This should come as no surprise that the man who slashed US Ambassador Mark Lippert was a radical leftist inspired by North Korean propaganda:
The South Korean man who slashed the top U.S. envoy to Seoul earlier this year committed the crime after being influenced by North Korea’s propaganda, police said Tuesday.
Kim Ki-jong attacked Mark Lippert with a knife at a breakfast function at a cultural center in central Seoul on March 5, leaving the US ambassador with deep gashes on his face and arm that needed more than 80 stitches to close.
Prosecutors have charged Kim with attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction.
On Tuesday, police brought an additional charge of violating South Korea’s National Security Law that prohibits citizens from supporting or praising North Korea.
Police said Kim’s alleged attempt to kill Lippert was inspired by North Korea’s propaganda that incited the killing of the U.S. envoy.
North Korea has hailed Kim as a hero, comparing him to Ahn Joong-keun, a renowned anti-Japanese independence fighter revered in both Koreas. Still, North Korea has disavowed its involvement in the attack, which South Korean officials called “an act of terrorism.”
Police also said books and other materials confiscated from Kim’s home support North Korea’s strategy of communizing South Korea.
In April, he told the first session of his pretrial at a court that he did not try to murder the ambassador and that he was proud he reduced the annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by one day. [Yonhap]
If anyone has wondered what most of the South Korean population would do if North Korea attacks, this poll gives some indication:
Four out of 10 Seoul residents would simply flee to another country if another war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, a poll suggests. Also, more than 60 percent of Seoul residents said they have no idea what the instructions are in the event of a war.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government surveyed 3,039 residents earlier this month and found that 36.2 percent would escape to a safer place, while 5.6 percent said they would leave Korea. Only 11.6 percent said they want to take up arms to defend the country, and the remainder would be willing to give the military some auxiliary support [Chosun Ilbo]
The findings of bullying in the military is not surprising, but criticizing South Korea for limiting the political activity in the classrooms by their teachers? Does the State Department believe that South Korean teachers should have the right to teach pro-North Korean and anti-US propaganda to their students?:
An annual human rights report released on June 25 by the US State Department cited violence in the military and restrictions on political involvement by government employees and teachers as problem areas for South Korea. The department’s Human Rights Report for South Korea rated it as a country that generally respects human rights, but included the two new areas in addition to previous concerns about the National Security Law. “The primary human rights problems reported were government interpretation of the National Security Law, libel laws, and other laws to limit freedom of speech and expression and restrict access to the internet; the continued jailing of conscientious objectors to military service; and bullying and hazing [of new recruits] in the military,” the executive summary read. The mention of bullying and hazing in the military appears to be a reference to incidences such as the death of a private first class surnamed Yun in Apr. 2014.
“During the first half of the year, the Ministry of National Defense reported 37 suicides among military personnel, generally attributed to bullying, hazing, or inability to adjust to military life,” the report said. In regard to punishment in libel cases, the report mentioned the indictment of former New Politics Alliance for Democracy floor leader Park Jie-won after allegations that President Park Geun-hye used a “non-official system” to choose appointees. In terms of press freedoms, the report mentions the indictment of the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun’s Seoul bureau chief for defamation over allegations about President Park’s whereabouts during the Apr. 2014 Sewol ferry sinking. While the State Department’s 2013 report had only mentioned restrictions on labor rights and interference with striking rights as problem areas, the latest report notes that “[r]estrictions on workers’ rights, including freedom of association and assembly and limitations on political engagement of public servants and teachers, were also problematic.” [Hankyoreh]
This file photo, taken during the 1950-53 Korean War and obtained on June 23, 2015, from the Beijing-based International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Delegation for East Asia, shows North Korean prisoners of war kneeling down during interrogation. This and other rare photos, which Red Cross officials and U.S. soldiers took during the three-year conflict, give a glimpse at how the inter-Korean war drove people into terrible situations, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the start of the war, which falls on June 25. (Yonhap)
To much fanfare in North Korea, Kim Jong-un has opened Pyongyang’s new international airport:
North Korea has finished building an international airport terminal, state media reported Thursday, and photos show leader Kim Jong Un inspecting rather swanky amenities that include a jewelry store, a pharmacy and a coffee bar with — is that a chocolate fountain?
It was unclear what international assistance impoverished North Korea received for constructing the two-story terminal, or how much it cost. A 30-photo slide show published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency showed Kim touring the terminal with his wife and a group of about a dozen people. Numerous photos showed the entourage in various states of laughter.
The facility, which also has a new control tower, will open July 1, the agency said. It replaces a terminal that dated to the 1950s and may be part of efforts by Kim to increase the country’s appeal to tourists and earn foreign currency [LA Times]
You can read the rest at the link.
