Tag: Guam

Korean tourism numbers may be up on Guam, but they are not spending nearly as much as Japanese tourists:

Visitor arrivals from Korea are making up for a decline in arrivals from Japan, but since last summer, Guam Visitors Bureau officials have noted the average Korean tourist spends much less on island than the average Japanese tourist.

Lately, they’ve been spending about one-third of what the average Japanese visitor spends here, according to the tourism agency.

As of January, the average Japanese traveler spent about $578 per day on island, compared to only $187.40 per day for a Korean traveler. The figures are similar for February, according to GVB, although that spending report hasn’t been released.

“We’re seeing a lot more cost-conscious visitors,” Nico Fujikawa, GVB tourism research director, said about visitors from Korea. “They’re looking for a deal. They’re kind of like locals.”  [Guam PDN]

You can read more at the link.

Here is another case of a Korean man allegedly behaving badly on Guam:

A Superior Court of Guam judge has allowed a South Korean soccer player charged with sexual assault to return home for military service, pending his trial.

Kim Byong-oh is accused of sexually assaulting a woman on Jan. 22 at a Guam resort, the Pacific Daily News reported Monday.

Kim was indicted on three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Kim was on Guam with the Sangju Sangmu soccer team for training in January.

The 22-year-old woman who accused Kim told police that she woke up in a hotel room to Kim rubbing her stomach and breast. She told police that Kim also took off her underwear and raped her.

The woman said she ran out of the hotel room and found a security guard who called police.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the woman is from South Korea so it will be interesting to see if the Guam legal system moves forward with prosecution or hands it over to Korean authorities to prosecute.

Apparently some Korean guy needs to learn to keep his hands to himself when on vacation:

A man was arrested and charged over the weekend after six women told Fish Eye Marine Park employees about a man in yellow shorts who touched them inappropriately while they were swimming, according to a magistrate’s complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam.

Officers arrested Myeong Seop Lee, 34, who was wearing yellow shorts but denied that he touched anyone. He said he was at the park with his family, documents state.

Police met with the Fish Eye manager on Friday. The lifeguards told the manager about a man touching six women while swimming, but by the time police arrived four of the women had left, documents state.

Police spoke with the remaining two women, the magistrate’s complaint states.  [Pacific Daily News]

You can read more at the link, but the women pointed out Lee to police as the groper and incredibly he was snorkeling at the marine park with his family.  I can only imagine what his wife had to say about this.

The unofficial US ambassador to North Korea, Dennis Rodman now is advocating for a basketball game to be played between North Korea and the US territory of Guam:

Dennis Rodman plans to organize a basketball game between North Korea and the U.S. territory of Guam, the retired basketball star said Monday, as he seeks to personally mitigate a dangerous war of words between Washington and the isolated, nuclear-armed state.

“We thought, ‘This would be awesome!’” Rodman said in an interview in Beijing, his third stop on a “humanitarian tour” of Asia to promote peace between the U.S. and North Korea. “The people in Guam are all about it. They love it. You get a team from North Korea, get these guys from Pyongyang. Play it in Beijing.”

Guam’s national basketball team’s head coach, E.J. Calvo, said in an email that “this possible game would be a great opportunity.”

“We hope to inspire our young players and with something like this, the positive impact could be much greater,” he wrote.  [LA Times]

You can read more at the link, but like I have said about efforts to get North Korea to participate in the Olympics, why is sports diplomacy being used with North Korea, but not when Apartheid South Africa existed?  During its existence Apartheid South Africa was shunned from most international sporting competitions.  The Kim regime has a far worse human rights record than Apartheid South Africa ever had and are arguably the greatest threat to world peace today and yet people are begging the North Koreans to participate in international sporting events.

Just like Apartheid South Africa, the Kim regime should be shunned from international sporting events not championed to participate in them.

If you didn’t guess it already from the picture below the man featured in this article says he is transexual as well:

Ja Du, born a white male named Adam, now considers himself a Filipino.

He even drives what he calls a Tuk Tuk, an Asian-derived vehicle used for public transit in the Philippines.

Ja Du is part of a small but growing number of people who call themselves transracial. The term once referred only to someone (or a couple) of a one race adopting a child of another, but now it’s becoming associated with someone born of one race who identifies with another.

Ja Du says he grew up enjoying Filipino food, events and the overall culture.

