A no drinking order put out by the 2ID commanding general has created a stir with local bar owners in Dongducheon:

Dongducheon bar and restaurant owners met 2nd Infantry Division officials recently to complain about an alcohol ban imposed on troops during a training exercise this month.

According to Hodges, both parties walked away from the meeting understanding each other’s position, and KSTA leaders agreed to place the 2nd ID order banning soldiers from drinking during the exercise at the entrance of entertainment establishments, Ivey said.

I doubt the Dongducheon bar owners will be putting up a banner asking LTC Hodges to go to Afghanistan, but they are unhappy over the policy.

I like this quote from the article though:

The policy that bans soldiers from drinking states: “Consumption of alcoholic beverages is inconsistent with the readiness that U.S. Forces must maintain when deployed to defend our national interests, and it is equally inconsistent with effective, realistic training.”

Drinking hampers readiness during the training exercise but we will let the soldiers go to the club and consort with drinky girls all night and that has no effect on effective realistic training?

Only in 2ID.

The Stars and Stripes has provided an update on the rape and robbery of a US Army officer in Taegu:

South Korean police have narrowed their focus in an alleged rape to South Korean men connected with the U.S. military in Daegu.

Daegu Nambu Police Station detective Lee Doo-ho said the man who they believe raped a female military officer during an attack in her off-base apartment on July 7 is reported to speak nearly fluent English.

Because of that, Lee said, investigators are focusing on current or former Korean Augmentees to the U.S. Army, South Korean men who work on a U.S. base and shop workers near the bases.

The 5-foot 5-inch suspect wore a mask and hat during the attack, Lee said, so there is no sketch to publish.

Police have said the man also stole about $1,100 in U.S. currency and 250,000 won (about $250), and about $2,000 worth of items, including a digital camera.

Does anyone know if this is making the Korean news at all? I asked some KATUSAs if they heard of this story and they hadn’t. If this guy is to be caught this story needs to be updated in the Korean press with more details of what people should be looking for. A 5-foot 5-inch Korean guy that speaks English is probably not enough information for the readers of the Stars and Stripes to catch this guy.

I would be surprised if this is allowed to happen:

The Air Force lieutenant charged in an alleged shakedown of bars outside Osan Air Base while leading an Air Force police team that patrolled the bar district has asked the Air Force to let him resign instead of court-martialing him, officials said Wednesday.

(…)

“Lt. Davis has requested resignation in lieu of court-martial …” commonly called RILO, said Smith. “Each request is evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the secretary of the Air Force and takes into consideration all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the case.”

“It’s a standard provision that an officer facing a court-martial can ask to resign instead of going to trial.… Any officer facing court-martial has this right to request this,” Smith said.

The military allows you to resign instead of facing prosecution for low level crimes, however how is what 1LT Davis done considered to be a low level crime? With the emphasis on prostitution and human trafficking the military has here in Korea plus the publicity this case has received in the Korean media; I really see no way that he will be allowed to resign and walk away. Plus he still has to face trial for crimes he committed that broke Korean law. To make matters worse for him he is an officer which makes the crimes more serious because officers are held to higher standards than compared to a private, and rightfully so. Like I always tell soldiers, do what your rank can handle.

Something else to piss Seoul off with:

Backed by a $2 million budget, a former adviser to President Bush will take charge of a high-profile effort to advance human rights in North Korea, even as negotiations on the country’s nuclear weapons program enter a critical stage.

The appointment Friday of Jay Lefkowitz, who helped shape domestic policy at the White House, frees Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill to concentrate on efforts to end the weapons program.

The South Korean government cannot be to pleased by this because they will look at this as provoking the North Koreans during this time of six party talk negotations that are currently in recess. The South Koreans would prefer to turn a blind eye to human rights violations in North Korea and deal exclusively with brokering a deal that gives North Korea lots of free stuff in return for behaving the next few years until they need more money and the next crisis arrives. From the South Korean viewpoint, things like human rights only tend to complicate things.

Korean national soccer team coach Jo Bonfrere is on the hot seat after his teams 1-0 defeat to Saudi Arabia:

The Dutchman has already steered South Korea to its sixth consecutive World Cup finals in Germany, but a string of lackluster performances has sparked calls for him to step down from the media and fans.

