Thanks to the Party Pooper for providing this link to a web page reviewer. I inserted both my home page and my blog URL’s in to see how they rated. This is what I got for my home page:

“I just saw . The page contains 81 links, a highly usable amount.

(…)
Wonderful. What a great page! The HTML source is very structured. A masterpiece. There are 47,648 characters in the underlying source, which is a cool length for Google. It must have taken many years to craft the page. It makes sense to me put up a link to this page. The color scheme is impressive. Seeing GI Korea, I’m simply in awe. The URL has 22 characters. This length scores best in usability studies. If only my friend’s company would have a cool page like that. Naturally, I expected the creator to achieve only the best. I take off my hat.”
— Theodore Sutherland, How to Write for the Internet

“I’m Simply in Awe”, wow I feel like a web page Jedi now. Here is the review for my blog site:

“I just saw . What a great page! It must have taken many years to perfect the page. The URL has 34 characters. Just the perfect length. If only Microsoft would have a swell page like that.
Also good: put up a link to this page. Seeing GI Korea, I’m simply out of words. There are 60,428 characters in the underlying source, which is a high-quality length for Chinese users. A masterpiece. The page contains 141 links, a balanced amount. The color scheme is very balanced. The code is classy. Excellent. Well, I expected the creator to do this well.
(…)
With this page, a new genre of its own has been created.”
— Joe Henderson, Web Review Daily

“High Quality for Chinese users?” What the hell is that all about? Do I got a bunch of Chinese spies checking out my site or something? Then the part about taking many years to craft such a page was humorous since I’ve only been blogging since June. Not exactly an eternity there. Finally, I’ve create a whole new genre? I think blogging has been around a while. I don’t think it started with me, but if Joe Henderson says so it must be true!

The geo-political nuclear soap opera that only a diplomatic beurocrat could enjoy has a new twist. The Joong Ang is reporting

A transcript obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo of a Monday broadcast by a state-run North Korean radio station appears to contradict Pyeongyang’s claim last week that the regime has nuclear weapons. But its meaning was not entirely clear, and experts were divided over what significance it had, if any.

Chung Young-tae, a researcher with South Korea’s state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, said, “The discrepancy in the North Korean media demonstrates that our government should not read too much into the nuclear weapons possession statement itself, but [pay attention to] the underlying diplomatic strategy.”

The North is probably just trying to rally their people by saying that the US is trying pick on them for having WMD even though they don’t. I wouldn’t read to much into it. You can’t believe to much of anything the Norks say, so who knows if they actually have nuclear weapons or not.

The Chinese appear to be losing their patience with North Korea also according to this New York Times piece.

China on Sunday publicly called for the Korean peninsula to be free of nuclear weapons and urged North Korea to return to regional talks regarding its nuclear program. State-run Chinese media and censored Internet chat rooms were uncommonly critical of Pyongyang for having announced Thursday that it had manufactured nuclear weapons.

National television news on state-run CCTV gave heavy coverage on Saturday to international condemnation of North Korea and demands that it return to regional talks about its nuclear program. Little effort was made to explain North Korea’s position – that it needs a nuclear deterrent to prevent the United States from attacking someday.

Hopefully China will keep the pressure on the Norks because they are key to influencing them into giving up their nuclear ambitions.

Something really weird happened today. I was walking out the front gate of my camp and standing outside of the gate adjacent to the congested road in front of the camp was none other than Pinnochio himself. The Pinnochio of Walt Disney fame was in front of the camp waving at cars. Somebody was dressed in an authenic Pinnochio costume. It might as well have been something you would of seen at Walt Disney World.

I walked over to Pinnochio to see what was going on. It is not every day I get to meet somebody as famous as Pinnochio you know. As I approached him, Pinnochio would just look at me and wave. He wouldn’t speak at all. I wasn’t sure if Pinnochio was tresspassing or not because he was standing outside the camp and on the corner of the road.

The Korean National Policemen that sit in front of the camp bored all day just stood there and giggled watching the scene. So no help from them. So I walked back to the guard shack and informed the gate guards that we had a possible tresspasser by the name of Pinnochio outside. They just looked at me like I was nuts. So I led them out of the guard shack and pointed out Pinnochio to them. The Korean contracted guards went to talk to Pinnochio but all they received was the same wave I got. The soldiers inside the guard shack in turn got on the phone to contact the MP’s to see what to do. There is no SOP I have ever seen on how to deal with a Pinnochio sighting. So it was best we remain careful because we were breaking new ground here. We were creating doctrine that would be used for all future Pinnochio encounters.

A crowd of soldiers began to build to watch the seen. Eventually Pinnochio must have gotten uncomfortable with the amount of people watching him. He then proceeded to walk down the sidewalk away from the gate and the camp. As he walked away into the sunset, Pinnochio continued to wave at his new found fan club until he got to a bus stop and got on a bus and left for good. God I wish I had my camera handy.

