Is this another sign of the distrust the US government has with Korea?:

Korea’s much delayed plan to buy airborne early warning systems, the so-called E-X project, has hit another snag in the form of communications equipment in the favored bidder’s aircraft that falls under an export ban by U.S. authorities. The G-550 by the Israeli firm IAI Elta was said to be the favored of two remaining systems in the latest bidding round, pitted against the reportedly more expensive E-737 by U.S. aerospace giant Boeing. But with no U.S. export authorization for the Israeli equipment in sight, the W1.8 trillion (about US$1.8 billion) E-X project could be delayed again.

The article makes this issue out to be some kind of sinister plot by the US government to make Korea buy the Boeing aircraft, however they couldn’t buy the Boeing aircraft either because it has the same technology. So what technology is in the aircraft that is so sensitive?:

The equipment in question consists of five items including Data Link (link 11 and 16) discerning aircraft, IFF (Identification Friend or Foe), SATCOM, UHF/VHF Have Quick Radio, and GPS P(Y) code technology.

These system are extremely sensitive because the different data links are what provide air picture and communications for US forces. This technology would be a bonanza for the US’s military enemies and competitors. So the decision by the US to stop the Israelis from selling the technology to Korea is a sure sign that the US government does not trust Korea to keep the technology secret from the likes of the North Koreans, Chinese, and Russians who are all in the area.

The Korean fast food industry is trying to win back customers with special give a ways and reduced prices after losing many customers to the recent well being fad:

Korea’s leading fast food chain Lotteria on Monday said it will give out cell phone call vouchers worth W4,000 (about US$4) to customers who buy set menus for the same price. But while the last-ditch strategy seems to go against common sense, a Lotteria staffer said the company, while expecting no great profits, was not losing out because it buys the free call vouchers in bulk at 30 percent of face value.

Fast food firms continue to slash prices for set menus amid fierce competition in a dwindling market. Set menus typically consist of a burger, French fries and soft drink, and prices have already dropped to below W3,000 in some chains, making a single hamburger more expensive than a set.

Lotteria would have to give me a free car before I would eat anything there. Lotteria has to have the most disgusting fast food so it is no wonder they are getting hit especially hard:

Despite such efforts, the number of fast food outlets is dwindling. The number of Lotteria branches fell from 890 in 2003 to 811 in June and 800 in November this year. McDonalds saw the number of outlets shrink from 343 in 2003 to 305 in September. The industry nonetheless maintains hope that the worst is over.

This is no joke about the fast food outlets reducing their restaurants. Whenever I go to Uijongbu station there is a McDonald’s in the station that I will usually stop and eat at, or should I say used to eat at because it is closed down now. I am still amazed it closed because every time I would go there the place was packed but I guess not packed enough. It is the same thing with the Lotteria’s. I have seen a couple of them close down not that I am concerned about Lotteria’s.

Oh well I can live without McDonald’s it just means I will need to eat bibimbap for lunch instead the next time I go to Uijongbu Station.

Well known commenter USinKorea has posed an interesting question in regards to a debate he was having over on USFK Forums over the perceived notion that GI’s regulary get away with murder and crimes in Korea. Here is the question he has posed:

I want to know from you other people who have been to the ville and around GIs a lot more than I have….

Is what we see in the press just 1% of what goes on with 99% of the real crimes having the US authorities obstructing the Korean police?

What have you seen? Did you frequently see GIs busting bottles over the heads of Koreans and the MPs stepping in to save the GIs from the Korean police? (A specific claim in the discussion on the other site).

What has been your experience?

I have stated before that much of the petty crime that happens in the ville is not reported in the Korean media and why should it? For example a soldier steals a laptop computer from a drinky girl club and is caught. The Korean police will hand him over to the MPs to deal with even though they have jurisdiction over him. The KNPs don’t want to bother with the paperwork and since the property has been recovered and returned it is easier for the KNPs to let the US military deal with such violators. This is a scenario I have personally seen happen.

Another example would be someone caught urinating in public. Yes this pops up on the blotter from time to time. The KNPs have the authority to prosecute these cases if they want too but they don’t and let the military’s UCMJ process take over instead.

First of all, though much of the petty crime is not reported, but why should minor crimes like those described make the news at all? Why should some minor altercation with a taxi cab driver be splashed acrossed the nation’s newspapers when such incidents like this happen every day in Korea between Koreans? The only reason I can see such minor incidents receiving publicity is the desire of the media to convey an anti-GI message to the Korean public.

