I think the President of the KATUSA Veterans Association makes a good point that South Korea is lucky that the abrupt cancellation of a concert recognizing 2nd Infantry Division troops has not received media attention in the US:
Kim Jong-wook
The recently disrupted concert meant to celebrate a key U.S. military unit’s centennial could trigger a bout of anti-Korean sentiment in the United States, a keen observer told The Korea Times Wednesday.
“We should put ourselves in their shoes,” Kim Jong-wook, president of the KATUSA Veterans Association, said. “Naturally, they would feel unappreciated for their service. After all, they are here, being a half world away from home, to defend Korea.”
On Saturday, Uijeongbu, the city north of Seoul, which is home to the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division, hosted a farewell concert for its members ahead of its centennial in October. Most of the Korean performers canceled their participation after receiving a flood of protests triggered by NGOs.
The civic groups demanded the singers stay away, arguing that the concert was preempted by the 15th anniversary of two Korean girls who were crushed to death by a U.S. armored vehicle in 2002.
“If the American public find out about what happened, I would have little doubt that they would want their children home,” Kim said. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but I don’t see this story getting any traction either in the US because all the American media cares about now is anything with the word Russia and Trump in it.
This is yet another example of how empowered the anti-American left currently is in South Korea:
Members of civic groups demonstrate in front of the Uijeongbu Sports Complex on June 10 in protest against the concert. / Yonhap
Korean singers on Saturday boycotted a government-backed concert for United States Forces Korea troops after workers and netizens revived a bitter episode involving the American military.
The municipal government of Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province organized the concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is stationed in the city.
USFK commander Vincent Brooks, the 8th U.S. Army commanding general Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, 50 officers and 400 soldiers as well as more than 3,000 civilians attended the free concert at the Uijeongbu Sports Complex.
But the musicians invited ― including soloist Insooni, K-pop bands EXID, Oh My Girl, Sweet Sorrow, punk band Crying Nut and rapper SanE ― neither showed up nor performed.
Insooni, 61, whose father was an African-American USFK soldier, told the audience at the start of the concert that she would not perform her three songs.
Shorty after this, the audience was told that all planned performances had been cancelled, causing many people to leave.
The concert, scheduled for three-and-a-half hours, was cut short by an hour, and went ahead with gigs by the 8th Army Band, the city orchestra and dancing troupe, a gukak (Korean traditional music) band and a taekwondo demonstration.
The boycott stems from a tragedy in 2002 when a 2nd Infantry unit tank accidentally ran over and killed two female middle school students on a street in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province.
Even though the unit commander apologized and compensation was paid, two soldiers were found not guilty of killing the students because a U.S. military court at Camp Casey in Dongducheon ruled their deaths were an accident. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but for those that have not, I highly recommend reading my entire prior posting on the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident that provides the context of what happened:
The threats against these groups must have been very serious considering that Insooni pulled out of the concert and her father was a USFK servicemember and grew up around US military bases in Korea. So who was behind the threats? None other than the anti-US Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU):
Hours before the event, 10 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ northern Gyeonggi branch also demonstrated against the city government in front of the complex.
A confederation spokesperson said, “Forcing students to congratulate USFK’s establishment with celebrities goes against our educational ethics,” according to the Chosun Ilbo.
The KCTU also played a key role in the violent 2008 anti-US beef protests. Yes you heard that right these thugs from the KCTU launched violent protests against US hamburgers and steaks being sold in South Korea.
US beef protestors beat a Korean riot policeman in 2008.
10 years of conservative rule had forced the KCTU and other anti-US groups to lower their profile after the anti-US beef protests since the government took action against them and put their leaders in jail. With the new Moon Jae-in administration in charge, it is clear that these leftist agitators feel they have free reign to once again conduct aggressive anti-US activities just like what we just saw happen in Uijongbu. Expect more of this to happen in the coming months and years.
Here is the latest update on the Yongsan Garrison oil contamination issue:
Land being used by the U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan will be returned to Korea by the end of the year and turned into a public park. Many cases of oil contamination on the base have been exposed since the early 2000s./Yonhap
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is organizing a forum on oil contamination in the soil of U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Yongsan in central Seoul, Thursday, in an effort to pressure the U.S. to clean the site before its relocation is completed.
The city said the forum has enormous backing from citizens.
