UPDATE #4: Budaechigae has got a posting on this that provides a link to a video of the protest.
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UPDATE #3: Of course the Marmot has a great post covering the battle at Camp Humphreys.
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UPDATE #2: Mark has got more on this at his site. He compares the battle to Pickett’s Charge during the Civil War. Not a bad analogy.
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UPDATE #1: Nomad has got more on this at his site. He also draws some conclusions about the hypocracy and greed of the people involved in this from this article in today’s Chosun Ilbo..

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Original Posting:

There was a very violent protest that broke out at Camp Humphreys on Sunday. The protesters were protesting the ROK governments move to buy adjacent farm land around the camp to begin building the needed facilities in order to move soldiers stationed on Yongsan and the 2ID area to Camp Humphreys by 2008. Camp Humphreys for the most part is surrounded by rice paddies on three sides which makes Camp Humphreys the ideal place to expand a camp to relocate soldiers.

However, the local farmers don’t think so and have thus begun to protest. Some of the farmers may legitimately not want to move for whatever reason but I have a feeling that many of the local farmers are protesting in order to get a sweeter deal from the ROK government to sell their land. What do they got to loose by protesting? It only helps them in negotiations with the government. These farmers have teamed up with the “peace activists” which I use this term very loosely because would real “peace activists” do this:

This wasn’t violence that just accidentally happened and got out of hand. This was obviously very well planned because the “peace activists” or for sake of clarity I will just call them thug protesters brought plenty of weapons to assault the riot police and brought wire cutters to breach the fence line.

The pictures seem to support my theory that the thug protesters out number the rice farmers at the protest. Basically it appears, I could be wrong that you got the usual suspects (ie-Hanchongryun) that show up at all the anti-American protests joining with some local farmers to raise hell and then they all go back to Seoul drink a few beers and tell their buddies how much fun they had assaulting policemen and destroying private property because that is basically all they accomplished.

Something I find interesting about the thug protesters is that they always try to make things out like they were the victims. Here is this quote from the International Action Center site.

South Korean government dispatched over six thousand police including the notorious 1001 Unit from Seoul. During the ensuing struggle, over 200 people were hospitalized from the brutal attack by the police and hundreds were arrested.

Brutal Attack?! What do you call this picture?!:

This looks scene from Braveheart. I can just picture the Hanchongryun leader yelling, “You may take our lives but you will never take our rice paddies!”

All I see is the thugs attacking the police! I saw the after action review report today and many policemen were seriously injured and one of the policemen is facing life threatening injuries because these people want to go cause trouble and be stupid.

Why should any young policemen be subjected to getting beat down by these thugs? The reason is because nobody does anything to discourage this activity. If you assault policemen you should go to jail. Why should policemen be treated as some ones private boxing bag? Policemen should be held in high regard and they are not in this country. That is why protesters feel free to seriously injure these young mandatory service draftees at these protests. I get extremely frustrated by this because I see these young men getting beat down and these young men are no different then the young soldiers I’m in charge of and I would never subject them to what the Korean policemen are subjected too.

The slogan on the left of the stage says “Drive out the US military” and the slogan on the right says “This land is our life, we will guard it to the end.”

I make a point to periodically thank the Korean police around my camp for what they do. They really do have a tough job and execute their duties the best they can which I appreciate. I wish their own government would do more to appreciate what they do by preventing them from getting injured in the first place by arresting anyone who assaults a policemen. There should be mandatory jail time for this.

Here is some more stupidity from the IAC website:

As part of the U.S. military’s strategic global realignment plan, the role of U.S. military in South Korea now encompasses all of East Asia. To support their new military role, the U.S. military plans to expand their bases in South Korea in addition to building a number of Patriot Missile Bases along the west coast of South Korea, targeting China.

Plan to expand our bases in South Korea?! We have been shutting down bases up here in 2ID land left and right plus redeploying soldiers back to the US to cut troop numbers here. The goal is to get troop numbers here down to 17,500 by 2008 and we are well on our way to achieving that. Plus it is an out right lie that that is being passed here that the US is building PATRIOT missile bases in Korea. The PATRIOT missile batteries are located on Korean Air Force bases in Kwangju and Suwon and also on the US Air Force’s Osan and Kunsan airbases. In addition to this, the PATRIOT missile cannot be used on offensive strikes against China, North Korea, or anywhere else because they are a purely defensive weapon system. A PATRIOT missile is not a Tomahawk Cruise Missile. But these people believe their own garbage they put out.