“All options, including whether to dismiss Bonfrere, will be discussed at the meeting,” Yonhap quoted the official as saying.

It is true the national team has been playing like crap lately. I watched this last game against Saudi Arabia and the Korean team had plenty of chances for goals but the players kept missing their shots. I don’t know if you can blame the coach entirely for that. The players should feel some heat to as well. The complaint I always found humorous about Bonfrere was that he doesn’t communicate well with his players. Of course he doesn’t, he does not speak Korean. If people want a coach that communicates well hire a Korean coach.

However, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Bonfrere isn’t coaching the national team next year for the World Cup Finals. The team is playing so bad now they might just need a change though I don’t totally blame Bonfrere for it, but he is ultimately responsible.

The Korean film industry continues its success with the recent release of three very popular films:

That three films in completely different genres should be enjoying such a harvest in as many weeks is seen by the movie world as a good omen for Chungmu-ro, Korea’s Hollywood. The industry had been on the brink of crisis due to financial problems, controversy over the power of star actors and an offensive by Hollywood blockbusters, with the viewer share of Korean films plummeting to 32 percent in July. With the three films, it has bounced back quickly to 64 percent as of Monday, according to CGV statistics.

Film critic Shim Young-sup said the news was particularly welcome at a time of almost unprecedented concerns about the Korean film industry. “The significance of major productions like ‘Silmido’ is still there, but it’s particularly good news that the three films have firmed up the backbone of the Korean film industry with a new character.” Lee Seung-jae, president of major film producer LJ Film, said it was significant that the three were not light comedies or fashionable films but rather in a line of “well-made commercial films” that have appeared since 2002. “Rather than being movies in the same vein that squeeze each other out, the three films of very distinct genres worked a synergy effect,” he said.

I for one look forward to when these movies come out on DVD. If you have never watched Korean movies you really are missing out. The majority of DVDs rented from Korean movie stores have English subtitles. There really is a wealth of high quality Korean movies that are worth checking out.

This editorial in the Korea Times claims that the Hollywood Bar in Itaewon is racists towards black people:

It was my girlfriend’s birthday, and I was throwing her a surprise party. I had invited all of our close friends, including her cousin. Among our friends, there were three guys from Nigeria. Shortly after we arrived, an argument erupted between our Nigerian friends and the bartender. I asked why, and they explained to me that the bar security was asking for their IDs and that the bartender wouldn’t sell them any drinks because they are from Nigeria and they are black.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I asked to speak to the manager. I met up with him and I told him that the three Nigerian gentlemen were my friends, and we _ a group of about 25 people _ were celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday. “I invited them to the party, so please do not mess up our party,’’ I pleaded.

He said that they would have to leave the bar, because Hollywood bar does not serve Nigerians or black people in general. I told him not to be such a racist. He said, “We do not serve black people in this bar.” I honestly couldn’t believe this was happening, and so I said that if they had to leave, we would all leave.

I have never been to the Hollywood Bar before and after reading this I probably won’t ever go there, but I did a little checking on Google about the Hollywood Bar and found this from the Korea Herald:

Upstairs, separate owner of Hollywood Bar and Grill, American Barry Dorscher banned GIs three years ago. “If you let GIs in, every week you’re fixing you’re bathroom, because they bust it up,” he said, suggesting the bans were less driven by racism than by the old adage about oil and water.

So I guess GI’s aren’t welcome there as well. This same article had a few other interesting quotes in it as well:

“So many GIs have drugs. Now that’s gone,” said another club owner, preferring not to be named. “SOFA is a big problem. Whenever a fight broke out the military police would come but they couldn’t touch the GIs because of the law.” He also mentioned that the ban wasn’t entirely a Korean initiative. USFK personnel came and met the two heads of the Hongdae club conglomerate before the ban was implemented.

This whole SOFA thing is so frustrating because the Korean police have the right to arrest any GI that gets in a fight off duty at the club. Why people keep saying in the media GIs cannot be arrested due to the SOFA is complete disinformation. Here is some more interesting stuff:

In Geckos, a group of U.S. soldiers are drinking beer. One of them says he loves Hodge Podge (in Hongdae), but he can’t go there.