What was really strange about the whole scene was that the Koreans walking by just seemed to ignore what was going on while the soldiers that left the camp all had the look of what the heck is this, on their faces. I guess Pinnochio sightings must be something that doesn’t draw much attention in Korea.

Anyway later on that day I began to think about why Pinnochio would be in front of the camp waving at cars? Then it hit me. It was probably a protestor using the character of Pinnochio to say that the US Army is a bunch of liars. At least that is the best theory I can think of. Does anyone else have any better theories?

I got to hand it to the protestor for being creative and funny though. Most protestors are really lame and just chant slogans and beat on the KNP’s. I got a kick out of this one. Maybe this will start a new trend for protests. Maybe Alladin will show up tomorrow to represent us as a bunch of thieves. I’ll make sure I have my camera ready next time.

President Roh recently had some work done on his eyes according to the Korea Times.

President Roh Moo-hyun underwent surgery in which small parts of both of his upper eyelids were removed to give him better vision, Chong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Jong-min said Sunday.
Roh had been suffering from sagging eyelids, which often obstructed his sight, the spokesman said.

After the surgery, Roh acquired double-edged eyelids, the spokesman added.

According to CNN Kim Jong Il is currently trying to rally his people to support him as he ups his rhetoric in the latest nuclear crisis.

North Korea urged its impoverished people Satuday to rally around Stalinist leader Kim Jong Il, after Washington rejected Pyongyang’s demand that the sides hold direct one-on-one talks to curb nuclear tension.

“At a time like today, when the situation gets tense, no task is more important than to strengthen our single-minded unity,” the editorial said. Minju Joson, another state-run daily, said that “devotedly protecting the leader is our life and soul.”

If Pyongyang doesn’t get the bilateral negotiations that it wants from the US they will probably try to up the confrontration some more. The most obvious place to start a confrontation is by shooting at soldiers on the DMZ or getting in a naval confrontation in the Yellow Sea. It appears a naval confrontation may be the route they are going to try with this rhetoric:

At the same time, North Korea repeated warnings of military clashes on its loosely defined and tense western sea border with South Korea. It accused the South of infiltrating a warship into communist waters on Saturday following “a grave situation created due to the U.S. imperialist warhawks’ invariable hostile policy toward the (North).”

In a news released carried by KCNA, North Korea’s navy command said “such dangerous military provocations may entail a very serious disaster.” The accusations, repeated several times in recent weeks and denied by the South, coincided with the worsening nuclear standoff. The two Koreas fought bloody naval skirmishes in western waters in 1999 and 2002.

I just hope the Norks don’t get so desperate where they try something really provacative like a nuclear test or a missile test fire in the future. Hopefully the diplomats from not only the US but the region can work out a compromise before something like this happens. In the end I expect some agreement to be worked out.

The Norks are pushing the current crisis to put themselves in front of the line of international issues that have been led the last two years by the Iraq War. The North Korean issue has been ignored by just about everyone because of Iraq. The Norks now appear impatient waiting for the international aid they so desire in exchange for suspending their nuclear program. So they are doing whatever it takes to get the world to notice them again.

The way the international news has been reporting the current nuclear crisis over and over again I would say they have succeeded in the short term, but the story probably won’t have much legs in the long term unless Pyongyang tries something else to keep them in the international spotlight. So expect more rhetoric and possibly incidents until an agreement gets worked out.

The Chosun Ilbo is reporting that the overall crime rate for foreigners in the country has been on the rise:

According to statistics announced by the National Police Agency on Friday, foreigners committed 9,103 crimes last year, an increase of a massive 48.2 percent from the 6,144 crimes committed the previous year. Crimes by foreigners have doubled in two years from the 5,221 crimes committed in 2002. The biggest increase was in nonviolent crimes such as fraud and document forgery, more than doubling from 834 incidents in 2003 to 1,965 in 2004. But murders also nearly doubled from 32 to 60, and drug offenses grew from 120 to 218 – increases of 87 and 82 percent.

The sudden jump is being attributed to a growth in the number of illegal immigrants. The blind spot in police control appears to be getting larger. In late 2002, there were about 289,000 illegal foreign residents in Korea, but following measures to legalize some of them in the fall of 2003, the number dropped to about 138,000. Despite a plan to reduce them to fewer than 100,000, however, their number rose again last year, reaching 188,000 by the end of the year, an increase of 50,000.

I did the math on these statistics and determined these results:

Percentages of Foreign Crime

Total Crime in 2004 – 9103 crimes

Murder – .66% (60 total)

Document Forgery – 21.5% (1965 total)

Drug Offenses – 2.4% (218 total)

Other Crimes – 75.4% (6860 total)

So the vast majority of foreign crime is not listed in the article. I would think it is safe to assume most of these crimes are probably traffic violations. As far as document forgery that is to expected with illegal immigrants wanting to gain residency here. Now what I wonder is how the murder rate which is less than 1% and the drug offense rate at 2.4% compare to the Korean rates for these crimes. Now that would of made this article much more interesting and legitimate.