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Is this Korea or the Gaza Strip?

I really have no problem with them protesting. It is their right to protest which I fully support. However, I do not support violence and destruction of private property. The only way to stop this is by arresting people and dishing out steep sentences.

Finally what I find most ironic about all of this, is that these same thug protesters that went down to Camp Humphreys to stir up trouble are the same people who protest outside of Yongsan Garrison demanding that it be moved. When a plan is made to move the garrison these same people protest about that. Where do they want us to move to? Out in the ocean? When the USFK says screw you guys we will just redeploy soldiers back to the US these same people complain that the US soldiers can’t go home yet because that may increase the mandatory service time which these protesters are trying to avoid. We just can’t win. So I say screw them and let’s buy land on Cheju Island instead.

Hey, way to go idiots teach the kids to hate Americans early before they even have a chance to meet an American. If the kid is really lucky maybe he will get his head cracked open like the guy below. Why in the world would someone bring children to something as violent as this?

CNN is reporting that former South Korean soccer coach Guus Hiddink may be offered a job to coach the Australian soccer team:

Guus Hiddink, the Dutchman who steered South Korea to a World Cup semifinal berth in 2002, is among the candidates to succeed Frank Farina as coach of Australia.

“We’re talking to a very small number of candidates, of which Hiddink is one,” Boultbee said. “We’re making good progress.”

Judging Hiddink’s past record is anyone willing to bet that Australia goes to the World Cup semi-finals? Hiddink took the Netherlands to the semi-finals in 1998 and the South Korean team to the semi-finals in 2002.

A 19 year old US soldier who accidental struck a 51 year old Korean woman with his military vehicle last month killing her, has been officially declared on duty at the time of the accident:

A U.S. soldier was on duty when the vehicle he was driving struck and killed a South Korean woman in Dongducheon city on June 10, U.S. military officials told South Korean prosecutors Wednesday.

U.S. Forces Korea officials provided the “official duty certificate” in response to a query from the Uijongbu city prosecutor, according to a USFK statement issued Wednesday evening. The certificate gives U.S. authorities “the primary right to exercise criminal jurisdiction” in the case, according to the statement.

This means that under the Status of Forces Agreement that he cannot be charged with a crime in a Korean court. Korean police forwarded charges last week knowing full well this was an obvious on duty incident:

South Korean police said they forwarded charges of “duty-related accidental homicide” to the Uijongbu city prosecutor’s office more than a week ago.

The Korean police did this just to cover themselves and blame their lack of action on the soldier on the SOFA agreement to keep the anti-American protesters off their backs.

Here is the reasoning USFK gave for not forwarding charges on PFC Bryant:

USFK officials are not compelled to prosecute because “each case is evaluated and addressed individually,” according to the statement.

The police said the 51-year-old victim, Kim Myung-ja, jaywalked across Peace Street while Bryant sat at a traffic light in a 2.5-ton Army vehicle. Bryant’s passenger, 28-year-old Pfc. Cassandra Daryliell, spotted Kim as she crossed the street, police have told Stripes, but Bryant apparently failed to hear Daryliell’s warnings.

Why can’t the police just be mature about this and admit that it was an accident and seek compensation from USFK for the accident? The Korean family involved have already forgiven the soldier, why can’t everyone else do the same?

North Korea has agreed to restart negotiations to end their nuclear program this month:

The six-nation talks will resume July 25, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday.

“The U.S. side clarified its official stand to recognize (North Korea) as a sovereign state, not to invade it and hold bilateral talks within the framework of the six-party talks,” KCNA reported.

It looks like China put some leverage on the North Koreans to continue the negotiations. I will be very surprised if anything comes out of the July 25th meeting with the North Koreans.

The Japundit is reporting about a bikini controversy in Buan county:

Women’s right activists are up in arms in Korea over a campaign at a popular resort area that offers incentives to women wearing bikinis.

The campaign is being advertised by posters reading: “Show off your beauty and get a 10-percent discount.”