Probably the most interesting thing about this airport is not where the money came from, but the fact he had its architect executed last year as part of one of his purges to consolidate power.
Between 1966-1970 what became known as the “DMZ War” raged which saw soldiers stationed on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in regular contact with North Korean infiltrators probing US military defenses as well as trying to enter the country in order to establish a communist insurgency in the South. However sometimes the infiltration by the North Koreans was for the single minded purpose of killing Americans and that is exactly what happened on May 22, 1967 at an isolated American installation on the DMZ known as Camp Walley. Camp Walley was an extremely small camp located adjacent to the north side of the Imjim River and short distance from the DMZ. The camp housed one company of infantrymen from A/1-23 Infantry Regiment. The camp was basically just a small collection of quonset huts to house the men in between their guard shifts and patrol duty along the DMZ. Here is an image of what the small camp looked like:
At dusk on May 21, 1967 a North Korean sapper unit infiltrated through the American patrolled area of the DMZ. The sapper team was carrying explosives that were intended to be used for the express purpose of bombing an American barracks. Prior infiltrations with the purpose of killing American soldiers had centered around small arms ambushes near the DMZ. This attack was going to be different and intended to send a message to the Americans that not even in their barracks away from the frontlines were they safe. The North Korean sappers infiltrated 6 kilometers behind the American lines before coming upon Camp Walley. The North Koreans were so skilled at infiltration that they were actually able to creep around the camp and look into the different buildings and determine which ones had the most people in it before blowing them up. Unfortunately for the men of 1st Platoon, A Company, 1-23 Infantry Regiment, their barracks were chosen by the North Koreans to be the one that was blown up. The saboteurs set their explosives on two different barracks and fled. At dawn the explosives went off destroying the two buildings. Here is how the May 24, 1967 edition of the Stars & Stripes reported the bombing:
This image of the barracks bombing was provided courtesy of Jim Skiff who was a lieutenant assigned to the unit:
The blast from the bombing shook the entire camp and immediately alerted everyone that the base was under attack. Some of the Alpha company’s men began to sift through the rubble to find survivors while the Company Commander Captain Duncan personally led the sweep into the surrounding countryside to find the infiltrators. Unfortunately the search team came up empty and were not able to find them; they had long since fled the scene. The bombing killed two soldiers and wounded 17 others. The soldiers killed were SP4 Carl R. Mueller from Texas and PVT Baron J. Smith from Washington State who were killed in their beds while sleeping. However, looking at the damage it is amazing that only two soldiers were killed in the bombing.
The North Korean sappers that conducted the operation were quite skilled according to Major Roger Donlon who was the first US Medal of Honor recipient in the Vietnam War who happened to be stationed on the DMZ at the time::
Maj. Roger Donlon, the first Medal of Honor recipient in the Vietnam war, poses outside his headquarters tent at the Advanced Combat Training Academy. With him is the camp’s mascot, “Lieutenant.”
WITH THE U.S. 2ND INF. DIV., Korea TV Maj. Roger Donlon looked with both bitterness and admiration at the mangled and blasted remains of what had been two large barracks.
It had been a fast, neat job of sabotage and killing this Donlon had to admit. The North Korean commando team came in after dusk and went out before dawn, May 22, 1967. They had done their work with lethal efficiency and two American soldiers were dead in a heap of shattered rubble.
“At first,” said Donlon, “you admire a professional job. Then it makes you mad.”
The death and sabotage was one of the first sights to greet Donlon when he came into the U.S. 2nd Inf. Div. in May, a major for only two months.
You could spot him as a soldier anywhere. The close-cropped blond hair, the steady blue eyes, the set and determined features, the erect posture it’s all there, to mark Donlon’s profession and trade.
But when Donlon came to Korea, he did not wear two distinctive marks of the career he chose several years ago. He left his green beret back in Vietnam when he left in 1964 as a severely-wounded casualty. And the blue, white-starred ribbon that marks him as a Medal of Honor winner is not worn on his plain, no-frills uniform. An all-business soldier, Donlon only wears his Combat Infantryman Badge.
Donlon, the first soldier to win America’s highest award in the Vietnam War, is now in Korea. But the infiltration, terrorism and sudden death Donlon knew in another land are still part of his life. As a Special Forces man, he appraised the bombing with a coldly professional eye. As an American and a soldier, he felt grief and anger.
Where once the enemy was a stealthy little man named Charlie, who wore black pajamas and fought from waist-deep paddy slime, now Donlon must deal with an expertly silent intruder named Joe. Joe breaches barbed wire and creeps over dead, winter-browned farmland to blast sleeping men and attack frontline guard posts along the 18-mile sector of the Demilitarized Zone manned by Americans.