Secondly, people who think soldiers get off lightly for alcohol related offenses are sadly mistaken. It may look that way from the outside looking in when people only see the MPs take someone away but the reality is much different.

In my unit it is an automatic Field Grade Article 15 which leads to a loss of two ranks, pay, restriction to the unit area, and extra duty and a second offense will get you chaptered from the Army. Plus the loss of rank leads to additional loss of pay because if an E4 gets knocked down to an E2 he is losing about $700 a month and will probably take about a year to get back to E4. That means the soldier lost $8400 in one year, which is actually even more if the E4 was close to getting promoted to E5 and is now an E2 and this is on top of the money taken from him from the Article 15 which can be over a $1000. One alcohol related incident can quickly turn into one expensive night out in a hurry.

What happens to a drunk Korean that gets caught pushing a taxi driver or urinating on a building? I am willing to bet that they don’t receive the amount of punishment I have listed above if any punishment at all much less get media coverage.

Also the notion that GI’s get away with murder is also humorous when there is a Korean prison in Pyoengtaek with GI murderers sitting in it right now.

I would like to turn the tables and pose the question of how many Koreans are getting away with crimes against GI’s? For example let’s start with something simple like apartment owners keeping outrageous rental deposits knowing that the GI’s PCS date is coming up and he won’t be able to do anything about getting his money back once he is gone. Yes this is a common problem.

What about the soldiers that have been kidnapped in Dongducheon and beaten and robbed. I have in fact witnessed one assault in the TDC Ville three years ago when four Korean thugs beat the heck out of soldier knocking him unconcious with a brick and then flee when other soldiers nearby including myself responded. The MP’s arrived and took over and I don’t know what the fight was about or what started it, but the bottom line is that it was 4 on 1 and they used a brick to crack the soldier’s head open. Sounds like a crime to me.

An even more telling example is the rape of a female Army officer in Daegu? Where is the outrage, candle light vigils, and demands on the Korean police to find the rapists from the Korean media and public? This story has been conveniently hidden from the Korean media while everytime a GI scuffles with a taxi cab driver the amount of media coverage it receives you would think the GI is public enemy number one and a threat to the Korean nation; when in fact the real public enemy is a rapist that is still running around freely in Korean society.

You want more examples? How about the kidnapping and assault of the 2ID soldiers in 2002 who were riding on a Seoul subway when assaulted by an anti-American group and then dragged against their will, from the subway to a college campus and forced to make coerced statements on TV. What happened to the people that committed these crimes? Nothing. Could you imagine what would happen if me and a few of my buddies kidnapped and beat some Korean youths walking by Camp Casey and brought them on post and forced them to make anti-Korean statements on AFN? Sounds like a ridiculous scenario but it is exactly what the people that kidnapped those soldiers from the subway did and they recevied no punishment.

I could go on and on with examples, but I think I have made my point. Now should I condemn the entire Korean race because of the few criminals that have committed crimes against GI’s and got away with it? That would be ridiculous because I know Korea is a very safe country and I feel much safer walking down any street in Korea than I do walking down some streets in America. It is the same way with GI’s. The vast majority of GI’s aren’t bothering anyone but the few that do cause incidents get blown way out of proportion in the media. Imagine if the US media put on the front page every crime a Korean committed against US troops no matter how insignificant it was. The American public would quickly start demanding that US troops be brought home so it is no wonder that the Korean public has such a negative image of GI’s when the Korean media is the one causing it.

So when I hear people repeat the same tired and worn accusations of GI’s getting away with murder and crimes regularly in Korea without any proof; I can’t help, but feel cynical by such comments. Just last summer Korean newspapers were reporting that the SOFA Agreement was allowing all these US soldiers to get away with all these crimes that they cannot substantiate. But perception is stronger than reality and no matter how many orphanages or public works projects USFK undertakes, it will not be enough to overcome the biased Korean media. The best way to change the Korean media is to publicize crimes committed against Americans in the US media. Notice when the MacArthur statue protests in Inchon began to receive US media attention how quickly the Korean media jumped to condemn the protesters and no more protests have occurred at the statue since. The truth can be more powerful than perceptions if people are allowed to hear it.