“Whenever I’m around the music, around the food, I feel like I’m in my own skin,” he said.

“I’d watch the History Channel, sometimes for hours … nothing else intrigued me more but things about Filipino culture.”  [Guam PDN]

You can read more at the link, but how many ROK Drop readers are ready to declare themselves transracial Koreans because it appears it is okay to declare whatever ethnicity you want to be now.

I wonder if this guy forgot that Guam is part of the United States?:

A man wanted in connection with sex crimes in Oregon was apprehended on Guam after he arrived here on a flight from South Korea, according to a written statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The 59-year-old man, who is not named in the statement, is wanted on charges of rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree and two counts of sex abuse in the first degree, according to the statement.

The South Korean man arrived on a flight Oct. 19 and was taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection.  [Pacific Daily News]

I think this may be a case of a cultural difference because I have seen kids left unattended in vehicles in Korea quite often where in the US this will land you in jail like this Korean couple visiting Guam have found out:

A South Korean judge-lawyer couple has been accused in Guam of child abuse. They reportedly went shopping on Monday with their two children locked in a car in sweltering weather.

U.S. law punishes parents who leave minors unattended inside a car as child abuse.

The children, aged six and one, were found “slumped forward” in the car parked near a shopping center Monday afternoon.The engine was off and the windows closed.

Two people noticed the children and called police after failing to find their parents. Police rescued the children who had “sweat streaming down their foreheads and the sides of their faces. ” They are now recovering, according to local media.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest show force executed by the United States this weekend in response to North Korea’s threats:

The Pentagon flew its Air Force B-1B Lancer strategic bombers Saturday east of North Korea, near the demilitarized zone, demonstrating U.S. President Donald Trump’s resolve.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced later that day that the bombers flew from Guam, escorted by F-15C Eagle fighters from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to international airspace over waters east of North Korea.

“This is the farthest north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) any U.S. fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea’s coast in the 21st century,” said Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White, “underscoring the seriousness with which we take reckless behavior.”

The B-1B, dubbed “the swan of death,” is considered one of three main strategic bombers of the U.S. Air Force, alongside the B-52 and B-2 bombers. It is able to deliver a heavier payload than the B-52 and B-2 bombers, and is also quicker than the other two, capable of reaching the Korean Peninsula from Guam in two hours.

“This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat,” White said, underscoring the “grave threat” that the North’s weapons program poses to the Asia-Pacific region and the international community.

She continued, “We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

The North Korean propaganda apparatus is working overtime with the UFG exercise kicking off this week:

Less than a week after backing off its threat to strike waters near Guam with a barrage of missiles, North Korea has released a video depicting such an attack on the tiny U.S. island territory.

The video – titled “What will the cost be for Americans, who are losing sleep at night?” – was released just before the start of Ulchi Freedom Guardian war games between the United States and South Korea. Pyongyang claims the annual computer-simulation drills, which kicked off on Monday, destabilize the peninsula and simulate decapitation strikes on its leadership.

A third of the way through the incendiary video, North Korean missiles are launched and then fly through clouds before coming down toward a map of Guam. Later, an image of President Donald Trump is shown overlooking a field of crosses as the words, “The fate of the U.S., with its many crimes, ends here,” are displayed in Korean.  [Stars & Stripes]

Here is the North Korean propaganda video in its entirety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_87FzHVlYnE

With the vast majority of Guam’s tourists coming from Japan and South Korea it makes sense that they are unfazed by the recent rhetoric from North Korea which they have grown accustomed to:

Tourists haven’t been deterred from visiting the tropical island of Guam even though the U.S. territory has been the target of threats from North Korea during a week of angry words exchanged by Pyongyang and Washington.

Chiho Tsuchiya of Japan heard the news, but she decided to come anyway with her husband and two children. “I feel Japan and Korea also can get danger from North Korea, so staying home is the same,” said the 40-year-old.

Won Hyung-jin, an official from Modetour, a large South Korean travel agency, said several customers called with concerns, but they weren’t worried enough to pay cancellation fees for their trips.

“It seems North Korea racks up tension once or twice every year, and travelers have become insensitive about it,” Won said. His company has sent about 5,000 travelers to Guam a month this year, mostly on package tours.  [Bloomberg]

You can read more at the link.