The Korea Times has an interesting interview with President Roh Moo-hyun’s Senior Secretary of Public Information, Dr. Cho Ki-suk. I have chosen to respond to a few of her comments below:

Third, incidents like the attempt to demolish the statute of General McArthur are a source of misunderstanding about public opinion in Korea. Public opinion should be understood through objective indexes rather than dramatic events. If people perceive an unusual event launched by an extremely small number of people to attract public attention as representing the whole, it is quite dangerous as we may reach an erroneous policy decision. Psychologists call this phenomenon “subjective probability.”

Yes the protesters were composed of a small number of hate groups. However, if their views are so off the wall then why hasn’t the Korean government spoke out strongly against them and defend General MacArthur’s contributions to freedom and democracy in Korea? It is because deep down the Uri Party types sympathise with their cause and won’t crackdown on them and limits them to only making ambigous statements about the protesters that does not condemn their activities.

Fourth, interpreting rallies in memory of the two schoolgirls killed by an armored military vehicle of the U.S. as an expression of anti-Americanism or anti-American sentiment may be another cause of confusion. It is my understanding that American officials were stunned at the seemingly anti-American street rallies in the course of the 2002 Korean presidential election.

It is true that a handful of the participants burned the US flag and chanted Yankee Go Home slogans. Yet their extreme behavior could not be sustained because other participants who witnessed such conduct strongly protested and left the rally.

What? A handful of protesters burned or destroyed the US flag?! Is this considered a handful of protesters?:

Or maybe this protest in 2002 at Seoul City Hall that drew tens of thousands of people together in an anti-American hate orgy:

Yes folks, the Korean government wants you to think this is the work of a handful of malcontents that shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Go ahead and read the rest on your own, because I think I have made my point.

I’m sure USinKorea will have fun with this one.

Maybe the South Koreans need to merge their soccer teams as well in the future because they just got throttled by the Juche under 23 team at the East Asian Games:

North Korea stormed into the East Asian Games football final with a 2-0 win over bitter rivals South Korea.

North Korea, who had already put 13 past Macau and upset China 3-1, capitalised on some terrible defending to open the scoring midway through the first half.

Here is an interesting story from the Stars and Stripes about a Field Artillery battery using ROK Army assets in conjunction with their training:

U.S. and South Korean soldiers trained side-by-side here all last week as part of a combined joint exercise involving infantry, artillery and air strikes.

On Thursday, South Korean infantrymen stood guard while U.S. soldiers from B Battery, 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment prepared to fire simulated rocket missions at Twin Bridges, a training area just south of the demilitarized zone.

Battery B commander Capt. Gary Lyke, 34, of Pensacola, Fla., said 31 infantrymen from 1st Battalion, 113rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Republic of Korea Armored Brigade were guarding his unit’s six Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, 12 ammunition trucks and three fire direction centers.

Now I got one question. Is the ROK Army training to protect the FA soldiers from these people:

Or from these people:

A KATUSA that was interviewed also had some interesting things to say about comparing the ROK Army with the US Army:

Cpl. Jung Kyung-hoon, a 21- year-old KATUSA, said the South Korean soldiers were curious about his job and that he told them it was good.

South Korean soldiers are very different than U.S. soldiers, he said. Their training schedule is really tight, and they don’t get enough rest. Sometimes the ROK Army just thinks the U.S. Army is not motivated and not good. The only time they hear about us is when there is an accident. But when they train with us, it makes them think about us for real. We have got to do more of it.”

“Unmotivated and not good?” You have got to be kidding me. Who’s countries soldiers are kicking ass in Iraq right now while the Korean soldiers remained locked on a base in Kurdistan playing Starcraft and installing toilets? The ROK Army is always welcome to take up operations in Baghdad to show their military skills.

To be fair though that is the first time I have heard such a comment coming from the ROK Army. The ROK Army soldiers I have worked with have been quite professional and appreciative of USFK. I have had a few whining KATUSAs before but the vast majority have been outstanding.

Never the less I can’t let the comment go by unchallenged just because the image of the US Army in Korea is tarnished by the few negative incidents that happen every year that the Korean press blows way out of proportion doesn’t mean that the US Army is unmotivated and no good. If positive stories like this one also in the Stars and Stripes about a doctor jumping down on to train tracks to aid car wreck survivors will receive little to no national publicity in Korea thus not helping USFK improve it’s national image.

The human rights amnesia for the South Korean government continues:

South Korea will likely abstain on a U.N. resolution to condemn North Korea for human rights abuses, a government official said, prompting an opposition politician to accuse Seoul of harbouring double standards.

South Korea has abstained from similar measures brought before U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

President Roh Moo-hyun is hipocrite number one in Korea in regards to human rights in North Korea:

President Roh Moo-hyun was a human rights lawyer and the prime minister and health minister were jailed fighting for human rights under authoritarian governments a generation ago.

I love this quote here from a GNP politican opposed to President Roh’s stance:

Kim Moon-soo, a member of parliament for the main opposition Grand National Party, has criticised the Roh administration for what he sees as a failure to address North Korean human rights.

“Of course we must continue to send aid. But saying that North Koreans should only have bread and no freedom is an insult to our democracy, which we worked so hard to achieve,” Kim said.

Obviously the South Korean government is not working to achieve democracy in North Korea. They are working to achieve appeasement.

Convicted US spy Robert Kim has now returned to South Korea:

A Korean-American who spent about eight years in jail for illegally passing U.S. military secrets to Seoul returned to South Korea on Sunday where he was given a heroes’ welcome.