“We’re organizing this knowing there’s support coming from the public,” a city official said.
In May, the city conducted a survey of 3,040 Seoul residents, and 65 percent responded that the U.S. military should be held responsible for cleaning up any oil contamination and must do it before the land is returned ― the United States Forces Korea(USFK) headquarters and Eighth Army headquarters are currently relocating to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, which is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
The city’s move comes after a court ordered the Ministry of Environment to reveal the results of two inspections of the U.S. military base ― it conducted three inspections but only released the results of the first one to the public.
The forum is also intended to pressure the central government ― the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ― to put pressure on the USFK to share data on past contamination records and to clean the site. “To solve this problem, action from the central government is critical,” the official said.
One motivation for the city is money. So far, the local government has paid 7 billion won for cleanup operations outside the base’s perimeter. After the U.S. military moves out, the city will turn the area into a public park. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation estimates the onsite cleanup would cost 103 billion won. Environmental groups’ estimates are more than 1 trillion won.
Green Korea, an NGO advocating for a cleanup paid for by the U.S., welcomed Seoul’s move.
“It’s time for Seoul to act when the central government isn’t doing anything,” said Yoon Sangg-hoon, an activist from Green Korea. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but Green Korea has been pushing this issue since former President Park’s ouster. Green Korea has long been an anti-US organization using the environment as justification for their activities. In regards to the Yongsan oil leaks it has never been proven that the oil is coming from Yongsan Garrison. Additionally of the 90+ leaks reported only 7 were major. It seems Green Korea is inflating the leak number just like in the past the USFK crime rate in Korea was inflated by activist groups by including parking tickets.
Using environmental groups to attack USFK is something that has long been used by the Korean left. The most outrageous example has to be the ridiculous 2000 Yongsan Water Dumping Incident. These environmental groups have primarily focused on stopping the relocation of US bases from the 2nd Infantry Division area and Seoul. Of interest is that the 2006 Il Shim Hue spy scandal uncovered that North Korean operatives were infiltrating the ROK environmental movement to inspire more anti-US sentiment.
Unfortunately there are plenty of people in South Korea that actually believe this nonsense, fortunately they are a small, but vocal minority:
South Korean and U.S. warships, including the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson (C), sail in waters off the South’s east coast during joint drills against North Korean provocations on March 22, 2017. (Yonhap)
North Korea on Friday urged South Korean political parties, organizations and people from all walks of life to rally against the U.S. and war via its nominal political party’s letter of plea sent to them in an apparent bid to defend its stance on tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“All the parties and people from all walks of life in South Korea should rise up in the anti-U.S., anti-war struggle for peace, clearly seeing through the nature of the U.S., the chieftain of aggression and disturber of peace,” the letter, sent by the Central Committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party, said.
Inter-Korean relations remain so tense due to the ongoing South Korea-U.S. “rehearsals for a “nuclear war” which have gone beyond the critical phase, said the letter, carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency. The rehearsals refer to Foal Eagle and Key Resolve against North Korean provocations that began on March 1 for a two-month run in the South. [Yonhap]
It looks like the US embassy had some useful idiots stop by recently. If they are so concerned about toxins in South Korea how come they are not busy protesting the companies that deliberately dumped 3000 tons of dangerous chemicals into the Han River for people to drink instead of anthrax spores mistakenly sent to South Korea that infected nobody?:
South Korean police said Saturday that two people were arrested for carrying out an illegal protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
“A man and a woman were arrested after they displayed banners and leaflets calling for ousting U.S. troops from the country,” authorities said. “The protest was never authorized, so they broke the law.”
Police said the two lashed out at U.S. troops for bringing in live anthrax spores into the country earlier in the year. They said both were members of the Corean Alliance, a local civic group, whose headquarters was raided by authorities Wednesday.
The raid was carried out because the group was accused of promoting North Korean ideologies in breach of the anti-North Korea law. [Yonhap]
It is going to be interesting to see what other dirt the ROK government digs up on Kim Ki-jong:
Kim Cheol-jun, lead investigator from the National Police Agency, gives a briefing on March 13, 2015, on the probe into Kim Ki-jong, the man who is suspected of attacking the top U.S. envoy last week. (Yonhap)
The suspected attacker of the top U.S. envoy in Seoul contacted a South Korean man previously convicted of spying for North Korea before carrying out the attack, police said Friday.