I initially had images of a beach filled with bikini clad Ms. Korea’s but I then began to think about it. What if the beach is filled with bikini clad ajumas looking for discounts? I don’t think a 10% discount is enough to get young Korean women to wear bikinis but it appears I am going to have to check out this beach to make sure. Purely for professional curiosity of course.

Could this beach one day be filled with women in bikinis?

The Party Pooper is at it again. He gives his take on the Korean Konglish craze. Funny stuff.

If you have some spare PATRIOT missiles for sale I know a buyer for you:

From next year, South Korea will replace its ageing ground-to-air Nike missiles, introduced 40 years ago, with Patriot missiles, the defence ministry said. A decision on whether to buy new missiles directly from the United States or second-hand ones from Germany has yet to be taken, it added.

“We may buy US-made Patriot missiles from Germany,” a ministry official said. The South Korean military had planned to buy 48 Patriot missiles from the United States in 2000, but the plan was scrapped because of a dispute over the cost.

Currently there are PATRIOT missile units located in Suwon, Osan, Kunsan, and Kwangju providing air and missile defense to those areas. The missiles located in those areas are called PATRIOT PAC-3 missiles which are much more advanced than the PAC-2 missiles that would be sold to the South Koreans. Still it is a good sign that the ROK military is looking to increase their own idependent defense capabilities. However, will this lead to the US PATRIOT missile batteries leaving Korea? I seriously doubt that will happen any time soon.

Recently there has been some joint military training going on here in Northeast Asia between the two bitter neighbors Japan and Korea. On Thursday, the ROK and Japanese militaries conducted a anti-terrorism exercise in the Korea Strait:

The Korea Coast Guard and Japan’s Maritime Safety Agency each deployed one 3,000-ton patrol ship, a helicopter, a speed boat and special forces team members in the Korea Strait.

Patrol boats first blocked the ferry’s course, and special forces then boarded the vessel from helicopters and high-speed boats. Simulated injured passengers were flown to land by helicopter, while fleeing “terrorists” were hunted down by speed boats.

This exercise is being used as a train up for South Korean security forces leading up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan this November.

Chinese Naval Vessel

Also on Thursday their was another military exercise going on off the coast of China. This one remarkably involved China, Korea, and Japan:

China on Thursday conducted its largest ever maritime search-and-rescue drill off the coast of Shanghai, with the participation of South Korea and Japan, in a rare sign of renewed cooperation between the Asian powers.

The Chinese Ministry of Communications and the China Sea Search and Rescue Centre coordinated the reaction to the emergency drill, with the rescuing of sailors, fire fighting, the containment of oil spills and even the thwarting of a terrorist attack.

So what was Korea’s and Japan’s role in this exercise? Well, not really much:

Japan’s 1,200-tonne Satsuma joined a fleet parade and its crew exchanged views with Chinese maritime safety officials, while a guard ship from South Korea’s maritime police was also presenet during the exercise.

Hey, at least it is a start to building some kind of cooperation between these three countries.

In the wake of the London Terrorist bombings that has now reportedly killed 49 people, the US State Department has decided to fly the Union Jack over the State Department building in a show of solidarity with the people of Britain. This is the first time a foreign flag has ever flown over the US State Department building. The US government has also decided to restrict travel to London for all US military members. Both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have come out strongly condemning the terrorists attacks that were executed to spoil the G8 summit going on in Scotland.

It appears the bus bombing may have been the work of a suicide bomber while the bombs used in both the bus and subway attacks weighed as little as 10 pounds a piece and could of been easily transported in backpacks.

When I came back from Iraq I took a week of leave and traveled around England. I really like the country and it’s people. I wouldn’t mind be stationed there one day. Though I found many people critical of the war in Iraq the people there were very respectful of the military and the United States in general. I really despise these terrorists cowards who target innocent people. If they were real men who wanted to fight for their cause of Islamic extremism they should go to Iraq where the US and British militaries can give them an express ticket to see Allah.

Over here in Korea, the South Korean government has condemned the terrorist attacks:

South Korea on Friday condemned the bombings in London and pledged to support an international drive to root out terrorism.

“Our government expresses deep regret that the series of bomb terror attacks in the city of London left a number of innocent victims and extends deep condolences and sympathy to the victims and their families,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-Hyung said in a statement.