“I think my case happened because the Korean peninsula is divided,” he told a news conference at the airport. “I did it in the hope that I might help, even a little bit, this nation reunite.”

Some may wonder why the US is not sharing all their intelligence with South Korea. It is probably because sensitive intelligence regarding North Korea ends up being leaked to the Norks just like the intelligence this scumbag leaked.

So Robert Kim enjoy your 15 minutes of fame because it will be over before you know it.

A topic of interest to Hollywood film makers is to be addressed at this month’s APEC Summit in Pusan:

Filmmakers are angry at what they see as undue pressure by the United States to open the market to more Hollywood films. The current issue is a law requiring that cinemas show South Korean movies 146 days a year.

Filmmakers from France and Iran joined forces with the South Koreans.

I think the Korean screen quota system is probably not needed now due to the current high quality and success of the domestic movie market. I often find myself watching Korean movies because what is coming out of Hollywood now a days is so bad. The Fantastic Four was the summer blockbuster and it was absolutely horrible.

Korea’s screen quota system did not deny Hollywood access to the Korean market because all the latest Hollywood movies can be seen in Korea, they are just not in theatres as long as movies in America due to the screen quota system. This system did have impact in helping to develop the current high quality movie productions currently in Korea. So the 146 day system is probably about right for developing film industries.

However for movie goers in Iran, watching the Fantastic Four for the eighth time would probably be better then watching Mullah-tron all day on TV. The citizens of Iran are eager for contact with the outside world. That is why the Mullahs need to legitimize totally blocking Hollywood movies in Iran for cultural reasons to prevent their people from seeing them.

Then France, which prides itself in being such a culturally enlightened society; I find it interesting that they cannot produce a domestic movie better than the Fantastic Four even though they have a fully developed film industry. I look at it this way; if your country needs to completely embargo the Fantastic Four I think this says a lot more about your country than it does mine.

This is about the sanest comments I have heard about the Great Kimchi Crisis of 2005 between Korea and China:

He even said he liked kimchi:

China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has downplayed a growing trade rift with South Korea over the import of Chinese kimchi, saying he had no fear of eating the spicy cabbage dish loved by Koreans. “Three days ago when I was in Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK (North Korea), I had very good kimchi, it was delicious,” Li told journalists.

“Two days ago in the capital of the Republic of Korea, Seoul, I had very good kimchi as well and the day before yesterday, when we were talking about the Middle East issue on the question of Syria at the United Nations (in New York) … I ordered kimchi.”

I doubt this will stop the Great Kimchi Crisis because of the domestical political reasons behind it in Korea, but at least someone is speaking sanely on this issue.

Here is a book I’m looking forward to if it comes out in English print. It is about a South Korean commando that conducted unbelievable covert missions in North Korea during the Korean War:

As the commander of a South Korean counter-intelligence military unit, called HID, Kim claims in the book that he led some 260 covert infiltration and espionage missions into North Korea during the three-year war which ended in 1953.

The book derives its title from a statement reportedly made by U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who led the 16-nation U.N. forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, to express his appreciation about Kim’s successive outstanding intelligence reports: “This man again?”

Mr. Kim has actually been honored by 2ID by establishing Kim Dong-sok Day on December 16th in honor of this great veteran.

Also I think it may be a good possibly that this book will come out with an English edition because fellow Korean War hero Paik Sun-yup released his book, From Pusan to Panmunjom in English and it sells very well at the PX and is the best selling book from my Amazon.com selection on my website.

I wonder if the leftists and the Korean Teachers Union types will come after Kim Dong-suk and try to tarnish his accomplishments during the war as militarist war mongering? Never the less the guy is a hero that should be respected for his contribution to bringing freedom to South Korea.

The modernization of North Korea continues:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is urging workers to produce more bicycles to cope with the lack of transport, improve people’s health and prevent pollution just days after the country’s first bike factory opened.

“He underscored the need to significantly increase the production of bicycles, noting that the use of bicycles is very good for satisfactorily solving the problem of transport, promoting the convenience of people in their living and their health and preventing the pollution in cities,” it said.

Who says the Juche Philosophy and the Sunshine Policy isn’t working. North Korea has advanced from the nuclear age to the bicycle age in record time. Actually is there another country that has ever produced nuclear weapons before being able to produce bicycles? I guess the South Koreans can finally scratch bicycles from their North Korean extortion list.

Why in the world has the Korean government chosen one of Korea’s most cherished cultural sites, Gyeongju which is listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site, as the country’s nuclear waste dump?:

The government has named Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province as the site of a low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste repository after 19 years of decision-making and nine failed attempts to select a nuclear dump site amid strong local opposition.
The Gyeongju nuclear waste repository is a significant success story as it stands as the first state project determined in a plebiscite. The city recorded a high turnout of 70.8 percent and a support rating of no less than 89.5 percent after the government incentivized its offer and local campaigning won over reluctant locals.

Conflict arising from the controversial plan to introduce a radioactive waste dump into their backyard even spilled over into violence in Buan, North Jeolla Province, two years ago.

This just blows my mind that the government chose Gyeongju, a precious national cultural asset as their choice for this nuclear waste dump over a better geographical choice such as Gunsan.

I can just see the tours in Gyeongju now, “Here is Bulguksa Temple which is listed by UNESCO as one of the World’s Cultural Heritage sites and next on the tour we will see the progress Gyeongju has made in the last 2,000 years by touring the city’s very own nuclear waste dump! I hope everyone is excited!”

Unbelievable, one of my favorite locations in Korea is being turned into a nuclear waste dump.