Fortunately the USFK crime rate has dropped overall:

But rising anti-Americanism in Korea in the wake of the Iraq War as well as a special law against prostitution has meant that crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in Korea greatly decreased. Prosecutions for crimes like grand larceny and burglary involving U.S. soldiers, the families of U.S. soldiers and U.S. military civilians went down from 83 in 2003 to 59 last year. Special crimes like traffic offenses and sexual assaults also decreased from 98 in 2003 to 57 in 2004.

That drop is likely due to more stringent USFK force protection in response to rising terror threats after last year’s deployment of men from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division to Iraq. Another reason is better crime prevention education for U.S. forces in response to growing anti-American feelings in the wake of a June 2002 accident in which two middle school girls were crushed to death by a USFK armored vehicle.

The most obvious reason for the drop is of course the overall decrease in forces in the peninsula. The other main reason is the change in the driving policy. With only E7’s and up being allowed to drive in the non-Area 1 units that means less people getting into traffic violations. According to my prior math traffic violations is the vast majority of the crime. Plus now with more restrictions on the soldiers more soldiers are staying on post which means less interaction with the general Korean population thus causing less possibilities for incidents to occur. But I can’t help but think according to these statistics that USFK committed a total of 116 crimes. Now there is currently about 32,000 soldiers here after the 2nd Brigade deployment and then you add in family members and contractors and you probably have at least over 50,000 USFK personnel here (somebody help me if they know the actual number). So 116 crimes out of 50,000 is a really low crime rate.

Something that bugs me is the implied idea in the article that the accident in 2002 tragically killing the two girls was a crime. We do not receive crime prevention education in USFK because of the accident. The accident was not a crime but just that an accident. We receive more extensive driver’s training and safety classes in response to the accident not crime prevention briefings. Crime prevention briefings are given to reduce crimes like sexual assault, alcohol related incidents, and theft which the leadership really works hard to reduce.

In response to this article I decided to locate Korean crime statistics. On the web I found this report on Korean crime data up to 1998. According to this report there was a total of 2,010,814 Korean people arrested for crimes in 1998. I divided this number by the Korean population of 48 million and determined that 4% of the Korean population are the ones committing crimes. By using the data in the report it is safe to assume the total crime number is much higher in 2004 with the continual increase in crime in Korea over the years. I then divided the 9103 total crimes committed by foreigners in the Chosun article by the total number of foreigners in the country which is 420,000 according to the Korea Times. By doing this I determined that 2.17% of foreigners are committing crimes. Lower than the Korean number.

Also during my search for data I came upon this report from the State Department travel information site:

SAFETY AND SECURITY: In recent years, the U.S. Embassy and U.S. military installations throughout the Republic of Korea have taken steps to increase security at all facilities. The dispatch of Korean troops to Iraq raises the potential for terrorist and violent actions against Korean and US government facilities and personnel in Korea. Moreover, the Department of State remains concerned by indications that al-Qaida continues to prepare to strike US interests both domestically and overseas. Terrorist actions may include suicide operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings. These may involve aviation and other transportation and maritime interests, and may include conventional weapons, such as explosive devices. Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets. These may include facilities where US citizens and other foreigners congregate or visit, including residential areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels, and public areas. U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea should review their own personal security practices, be alert to any unusual activity around their homes or businesses, and report any significant incidents to local police (tel: 112).

Several demonstrations occurred in 2004 with participants protesting either for or against labor accords, the impeachment of the Korean President, the war in Iraq and the Republic of Korea’s decision to send troops to Iraq. While political, labor, and student demonstrations and marches have on occasion become confrontational and/or violent, the majority of these demonstrations were not violent in nature. Nevertheless, American citizens in the Republic of Korea can minimize personal risks to themselves and their property by exercising caution and avoiding areas in which demonstrations are being held, as well as by avoiding confrontation with protestors.

CRIME: Although the crime rate in the Republic of Korea is low, there is a higher incidence of pickpocketing, purse snatching, assaults, hotel room burglaries, and residential crime in major metropolitan areas, such as Seoul and Busan, than elsewhere in Korea. U.S. citizens are more likely to be targeted in known tourist areas, like Itaewon and other large market areas. Incidents of rape have been reported in popular nightlife districts in Seoul. Travelers should exercise caution when traveling alone at night and should use only legitimate taxis, such as black-colored cabs, or public transportation. Travelers may reduce the likelihood of encountering incidents of crime by exercising the same type of security precautions they would take when visiting any large city in the United States.