Kim Ki-jong was arrested last week on charges of slashing U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert on his face and wrist with a knife during a breakfast function in downtown Seoul. The attack left Lippert with wounds that required 80 stitches.
The 55-year-old faces charges of attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction. Police said they are planning to ask the prosecutors to take over the case later in the day.
Kim has said he was acting alone. But a special task force investigating the case said the 55-year-old contacted more than 30 people — including a former spy for North Korea and a key member of a pro-North Korea organization here — in the run-up to the incident.
Kim Cheol-jun, the lead investigator from the National Police Agency, said authorities are delving further into Kim’s phone and bank transaction records to find out whether any of them had been involved. (……….)
Police said they also believe the attack was premeditated. Kim’s Internet browsing history shows that he had looked up Lippert’s blog, his height and South Korea’s criminal law a day before the incident, according to authorities.
He also appeared to have had an intent to kill, police said. He reportedly said he brought a knife because his previous attempt to harm a Japanese ambassador to Seoul years ago failed. He also slashed Lippert at least twice, leaving deep gashes on his face and arm that required more than 80 stitches. [Yonhap]
Best wishes to US Ambassador Mark Lippert as he recovers from the cowardly knife attack by a Korean leftist:
A knife attack Thursday that injured the U.S. ambassador to South Korea is the latest act of political violence in a deeply divided country where some protesters portray their causes as matters of life and death.
The slashing of Ambassador Mark Lippert’s face and arm, which left deep gashes and damaged tendons and nerves, was an extreme example, but America infuriates some leftist South Koreans because of its role in Korea’s turbulent modern history.
Washington, which backed the South during the 1950-53 Korean War against the communist North, still stations nearly 30,000 troops here and holds annual military drills with Seoul. That’s something anti-U.S. activists view as a major obstacle to their goal of an eventual reunification of the rival Koreas.
Purported U.S. interference in Korean affairs appeared to be the main grievance of the man police named as the assailant, Kim Ki-jong, 55, who has a long history of anti-U.S. protests.
“South and North Korea should be reunified,” Kim shouted as he slashed Lippert with a 25-centimeter (10-inch) knife, police and witnesses said.
The attack left a gash on Lippert’s face that started under his cheekbone and extended diagonally across his cheek toward his jawbone. He received 80 stiches to close the 11-centimeter (4-inch) wound, Chung Nam-sik of Severance Hospital told reporters. Lippert, 42, also had surgery on his arm to repair damage to tendons and nerves and was in stable condition at the hospital. [Associated Press]
The leftist Kim Ki-jong who was involved in the attack has a long history of violence to include attacking the Japanese ambassador to Korea with a concrete block. He says he attacked Lippert because of the ongoing US-ROK Key Resolve military exercise:
Kim is well-known among police and activists as one of a hard-core group of protesters willing to use violence to highlight their causes. Such protesters often speak of their actions in terms of a war, of a struggle to the death.
Kim told police that he attacked Lippert to protest U.S.-South Korean military drills that started Monday — exercises that the North has long maintained are preparations for an invasion. Kim said the drills, which Seoul and Washington say are purely defensive, ruined efforts for reconciliation between the two Koreas, officials at Seoul’s Jongno police station said in a televised briefing.
Here is what North Korea had to say about the attack:
North Korea’s state-controlled media later crowed that Kim’s “knife slashes of justice” were “a deserved punishment on war maniac U.S.” and reflected the South Korean people’s protests against the U.S. for driving the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war because of the joint military drills.
The real question is if any of the North Korean spies within South Korea sent Kim to conduct this attack or not? Another question is what was the security like around the Ambassador to allow this leftist loon to get access to the Ambassador? You would think they would have increased security for him during the Key Resolve exercise?
Park needed 60 stitches to seal the cut. Ambassador Lippert’s wound looks much worse. Anyway the person convicted of slashing President Park received 11 years in jail. I think Kim Ki-jong’s days of protesting the US are over because he will likely receive a very long sentence to send a message to these leftist loons. South Korea also needs to take a stronger stance when people commit violent acts against the Japanese embassy in South Korea as well. As this attack shows these loons get emboldened when they are not properly punished after committing violent acts against the Japanese embassy.
