It looks like someone got really stupid in Itaewon this weekend and caused yet another Taxi Cab Related Incident. Via U.S. Army WTF Moments:
Here is what the USFK commander General Abrams had to say about this incident:
Being a good battlebuddy includes being with your battle buddy and not letting them wander off.
We are guests here. We are also Ambassadors who represent our country on and off duty. Below is an example of not being a good Ambassador. https://t.co/Dw4FVkxMAd
As I have always said every time the curfew has been lifted, is that just the large number of U.S. troops in Korea means that eventually a stupid or criminal incident will happen. If the command is not willing to absorb blowback from incidents like this, then why the lift the curfew in the first place?
Here is another one of these incidents where there is likely more to the story and both sides at fault, but radicals from each side will manipulate facts to push their agendas:
A recent assault case involving three men and two women at a bar near Isu Subway Station in Seoul — better known as the “Isu Station assault” case — has triggered an unexpected gender war online, after the women said they were attacked by men for their feminist choices, while others accused them of fabricating the account.
More than 350,000 Koreans signed an online petition asking for the presidential office to punish the three men after one of the two women claimed online that she and her sister were physically attacked for “not wearing makeup” and “having short hair.”
The woman, who is in her early 20s, said she deliberately chose the look — no makeup with short hair — as part of the “escape the corset” movement, a Korean feminist movement that rejects makeup and the rigid standards of beauty imposed particularly on young women in Korean society. [Korea Herald]
Even if the two servicemembers involved poorly parked their vehicle it is no excuse for the horrible actions these two civilians took:
Judy Tucker is shown in a video attempting to reach past servicemember Stephanie Mitchell.
A 71-year-old woman was arrested after she lunged at and hit a pregnant servicemember at a Cheddar’s in Macon, Ga., police said. Videos of the Saturday incident, which police said was sparked by a disagreement over parking, have drawn millions of views as they spread across social media.
Judy Tucker was arrested on Saturday, charged with simple battery and released a few hours later on $650 bail. According to a Bibb County Sheriff’s Office report, Tucker told police that the incident with servicemembers Stephanie Mitchell and Treasure Sharpe, who are black, “all started because she was white and it was a race issue.” Tucker’s son approached the women when they were backing into a parking space and told them they “should learn how to park” and called them a profane name, the report quoted Mitchell as saying.
Mitchell said that, inside the restaurant, Tucker’s son again called them the profane name and said that they were black lesbians. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but the Tucker’s should be ashamed and embarrassed by their inappropriate and racist comments if the alleged actions are all true.
I guess these South Korean journalists forgot they are in a country without freedom of the press:
A South Korean journalist lies on the ground after being beaten by a group of Chinese security guards under the leadership of the Chinese police at a South Korean trade fair attended by South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Beijing on Dec. 14, 2017. (Yonhap)
More than a dozen Chinese security guards beat and injured a South Korean photojournalist who was covering a business function attended by South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday hours before his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The incident occurred at a convention center in Beijing where a trade fair was held involving some 200 South Korean firms and 500 prospective Chinese buyers. Moon is currently on a four-day state visit to China that began Wednesday.
A group of 14 South Korean journalists was covering the event when the Chinese guards blocked them from following the president who was then visiting various booths of South Korean firms at the fair, according to pool reports.
The journalists protested the blockage and one of them, a photojournalist, was taken outside of the venue by some 15 Chinese security guards.
The journalist took a severe beating while being completely surrounded by the guards despite strong protests from his colleagues and South Korean officials, including those from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
The journalist was taken to a hospital after Moon’s medical staff examined him and said he required intensive treatment, according to Cheong Wa Dae pool reports. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I doubt anything is going to happen to these security guards. The Chinese government had mobs go and beat down Koreans in the streets of Seoul before and nothing happened to them. They were instead considered national heroes.
I would not be surprised if the assault was deliberate to send a message to South Korean journalists which the Chinese state run media has been criticizing over their coverage of President Moon’s visit to China.
Via a reader tip comes this absolutely horrible assault of a 14-year old girl in Busan:
A horrific attack in South Korea’s Province of Busan has caused outrage around the globe after pictures of the victim were revealed online.
A group of middle school students attacked and nearly killed a 14-year-old girl in Busan, South Korea. The four attackers were captured on CCTV attacking the girl with a metal pipe, a chair, several soju bottles, and lit cigarettes. The girls then took pictures of the bloodied victim after the attack and sent it to other students to ‘brag’ about what they did.
While the victim was 14 years old, three of her attackers were of the same age as she was too. One of the attackers was only 13 years old. They attacked her for 1 hour and 30 minutes before leaving her to die. [Viral 4 Real]
You can read the rest at the link, but this was actually the second time they assaulted her in response to the victim accepting a phone call from the boyfriend of one of the attackers.
I suspect it was more than playing golf that got his wife this upset to cut off his penis and flush it down the toilet:
A woman has been arrested on charges of cutting off her husband’s penis while he was sleeping, police said Monday.
According to Yeosu Police Station, the incident happened at an apartment in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, at 11:58 p.m. on Saturday.
The woman, 54, whose is unidentified, allegedly cut off the tip of the penis with a kitchen knife and flushed the flesh down the toilet.