“We were told to watch out for a group of Koreans who would pick a fight with a GI while his friend’s in the background with a camcorder, for propaganda,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

His friend K.P. said everything got worse after two Korean girls were killed by a U.S. military vehicle last June. He lifted his shirt to show a scar on his chest where a 17-year-old girl cut him with a razor blade at an established hotel nightclub, “yelling something about killing babies.” Seven months ago, a young Korean pulled a knife on him in a subway saying Americans were tearing North and South Korea apart.

This article was before the Shinchon stabbing incident. It is too bad the soldiers involved in that incident didn’t listen to the command message being put out to avoid Hongdae because of the groups looking to provoke fights with US soldiers for propaganda purposes. Pvt. Humphrey wouldn’t be sitting in jail right now if he would have obeyed the off limits order.

The altercation that the soldier talks about is interesting because during the 2003 time period there were other attempted stabbings of soldiers. The stabbings of course got very little if any press, but it just makes me wonder if the same people were committing the stabbings?

Anyway if you have any insights or stories about the Hollywood Bar please feel free to leave a comment.

Soldiers who tore off the rank of a convicted rapist may now face punishment for their actions:

A U.S. military judge in South Korea will hold a hearing next month into an incident in which soldiers stripped rank chevrons, ribbons and other items from a soldier who’d just been sentenced on a rape conviction, officials said Monday.

But as he stood there, they also began methodically stripping his Class A green uniform jacket of everything but his buttons and name tag.

Public humiliation is something you have to be very careful about in the military. I saw a battalion commander get in trouble before when he paraded a soldier that was convicted for drunk driving in front of the battalion formation.

I doubt anyone will get in too serious of trouble for this but this should serve as a lesson to everyone that even convicted rapists have certain rights that have to be respected.

It looks like things are calming down at Camp Humphreys:

The head of a group representing club owners outside Camp Humphreys said Tuesday he’s hoping to persuade base officials to quickly rescind an order that placed a dozen local businesses off-limits last week and touched off an outcry from the merchants.

Camp Humphreys commander Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr. last week put 11 of the businesses off-limits, alleging they were selling alcohol to underage servicemembers. He put a 12th business off-limits for an alleged instance of prostitution or human trafficking.

Kim Ki-ho, president of the Anjung-ri Merchants Association, said merchants were so angered they hung a banner Friday in the heart of the bar district to protest the move.

“Commander Michael J. Taliento Jr., You go back to Afghanistan again,” the banner read. Taliento served in Afghanistan before taking command of the Area III Support Activity at Camp Humphreys in June 2004.

But the merchants have since put aside their anger and on Sunday afternoon took down the banner, said Kim.

I’m sure they will work something out, the clubs will be on their best behavior, and this whole thing will blow over. Given time, things will eventually be back to business as usual.

According to anti-USFK protesters, USFK plans on blowing up a South Korean island:

A small group of South Korean protesters prevented a U.S. Forces Korea team from clearing target ordnance from a coastal bombing range Monday, protesters and military officials confirmed Tuesday.

“This annual explosives ordnance disposal requirement, per agreement with the ROK government, attempts to remove all known surface hazardous items and unexploded ordnance.”

This is all standard procedures to clear ranges of unexploded ordinance. Not according to the protesters:

Hwang Ho-sup, the leader of Korea Federation for Environmental Movement — the group that occupied the island — told Stars and Stripes he fears USFK intends to save time and money by blowing up ordnance on the range before management is turned over to South Korea on Aug. 31. His group also believes USFK might attempt to “blow up” the entire range.

“Media reports quoting USFK personnel have falsely indicated that disposal personnel had arrived to ‘blow up the island’ and are untrue,” the USFK release stated. “Small controlled detonations are sometimes used to ensure the safe handling of unexploded ordnance during the removal process, but public safety is paramount in all disposal operations.”

I willing to bet these same protesters would be protesting USFK if they didn’t remove unexploded ordinance from the island and someone got killed or injured after the hand over.