Joe deserves a very respectful kind of enmity and Donlon knows it. But Donlon feels that Joe has a long way to go before he can match the Vietnamese farmer who turns into a death-dealing guerrilla at dusk.
“They (the North Koreans) are well trained, and no doubt they’re very professional. But they’re not as good as the Viet Cong not yet. If you look at that one incident, yes, they did a job. They’re just not as tough and smart as Charlie, though. And there’s not as many of them, thank God.” [Stars & Stripes]
The fact that the North Korean sappers received recognition from someone of Major Donlon’s stature gives a good indication of how skilled the North Korean infiltrators were at the time, especially to pull off something like this so far from the DMZ. The below tactical map shows how Camp Walley was located 6 kilometers away from the DMZ:
Really when you think about it, the fact that the North Korean infiltrators were able to cross mine fields, get through fencing, and evade hundreds of soldiers on patrol is really quite remarkable. The Google Earth image below gives an even better idea of the conditions and the type of terrain the saboteurs had to cross in order to accomplish their mission:
As Major Donlon indicated, you have to respect the enemy’s capabilities, but you can hate them for doing what they did. The bombing ended up not having the effect the North Koreans had intended. Instead of increasing fear in US troops it actually motivated them because of the cowardice of the attack. The bombing just made the soldiers serving on the DMZ more motivated to confront the North Korean threat and increased their vigilance while patrolling the DMZ. It was quite clear now that stopping infiltrations could literally mean the difference between life and death for the soldiers off duty in the rear.
Another unanticipated result of the barracks bombing was that units stationed even further in the rear then Camp Walley were ordered to conduct regular patrolling outside the camps. Units stationed at US military installations in Dongducheon and in Uijongbu were ordered to conduct regular patrols around their installations in search of North Korean infiltrators. These increased patrols created more difficulty for North Korean infiltrators to move around the countryside undetected as well as creating difficulty for spies to gather intelligence around American military installations. Instead of creating fear, the bombing simply strengthened the resolve of American units to confront the North Korean threat.
After the bombing the USFK Commander General Charles Bonesteel recognized the survivors of the attack with Purple Hearts. Here is how the May 30, 1967 edition of the Stars & Stripes reported this event:
Here is a list of the 17 soldiers presented Purple Hearts by General Bonesteel:
SSG Jose Ruiz-Rodriguez
SPC Erskine Clifford
PFC Billy Lee
PFC Arvie Cothren
PFC Clifford Butler
PFC Michael Key
PFC Raul Gallardo
PVT Danny Howarth
PVT Curtis Flewellen
PVT William Butzin
PVT Thomas Lawrence
PFC Stanley Isaac
PFC Joseph Kinchen
SSG Thomas Anderson
SPC Nathaniel Conley
PFC Thomas Rush
PVT Gerald Conley
As far as Camp Walley today, next to nothing remains of the installation:
In the above picture you can make out the remains of what could have been buildings on the side of the hill. Camp Walley and the bombing that happened there is largely forgotten by everyone except for the people that served there. The Korean War may have been known as the “Forgotten War”, but the “DMZ War” should been known as the “Really Forgotten War” since so few people know about this period in US military history. Fortunately the 2nd Infantry Division is beginning to embrace this part of the unit’s history and remembering the soldiers who served during the DMZ War. Maybe there should be a memorial of some kind to honor the victims of this cowardly bombing attack as well?
For more DMZ Flashpoints articles please click the below link:
The North Koreans have been eager to describe their Taepodong-2 rocket as a space launch vehicle in their attempt to justify its launch. However, the US says the rocket is a disguised attempt to get around the UN resolutions that forbid a missile program:
There hasn’t been a launch for more than two years, but a North Korean official told the Associated Press earlier this month that it’s planning to place a further satellite into orbit.
That announcement was met with a frosty reception in Washington.
“Any rocket capable of placing an object in orbit is directly relevant to the development of long-range ballistic missiles, as many ballistic missile and space launch vehicle technologies are virtually identical and interchangeable,” said State Dept. spokeswoman Marie Harf during a briefing on June 4.
“So we’ll be watching this. It could very likely contravene U.N. Security Council resolutions,” she said.
That prompted reporters to ask about a distinction between the satellite and the launch itself. Here’s video of the exchange:
At the time, the question wasn’t answered, but on Monday a State Department spokesperson told North Korea Tech that a North Korean satellite itself isn’t its concern.
Other countries are not prohibited from launching North Korean satellites, as long as the launches are carried out in accordance with international law, including the obligations in U.N. Security Council resolutions, the spokesperson said. [North Korea Tech]