North Korean people visit an anti-American education center in South Hwanghae Province, south of Pyongyang, on Feb. 8, 2015. (No sale outside of South Korea) (KCNA-Yonhap)
During the period of 2000-2004 USFK servicemembers were subject to a number of anti-American incidents especially after the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident where an environment was created that encouraged altercations with US military members. Arguably the worst anti-American incident during this time period was the 2002 Seoul Subway Kidnapping. In September 2002 three USFK servicemembers, Private John Murphy, Private Eric Owens, and Private Shane Tucker were traveling back to Camp Red Cloud in Uijongbu from Seoul on the subway system that runs between the two cities.
The three soldiers were sitting in a subway car when approached by a group of South Koreans led by the the 65 year old Suh Kyung-won. Suh was a long time anti-US activist and former member of parliament in South Korea that had been convicted in 1989 for spying for North Korea. Suh’s group was handing out flyers critical of the US military and the armored vehicle accident that happened 3 months prior. They were handing out the flyers to people on the subway as their group traveled to a major anti-US rally at Kyunghee University.
Suh approached the three soldiers and tried to give them a leaflet. One of the soldiers Private John Murphy refused the leaflet and Suh slapped him in the face and was accosted by the other members of the group. Suh said he slapped Murphy in the face because he cursed at him. Suh however does not speak English so how he would know for sure that Murphy cursed at him or not is open to debate. Murphy said he responded to the assault by Suh and other group members by swinging wildly to defend himself which included punching Suh in the face. The three soldiers moved to a different subway car and then got off the subway to wait for another train to get away from Suh’s group. However, the stop they got off on was the one where the anti-US protest was being held. The three soldiers now found themselves being ”pulled, punched, kicked and spat upon by demonstrators” as they tried to get away from them. As the soldiers were being beaten and pulled towards the Kyunghee University stadium by the growing mob the Korean riot police who had been stationed near the university for an unrelated event were able to intervene and rescue two of the soldiers from the mob.
The video opens with a one-minute statement by Suh recounting the evening’s events. The next 100 seconds show a chaotic street scene, with squadrons of riot-geared police and protesters running and cursing. Police are running while escorting Owens and Tucker from the mob.
An alarmed Owens and Tucker are seen running to police behind barricades at the hospital entrance.
“We have three friends. We have three,” shouts one of the soldiers.
“One more,” says the other. “Yellow. Yellow shirt. Yellow,” he said, tugging on his own shirt in an apparent reference to Murphy, who wore a school-bus-yellow shirt that day.
The video cuts to a vivid scene between South Korean protesters and riot police. One policeman bashes a protester with his shield, wounding the protester’s face. Other protesters throw items at police and kick them.
“How come you guys hit us to protect Americans?” the protesters scream. [Stars & Stripes]
Unfortunately the anti-US Voice of People website that published video of the incident has since removed the video from their website, but fortunately the Stars & Stripes published what was said. I find it interesting how the xenophobia of the protesters by thinking the police would just give up the soldiers who are being beaten simply because of their nationality. Their friend Private Murphy remained detained by the mob and brought to the stadium to witness the anti-US rally. There according to the US military he ”was photographed, videotaped and allegedly forced to make a public statement about the incident on the train.” The US military also criticized the Korean police for allegedly letting the demonstrators take Murphy with them.
Private John Murphy during his detainment at a anti-US rally at Kyunghee University.
At the rally one of the key statements that Murphy was forced to say was that the US military should give up legal jurisdiction of the two soldiers involved in the 2002 Armored Vehicle Incident back to Korean authorities. For those that do not know the US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) allows the US military to keep legal jurisdiction over servicemembers involved in incidents while on duty. Since the armored vehicle accident happened while on duty the US military kept jurisdiction over the case. If the accident had happened off duty while driving a civilian car the soldiers would have been tried in a South Korean court. USFK keeps jurisdiction for on duty incidents which is a central tenant of all US SOFAs and is one that is included in SOFAs that the Korean military has signed with other countries that ROK Army troops are deployed in. The 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident is a perfect example of why a SOFA is needed in order to prevent politically motivated mob justice against US servicemembers serving in a foreign country. The kidnappers of Murphy would later go on to claim that they kidnapped Murphy because they thought the US-ROK SOFA would prevent the police from arresting him. Even if this was true, this shows how effective the misinformation about the US-ROK SOFA in Korea has been over the years.