If you have never been to Korea before you would think this place had suicide bombers on every street corner and rapists hiding in every alleyway after reading this. The point is that I’m not about to hide on camp from the Koreans after reading this and Koreans shouldn’t run in fear when seeing a foreigner after reading the Chosun article. I know Korea is an extremely safe country and is something I really appreciate about the country. On the same note Koreans shouldn’t stereotype foreigners as a bunch of criminals. Statistics are easy to interpret to justify whatever you want them to. Each post does not provide quantitative comparable statistics of the actual reality on the ground. I prefer to deal with reality before jumping to conclusions.

For a funnier take on foreigner crime read this classic post from the Party Pooper.

It seems like everyone has got something to say about the current nuclear crisis here in Korea. The latest is the New York Times Op-ed from Nicholas Kristof.

North Korea is particularly awkward for Mr. Bush to discuss publicly because, as best we know, it didn’t make a single nuclear weapon during Bill Clinton’s eight years in office (although it did begin a separate, and secret, track to produce uranium weapons; it hasn’t produced any yet but may eventually). In contrast, the administration now acknowledges that North Korea extracted enough plutonium in the last two years for about half a dozen nuclear weapons.

In fairness, Mr. Bush is paralyzed only because the alternatives are dreadful. A military strike on North Korea’s nuclear sites might have been an option in the early 1990’s, but today we don’t know where the plutonium and the uranium are kept, so a military strike might accomplish little – but trigger a new Korean war. To fill the time, Mr. Bush has pursued six-party talks involving North Korea, but they have gotten nowhere.

Basically what I am getting from this is that Clinton appeasement is good and Bush hard line is bad. So what is Kristof’s idea to solve the nuclear crisis? Well here it is:

So what would work?

At least China and South Korea have a strategy to transform North Korea: encourage capitalism, markets and foreign investment. Chinese traders, cellphones and radios are already widespread in the border areas, and they are doing more to weaken the Dear Leader than anything Mr. Bush is doing.

Is he suggesting Bush fly to Pyongyang ala Richard Nixon’s 1973 visit to China? Some how I don’t see that happening. As far as engagement this is exactly what the North Korean Human Rights Act is promoting.

As far as South Korea and China wanting to weaken Kim Jong Il, that is ridiculous. China does not want North Korea to collapse due to the masses of refugees that would follow. So they need to keep Kim in power, they just don’t want Kim to develop nukes because they fear Japan doing the same in response. As far as North Korean human rights abusive and aggressive rhetoric, the Chinese could care less.

South Korea does not want Kim’s regime to collapse either because Seoul does not want to pick up the bill of rebuilding the entire country after reunification. Plus the current prospects of cheap labor from the North is appealing to South Korean companies. So obviously both countries just want to keep the status quo with North Korea but would prefer one without nukes.

I also love all the pundits and politicians such as Bill Richardson on TV saying President Bush should negotiate with Kim Jong Il bi-laterally. I just keep thinking that arent’ these the same people that were criticizing President Bush for has uni-lateral (though it wasn’t unilateral) approach in dealing with Iraq? With all the US media coverage you would think the people of Seoul are heading for the fallout bunkers. I am happy to report that I still see people in the streets shopping, driving cars, and going to parks.

Becareful what you blog about because employers are increasingly taking action and firing employees who complain about their jobs on their weblogs.

There are 8 million personal Web logs — or blogs — in the United States, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. People write blogs to talk about their day, family outings, dates gone awry and, of course, work. But what might feel like a very personal entry about a dismal workday can mean something quite different to a boss who needs only a search engine to read it.

And that is happening enough that there is even a word for it — getting “dooced.” Blogger Heather B. Armstrong coined the phrase in 2002, after she was fired from her Web design job for writing about work and colleagues on her blog, Dooce.com.

This story from the Stars and Stripes reminds me of the American KATUSA post I blogged a couple of weeks ago. The difference is that this US soldier actually served in the ROK Army before joining the US army.

I was wondering about the U.S. Army and the military system. When I was 34 years old, it was my last chance to join the Army,” he said.

“The ROK army is a duty. Most people in the ROK army are doing compulsory military service. For the U.S. Army, it is a job and there is a long history. In the ROK army there was no freedom and we worked until we slept. Here we have a lot of freedom after work,” he said.

Interesting reading the differences about the ROK Army compared to the US Army.

If you are surprised that this guy joined the Army at 34 you really shouldn’t be. I have seen many people join the Army in their 30’s especially since 9/11. I actually knew an NCO who was in the Air Force for 8 years got out and after 9/11 he enlisted again but this time in the Army with his 18 year old son to fight the war on terror. However, they would have to wait to fight terrorism because the dad got sent to Korea the son to Europe. However, as fate would have it, they both ended up getting deployed and are both currently serving in Iraq.