Canadian autoworkers are now feeling what the US autoworker has been feeling for a long time:

Council learned that the federal government is fast-tracking a free trade agreement with South Korea, which it wants to have completed by mid-2006. This move is going ahead even though NAFTA has failed miserably to deliver on promises including effective dispute settlement. The government now wants to recreate NAFTA for Asia. While Korea is first, Japan and China are next.

CAW National Executive Board member Jim Woods urged action to put an end to “unfettered and one way trade.?Woods said free trade with Korea, Japan and China would decimate the auto parts industry in Canada. We certainly are at a crisis and at a cross roads in the auto parts industry,?said Woods, first vice-president of CAW Local 1524.

Here are some interesting statistics from the article:

There is already an imbalance in trade between Korea and Canada. Korea, for example, sold 130,000 vehicles in Canada in 2004. Canada sold 400 vehicles in Korea in 2004.

The ratio of Korean to Canadian auto sales is 268-to-1. Canada’s top export to Korea is wood pulp, while Korea’s top export to Canada is finished motor vehicles. Wood Pulp costs 25 cents per pound, while Korean vehicles cost $15,000 wholesale. It takes 60,000 pounds of wood pulp (requiring two acres of clear-cut forest) to pay for each vehicle we import from Korea.

I’m surprised Canada even sold 400 cars in the tightly controlled Korean car market.

The Korean government has declassified additional documents highlighting specifics about the ROK Army deployment to Vietnam:

Korean president Park Chung-hee in the later 1960s proposed a regional defense body with Japan and Taiwan to combat the spread of communism, newly declassified documents reveal. The dossier related to the Vietnam War made public on Friday also shatters persistent myths by showing that Korean soldiers who fought in the war were paid the same as their Thai and Filipino counterparts, and that the money did go to the soldiers and was not used by the state to boost Korea’s economic development, as some have charged.

It shouldn’t be a huge shock that President Park was trying to create a regional defense body with Japan and Taiwan at the time because it was the height of the Cold War and South Korea wasn’t nearly as strong national power as they are now. The ROK Army soldiers I have met who fought in the Vietnam War always felt unappreciated by Korea and dismissed as mercenaries for Washington. The fact that they were receiving their combat pay will probably only reenforce that stereotype, but those ROK Army soldiers that fought in Vietnam should be looked at no differently than the foreign troops that came to Korea’s aid when communist aggression threatened to take over the country. All the soldiers that served in both Korea and Vietnam are heroes and shouldn’t be dismissed or forgotten.

The US has stopped food aid to North Korea due to doubts of who the food is being distributed to:

Washington has halted the purchase of 25,000 tons of food aid it had pledged for North Korea this year, half its total commitment, saying it has no way of making sure where the aid goes.
The U.S. State Department said Thursday it was uncertain whether the UN World Food Program would receive the shipment, while there was also no mechanism left to ensure that the food gets to those who need it. As a result, the U.S. did not even buy the 25,000 tons scheduled to be shipped at the end of November.

The U.S. Agency for International Development had previously warned Washington would stop its food aid if North Korean authorities insist on an end to all monitoring of food aid distribution by the WFP.

I know I probably sound harsh, but I don’t think the US should give food to North Korea without proper monitoring. I can see people possibly trying to twist this issue making the US out to be the bad guy, but North Korea could easily get the food aid if they allow monitors in to ensure proper distribution. I don’t think the US should feel obligated to send food to a country that is most likely giving that food to the military and regime elements.

If Kim Jong Il has enough money to build nuclear weapons he has enough money to buy food for his people, or he can just go to Plan B and extort the South Koreans to buy the food for him. I hope President Roh has checkbook ready.

I have recently traveled to Japan for work related reasons (yes I do have a day job besides blogging) and due to a hectic schedule I have been neglecting my blogging duties to go do things like attend the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show to gawk at hot cars and even hotter women.

I did of course, take plenty of pictures to share with everyone. I know it is a tough job taking pictures of cars, motorcycles, and hot chicks but someone has to do it.

The Tokyo Motor Show is really an amazing experience and if you ever get a chance go check it out. This year’s show was held at the Chiba convention center which is the city located to the East of Tokyo. It seems like everytime I go to Chiba it just continues to grow and grow and no doubt the exposure from the motor show will only make it grow more.

The motor show featured cars, motorcycles, and products produced by companies from all across the globe such as Toyota, Honda, Ford, Harley-Davidson, etc. Korea’s contribution to the show is the KIA car and the model you see here. I thought the model was pretty hot, any guesses if she is Korean or Japanese?

For more photos and info about the cars, motorcycles, and hot chicks at the Tokyo Motor Show, I encourage you to check out the official GI Korea photo page, located right here. . However, I don’t think my hot chick photography skills are ready for the big time yet like being on Girl Monday or Girl Wednesday for that matter, but I guess I have to start some where.

Like I said before, it only takes one idiot in a taxi cab to ruin all the good things soldiers in 2ID do:

The 2nd Infantry Division has apologized for an incident involving two of its soldiers and a Dongducheon taxi driver.

Dongducheon police said Thursday that two soldiers are accused of assaulting the driver for refusing to give a them a ride in Dongduchon on the morning of Nov. 25.

In a statement, the division expressed regret about the incident. The soldiers also regret their actions and their chain of command will act as an intermediary to resolve matters of compensation in a timely manner,according to the statement. This incident does not reflect the values of the U.S. Army nor does it reflect the otherwise good conduct of our soldiers. We hold soldiers accountable for their actions and expect them to make responsible choices both on and off duty.

These guys are idiots and will be dealt with, but I just have to keep asking, why is this news? Should we start publishing the details about every soldier that gets caught urinating on the side of a building too? How much longer before taxi cabs in Dongducheon and Uijongbu are put off limits at night? That would end the problem by only using AAFES taxis at night to transport soldiers but that makes to much sense.

In the latest strange incident to come out of 2ID, an NCO apparently is in hot water for calling off a marriage proposal with a Korean woman:

A U.S. soldier faces up to two years in Korean jail after promising to marry a South Korean woman, having sex with her, then reneging on the engagement, according to Korean court and prosecution officials.

(…)

Sgt. Han Jin-hong, a 35-year-old soldier with the 2nd Infantry Division, faces the prospect of that punishment, according to the Uijeongbu prosecutor’s office.

Han, who is married, also faces a charge of adultery in Korean court, according to Yang Seung-seok of the Uijeongbu prosecutor’s office.

U.S. Forces Korea officials confirmed that Han is assigned to 2nd ID, but no further information was available Tuesday afternoon from military officials.

According to the Korean prosecutor, Han met a 36-year-old Korean woman through an Internet chat room. He told the woman he was a lieutenant colonel and single, and he promised to marry her, Yang said. They had a sexual relationship from June to September, meeting in both Seoul and the Uijeongbu areas, Yang said.

I have a feeling that this case will probably just be handed over to USFK to deal with after the NCO makes some kind of payment to the woman to settle the matter which is a common practice in Korea. However, he will still be in hot water because adultery and impersonating an officer under the military justice system are serious offenses that will end his career and can put him in jail.

I’m curious if charges like this have ever been prosecuted against a Korean men or US soldiers before?

Of course you can go over to Nomad’s site for more opinions on this topic.

Here is a good news story, that USFK will never get credit for in the Korean media, that was published in the Stars and Stripes:

Orphans from Dongducheon got a taste of holiday fun here Thursday at a Thanksgiving feast served up by 2nd Infantry Division soldiers.

The dinner, served at the 4th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment Dining Facility, was for children from the My Home Orphanage. It was part of the division’s Good Neighbor Program, said 2nd Lt. Tae H. Rose with Headquarters Headquarters Company, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team.

Rose, 34, who was born in South Korea but raised by adoptive relatives in New York City, said he felt a special bond with the My Home kids.

“My parents both passed away when I was a child. My aunt was married to a GI and she adopted me,?explained Rose, who grew up speaking English but studied Korean in college.

After graduating, he worked five years for an advertising agency in South Korea to hone his language skills before joining the Army five years ago. South Korea is his first overseas tour, he said.

Soldiers with his unit visit My Home regularly to play with the orphans there, he said.

This is a common event throughout USFK spending time with children from the orphanages not only during the Holidays but also during regular weekends. There is never a shortage of volunteers to go spend time with kid’s at orphanages or other activities like teaching English at area public schools.

However, all the good will these soldiers create is always seems to be negated by a couple of idiots getting drunk and standing on top of a taxi and the story is spread all over the Korean media.