Korean security forces have also decided to temporarily boost security around the country in places such as the US embassy and Inchon International Airport in response:

South Korea has tightened security and taken stepped-up measures to prevent possible terrorist attacks after a series of deadly blasts in London on Thursday. Security guards stepped up checks at Inchon International Airport and other major facilities around the country yesterday, while keeping on high alert.

The authorities said that the airport, the nation?s main gateway, is feared to be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Police will take additional measures to mobilize special units and armored vehicles as well as riot police, if any sign of a terror threat is detected.

If I was a terrorist the US Embassy or Inchon International Airport would not be where I would target. Using the Taegu Fire incident in 2003 that killed over 130 people as a template, any knowledgeable terrorist could inflict more casualties here in Korea than what was caused in London’s bombings. Korea needs to understand that the terrorists would love to target Korea because they know they would get a large backlash from the public here not against them but against America.

This is what the terrorists are hoping to accomplish with the bombings in London. Some in London are already blaming Tony Blair for the attacks instead of the terrorists themselves. In fact some people believe it is time to send in the clowns. Do you think the Insurgent Rebel Clown Army is ready to protect you from the terrorists.

These Idiots Protest Blair and Bush But Keep Quiet On London Terrorist Attacks

With the APEC summit coming up in November Korea needs to begin a heavy security preparations to crackdown on any potential terrorist threats. Good police work, intelligence, immigration control, and security SOPs will do more to deter a potential terrorist attack here in Korea than sending in the Insurgent Rebel Clown Army.

The Marmot reports about a drunken brawl in Uijeongbu between three US soldiers and a Korean national. If you can read Korean you can get more details here. I’m sure this guy was minding his own business doing absolutely nothing when he just randomly got assaulted by the evil GI’s that prowl the streets of Uijongbu. (Yes I’m being sarcastic.) That is the usual story by people who tend to loose drunken brawls. I guarantee you that if the GI’s came out on the loosing side of the brawl and were beat up like Mr. Cho nobody would care then.

I think that the GI’s story should be heard before passing judgment. How do we know that this Korean guy and his buddies didn’t assault the GI’s and came out on the losing end? Also the fact that the Korean police handed over the one suspect to the US MP’s shows that they didn’t think that the incident was serious enough for them to investigate. Once the case got publicity of course the police go ahead and blame the SOFA just like all the policemen do to cover themselves though the SOFA has nothing to do with this case since the soldiers were off duty.

This all goes back to my posting from last month about, Swallowing Your Pride. If Mr. Cho some how bumped into the soldiers like he claims or even took a swing at them, which at this point we don’t know for sure; those soldiers should of just got out of the area quickly because in confrontations with Koreans you will never win no matter how rightly justified you feel you are. Your best option is to swallow your pride and get away from the situation.

Speaking of random assaults I wonder if this burglary and rape of a USFK soldier stationed in Daegu made any of the Korean news?

South Korean police are searching for a Korean man who allegedly raped a female U.S. officer Sunday in Daegu.

A Daegu Nambu police detective said authorities are seeking a 5-foot-5-inch Korean man who they say entered the American woman’s off-base apartment around midnight Sunday.

The detective said the suspect entered the apartment from a balcony, struck the woman and raped her before stealing about $1,100 and 250,000 won (about $250), and about $2,000 worth of items, including a digital camera.

The police officer said the 22-year-old American worked for a medical support unit and that local police are conducting a joint investigation with U.S. Criminal Investigative Command agents.

This isn’t the first time a US service member has been raped, murdered, or assaulted in Korea by a Korean and probably won’t be the last. But will anybody in Korea hear about it? That is the question I am wondering. If the Korean police are serious about catching this guy wouldn’t they want to publicize it as much as possible?

I guarantee if it was USFK service member that did this crime there would be never ending news coverage of it complete with all the emotional pictures of crying families, talk of the unfair SOFA agreement, and talk of all the crimes committed by US service members in Korea while simultaneously ignoring the fact that Koreans commit just as serious crimes against USFK soldiers.

Oh My News and the rest of the Korean media where are you? Is a drunken brawl that happens all over Korea every day more news worthy than the rape and and burglary of a 22 year old female? The silence in this case is deafening.