A neighbor found the husband, left in pain, and took him to a nearby hospital, where he is in stable condition.
A police investigation revealed that the couple were on unhealthy terms.
Not only had the husband been violent to the woman, she had harbored a grudge because he gave her no money, but spent lavishly on his own enjoyment, such as like playing golf. [Korea Times]
The Joong Ang Ilbo has an update on the racial incident involving a Columbian man at a Busan Costco. His activism after the incident led to positive change at the Busan police department that handled his case:
Leonardo Mendoza and Shin Jin-yeong having a friendly chat in front of a supermarket after a severe racial discrimination case involving Mendoza in Busan. [SONG BONG-GEUN]After the incident took place, did the Busan Yeonjae Police Department chief (Ryu Sam-yeong) call to apologize?
That’s correct. On Sunday (April 2) night, three days after, he apologized, saying, “We do have training, but it was very insufficient and we will expand training pertaining to foreigners.” On the next day, I called again and requested to have an internal racial discrimination training session. I went for a lecture to the police station on April 5. When I met him at the chief’s office, he said, “Of police chiefs countrywide, I am the only one with a perm. Of policemen, there are those who dislike hearing a lecture held by a foreigner. I ask for your understanding even though the audience may be small.”
When I actually went to the lecture hall, there were 250 policeman cramped inside. The policeman who handled the incident at the time attended and apologized to me in person. I learned for the first time in my 16 years living in Korea that there was an external affairs section that investigated incidents involving foreigners.
What kind of thoughts did you have?
With all that’s happened, the police chief can be called a hero. Anyone can write or post something. However, the police chief went above and beyond what he had to do and went a step further. In the end, the incident ended on a positive note. I counted, and there are 252 police departments in Korea. The change at the Yeonjae Police Department cannot stop there. The remaining 251 police chiefs must take an interest in safety measures for foreigners. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but the Korean man involved in this incident ultimately giving a half hearted apology for the incident as well.
Via a reader tip comes news of this horrible attack that some are now trying to use to further the narrative that Korean men have a misogyny and problem with violently attacking women:
A Korean man attacks a Korean woman with a hammer in LA’s Koreatown district.
The 22-year-old South Korean man in a black T-shirt asked one question of the young woman before bludgeoning her repeatedly with a hammer.
“Are you Korean?”
Much about the random attack last Friday at a Koreatown strip mall remains unclear, but police said Thursday one thing seemed apparent: Jae Won Yang chose his victim because she was Korean, and a woman.
Last week’s attack, in front of a second-floor acupuncture clinic, has reverberated across the Pacific Ocean to rattle nerves and grab headlines in South Korea. The incident set off online debates about whether it was the latest in violent attacks against women in recent years that have triggered soul-searching about misogyny in the Asian nation. [LA Times]
You can read and see the video of the attack at the link.
Here are my thoughts on this, if people want to debate misogyny and violence against women in Korea fine, but don’t twist incidents to prove the point. For example the big incident that has been used recently to “prove” this point was the violent murder of a woman in the Gangnam district of Seoul last year. However, what the activists pushing this narrative do not mention is that the Gangman murderer for years was in and out of mental hospitals and became homeless because his family could no longer handle caring for him due to his mental illness. The guy was certifiably crazy, not a misogynist.
This guy with the hammer attack we don’t know what his motive is yet. Maybe he hates Korean women and decided to just randomly attack one with a hammer. If so then the activists have their case they can champion to prove their point. However, maybe this guy is someone else with a background of mental illness. This statement in the article seems to suggest that:
Kim, who met with Yang after his arrest, said the man was rambling and nonsensical about the motive behind the attack. He does not speak any English, Kim said.
I am sure that as more facts come out this guy’s motive will become more clear, but in the meantime instead making unsubstantiated claims of misogyny lets all hope the victim of this horrible attack is able to make a speedy recovery.
To summarize a Columbian man and his Korean wife were walking back to their car at the Busan Costco when the Korean wife yelled loudly for a car to stop which saves the life of little kid who can in front of it. The grandpa of the little kid gets angry at the Korean wife for yelling at the kid and then eventually tries to assault her. However Columbian husband gets in front of him to stop the assault and the grandpa pushes the Columbian to the ground and begins to punch him. While this is going on he is yelling racist remarks the whole time. The assault is caught on camera and yet the police side with the Korean grandpa who is lying and yelling racist remarks the whole time. The police arrest the Columbian man and say this can all go away if he does not pursue the assault charge on the Korean man. The charges are dropped after the Columbian man agrees to not pursue the case against the grandpa and everyone goes home.
The best thing the Columbian man did was not to try and fight back despite being pushed to the ground and having the Korean man on top of him punching him. In Korea you do not have the right to self defense like people in the United States for example may be use to having. If he would have punched the guy back he would likely be in jail for assault. What he was not smart about was trying to pursue the assault charge against the Korean man. He should have just left after the assault was broken up because the odds of the police siding with a foreigner are very low. This is where the swallowing your pride and walking away is the best thing to do. It lets the Korean man save face while the foreigner doesn’t have to worry about getting arrested.
