower level leaders is very true because in todays environment decisions have to made quickly by those on the ground without having to wait for approval from above.  Now the comment about blogging making people worse writers I have to dispute.  A lot of bad writers blog, but from my experience the longer you blog the better your writing becomes.

Anyway I wonder if Curzon is jealous of the News21 team?

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is visiting the US and American President George Bush had a special retirement party for the Prime Minister due to his impending retirement from Japanese politics:

Koizumi Junichiro (right), Japan¿s Prime Minister who is visiting the U.S. before his retirement in September, and U.S. President George W. Bush is thanking the Brian Setzer Orchestra which played Elvis Presley¿s songs at an official dinner in White House on June 29. President Bush gave Koizumi, an Elvis fan, a juke box as a farewell gift.

Any guesses if President Bush will be holding a retirement party for Korean President Roh Moo-hyun next year when he leaves office?  If he did I wonder what going away gift he would give him?

How come I have a feeling this will explode into another one of those, “the yankees are trying to screw us” issues?:

South Korean and U.S. officials are expected to open negotiations later this year on Washington’s proposal to sell its war reserve stockpiles to Seoul, the U.S. command here said Friday.

The U.S. has stockpiled about 600,000 tons of ammunition in South Korea since the 1970s for use in the event of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

Last December, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law a bill aimed at selling the war reserves to South Korea as part of a sweeping reshuffle of its overseas military installations.

So why do I think this may become an issue of contention?  This is why:

A possible sticking point in the negotiations would be the selling price of the reserve stockpiles.

The U.S. side hopes the combat items would be sold at a “fair market value,” while South Korean officials want to obtain them for free or purchase only part of the total, arguing that about one third of the U.S. items are too old and in need of repair.

“Fair Market Value” and agreements with the South Korean government means nothing.  The US had an agreement with South Korea over the Camp Humphreys expansion and that has been delayed due to the governments wavering on annexing the land which has in turn delayed the overall agreement of consolidating the USFK camps, most notably Yongsan Garrision in Seoul, all south of the Han River.

Then the latest issue causing contention is the agreement with the US that the South Koreans would take the vacated 2ID camps “as is”.  So what the Korean government did to break this agreement was to send in the leftist environmental wackos; who of course claimed the camps are super polluted and uninhabitable even though US soldiers having been living on the camps for 50 years with no problems.  So of course the Korean government is demanding money for the “clean up” even though they agreed beforehand to taking the camps “as is”.

So if anyone thinks selling the issue war stockpiles to the Koreans will be a smooth process are kidding themselves.  If the Korean government doesn’t get the deal they want, expect to see the environmental wackos sent in.

US Army deserter Charles Jenkins’ book has now been published in Korean and I like the title of the book, “To Tell the Truth”.  Telling the truth about North Korea and the Sunshine Policy of the current South Korean administration are not compatible.  So it will be interesting to see how well the book sells in South Korea.