The demonstrators that had kidnapped Murphy were from the pro-North Korean group Hanchongryun. Hanchongryun were some of the most violent protesters duriring the 2008 US beef riots and have a long track record of anti-US and pro-North Korean activity. This group was actually considered an illegal pro-North Korean collaborator group until Korean President Roh Moo-hyun came to power in 2003 and allowed them operate openly again. The Hanchongryun members next took Murphy from the stadium to Kyunghee University Hospital where he was forced to apologize to Suh Kyung-won who was sitting in a hospital bed there with a black eye. Murphy’s time at the hospital was also videotaped. Here is what Murphy said in the video:
“I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. I’m very sorry. I’m sorry,” says Pvt. John Murphy to Suh Kyung-won, a former South Korean assemblyman who has accused Murphy of throwing the first punch in a melee that spread from a train car to a sports stadium. Murphy, his palms pressed together and taking cues from a South Korean policeman, tells Suh, “I was swinging. I was not looking … I was scared because everybody was hitting me … I’m very, very sorry.” [Stars & Stripes]
I have seen this video before and clearly Murphy was under duress and even then he clearly states that he was assaulted by the mob first. After being forcibly brought to the hospital and videotaped Murphy was then released by the mob to Korean police who were actually in the hospital letting the mob use Murphy as a anti-US propaganda prop. Ultimately despite being assaulted, beaten, kidnapped, and forced to make coerced statements, Murphy was charged by the Korean police for assault.
Three USFK servicemembers at the police station after being beaten and abducted by members of the anti-US group Hanchongryun.
After this incident the US embassy and military in South Korea was furious and demanded action by the Korean government against Suh and the Hanchongryun members that were responsible for the beating and kidnapping. They also demanded that the charges be dropped against Murphy which later they were by the Korean police. Despite a mob beating and kidnapping of these soldiers, only one person ever received any punishment. 24 year old Yongin University student Koh Min-soo was fined $8,500 and given three years probation for the assault and kidnapping of the US soldiers. However, the judge presiding over the case said during sentencing that the fight was provoked by Murphy and that Koh was responding to help an older Korean. This is of course ridiculous when later Korean prosecutors admitted they dropped charges against Murphy because they determined that Suh struck Murphy first and then abducted him. However, defenders of Suh would later say that this was just a cultural misunderstanding:
Reminds me of the subway incident with some USFK soldiers in 2002. In my view the incident was a series of cross-cultural misunderstandings. I’ve met Suh Kyung Won personally on a few occasions and his public behavior over the years does make me believe that he probably touched one of the three US soldiers in one way or another, as he is accused of doing. No responsible public figure wants to be seen with him anymore, and he likes to make a scene and make himself a victim at demonstrations. But a man of his age can physically push a young man around in Korea, or at least do it and not then get a violent response, which appears to be what he got from the soldiers.
Americans think that once someone touches you you are authorized to unleash more than is necessary to merely get out of the situation. Angered by that, the students accompanying Suh dragged one of the soldiers on to the campus of nearby Kyunghee University to make him “apologize.” Well knowing that a US soldier had been taken by Korean students somewhere against his will, the riot police outside the school still chose not to raid the campus and rescue the guy. Like I’m saying, Koreans just don’t think “detaining” someone to make a point is full-fledged kidnapping or hostage taking, and the police, being Korean, knew instinctively that the soldier would be coming back soon enough. It was not worth breaching the unwritten rules of engagement that exists between students and riot police.
I do not think this was a cultural misunderstanding. Suh and his goons clearly saw an opportunity to provoke an incident when they saw the GIs on the subway. They took advantage of this opportunity and ultimately got away with assault and kidnapping. Does anyone think that if the situation was reversed and an elder American man struck a younger Korean and then a mob of GIs pounded on the younger Koreans that people would defend the GIs for this behavior? Better yet what if the GIs then went and took the younger Koreans as hostages, brought them on to a US military installation and then forced them to make coerced anti-Korean statements to air on the Armed Forces Network? That is basically what happened and if GIs ever did such a thing it would lead to huge protests and outrage. Yet when the same thing happens to GIs it is hushed up and quickly forgotten. Here on the ROK Drop these incidents are not forgotten and hopefully shining a light on these incidents can help other people from becoming provoked into an incident like the one these soldiers unfortunately found themselves in.
Note:You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link:
