Tag: South Korea

Leftmost sign's logic: "I don't want to live in fear of Chinese missiles and Russian bombs. Oppose THAAD!" @WonkVJ pic.twitter.com/A8fOpSEjyy

— Andrew NK (@northkoreafront) July 18, 2016

Why isn’t the Korean left busy protesting this radar and claiming it will make people sick and cause crop failures?:

A U.S. Patriot missile battery in Japan has been brought to South Korea for a joint exercise amid growing concerns about additional provocations from North Korea, an official of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said, Friday.

The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 interceptor unit of the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ), stationed at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, arrived in Busan on July 13 and is now participating in a drill with South Korean military in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.

The Patriot unit is made up of 120 troops, with a launch vehicle and radar.

It is the first time a Japan-based U.S. Patriot battery has been sent to South Korea.

“The PAC-3 unit is currently training with South Korean troops,” the USFK official told reporters. “The unit will return to Japan after completing the training scheduled to last two weeks.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link as well as over at the Stars & Stripes.

The US and ROK militaries have a number of Patriot sites in South Korea and the Korean left does not protest them because there is no political advantage in doing so like there is with the planned deployment of the THAAD battery to Korea.  The Patriots have been South Korea for decades and no one is getting sick or having their crops fail.  The same will eventually be true with the THAAD battery as well.

It looks like Songdo is the place to go for anyone looking to fly their drone in the Seoul area:

Songdo in Incheon has become a mecca for local drone developers as it is free of regulations banning the use of drones, making it become a hot spot for drone makers.

Songdo was created by reclaiming 32.3 square kilometers (12.4 square miles) of sea in a mega-project launched in 2003. It is largely free from regulatory measures, as there are no military installations near the area, since it used to be a vast coastal region covered by seawater prior to 2003.

The absence of legal obstacles to fly drones is a boon for gadget developers, as Seoul is ridden with regulations banning the use of drones to protect important facilities such as the presidential office and the government complex building. Gyeonggi is not exempt from state regulations because of its proximity to the inter-Korea border and the presence of military installations there.

“One big advantage to testing a drone in Songdo is that it is without no-fly zones, which are common in Seoul,” said Park Sang-gook, director of the research center for the drone manufacturer We Make Drone.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

In the least surprising news of the day, the South Korean government has confirmed that leftist agitators were behind the violent protest that saw the ROK Prime Minister detained for six hours and pelted with eggs last week:

Debate is escalating over the violent protest during the prime minister’s visit to the potential site for a U.S. advanced missile system last week, with the ruling camp condemning the incident as a criminal act of violence and the opposition accusing the government of politicizing it.

The Saenuri Party demanded firm punishment against the violent protesters who they said came from other neighborhoods to incite illegal activities. The opposition parties in turn rebuked the government for cracking down on a legitimate protest.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was pelted with eggs and water bottles during his visit on Friday to Seongju county, the southern rural town where the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense artillery unit will be deployed. The prime minister was also blocked for more than six hours by angry protesters.

Korea National Police Agency chief Kang Shin-myung said Monday that he received a report on evidence linking the violence to outside protestors. He said the authorities would determine whether there were any illegal activities and how far the out-of-town activists were involved in the incident.

“Violent activities staged by some protesters should be brought to justice,” said the Saenuri Party’s floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk. “Granting the residents the right to express their opinion is one thing, but allowing the outsiders to exercise violence is another,” he said.

The conservative party’s whip praised the Seongju residents for staying away from “outsider protesters,” many of whom, he claimed, consisted of antigovernment leftist activists. He urged the residents to prevent the activists from meddling in protests.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but via a reader tip comes this Reddit posting that translates a Donga-Ilbo article that states that six of the eight anti-THAAD protest leaders are from outside of the village of Seongju where the THAAD battery will be stationed:

Out of eight high ranking officials who are coordinating the protests against THAAD installation at Seongju, only two were Seongju residents, reports Channel-A News.

The rest were made up of well known ‘professional protestors’ who make their living protesting against South Korean government policies, who had no ties to the town of Seongju. This new organization met with the opposition Democratic Party for 4 hours, and asked the opposition party to intervene and block the THAAD installation, right to the end. One of the leaders in the group was a man who was in charge of the Mad Cow protests in 2008, arrested and served some time for organizing violent protests. Included in the same group are two leaders who were responsible for anti US protests 10 years ago, at Pyeongtek, when they violently tried to oppose the construction of new US military base in the area with homemade weapons. They are already wrapping headbands around their heads, and promises to “fight to the end” to stop the THAAD.

The leftist agitators in question include the the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea.  Both groups are highly involved in anti-government and anti-US movements in South Korea.  Another usual suspect, the Catholic Church of Korea is getting involved in the anti-THAAD movement as well by holding a protest outside of Camp Carroll.

For those unfamiliar with the Catholic Church in Korea it has a long history of anti-government protests stretching back to the authoritarian era of the South Korean government.  Now with full democracy in place the Catholic Church still protests conservative governments and anti-US causes.  For example here is the Catholic Church protesting during the 2008 US beef riots:

Just like the THAAD controversy the US beef riots were based on proven lies spread by the Korean left and their media allies:

MBC apologized to viewers on Tuesday for misleading them with misinterpretations and exaggerations about the risks of mad cow disease in the current affairs program PD Diary. It had been 106 days since PD Diary aired the first report on April 29 on the risks of mad cow disease that drove the entire country into hysteria. The apology followed an order by the Korea Communications Standards Commission on July 16. Following its main newscast that night, MBC showed the text of the KCSC order on air and read aloud its content, telling viewers that it apologized from the bottom of its heart.

MBC ignored a decision by the Press Arbitration Commission on May 19 ordering PD Diary to air a correction. Throughout July, the broadcaster rejected demands by prosecutors summoning program officials and to hand over transcripts and other materials. It also initially ignored the KCSC order on July 16 to issue an apology. It even ignored a ruling by a court of law on July 31 to air a correction saying the key points raised by PD Diary were false. At an internal meeting, MBC officials agreed not to admit any mistakes and to drag their heels for as long as possible. Now, the network probably decided to issue an apology because it became afraid of the treatment it would receive from the public, who have realized the truth about the deliberate exaggeration and distortion of facts by PD Diary.

But the distortions by MBC are not restricted to PD Diary. Since the first day PD Diary aired its report on mad cow disease, MBC News Desk, the main 9 p.m. newscast, broadcast reports exaggerating the fear of mad cow disease for three straight days, allocating 13 out of a total 25 items to that subject. The program regularly broadcast scenes of downer cows that had been aired by PD Diary, bombarding viewers minds with the notion that U.S. beef equals mad cow disease. The anchors made comments voicing satisfaction with the fear they had spread, saying young students were hitting the streets to lambaste and mock the government over the beef issue and that it had been a long time since we saw students this age protesting. The hysteria also poured through the airwaves on morning shows geared toward housewives, entertainment shows and radio programs.

Housewives and young students who saw these broadcasts were scared out of their minds and took to the streets to protest. Junior highschool girls wept that they were too young to die, and some even called the agriculture ministers office and cried, saying they were too afraid to eat even instant noodles or use sanitary napkins if U.S. beef imports resumed. Parents took their children to see doctors after they developed beef phobia or had problems sleeping due to fears of contracting the human form of mad cow disease.  [Chosun Ilbo]

Interestingly who we haven’t seen shown up yet in Seongju is quite possibly the most well known anti-US activist and Catholic priest, Father Mun Jeong-hyeon:

It seems like he has been keeping a low profile ever since his 2013 protesting of the ROK Navy base on Jeju island that he and other protesters claimed was actually going to be used by the US Navy.  Another group that I have not seen in Seongju yet is the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.  This long time anti-US group has protested in Seoul before against the deployment of the THAAD battery, but it overall has not been a major issue for them.  I do expect that to change since the THAAD issue has now become much larger in Korea.

At this point is pretty much a certainty that violent protests will be used to stop the THAAD battery especially with a Korean presidential election looming next year.  If Father Mun and the Korean Confederation of Trade Union thugs along with the other usual suspects show up at Seongju to block access to the base for the arrival of the THAAD equipment than expect things to get ugly.

That is why if USFK planners were smart they would install the THAAD battery during the winter time and not during the summer protest season.  The anti-US movement will not be able to draw huge crowds to violently protest in cold weather.  Convoying in the equipment late on a cold winter night should mitigate any attempts to block access to the ROK base.  Once the THAAD battery is deployed and the presidential election is over, I expect this issue to fade away just like the Camp Humphreys issue back in 2005 which no one cares about today.

Everything Congresswoman Bordallo is saying is true, but it will not matter to the anti-US leftist protesters spreading the misinformation in South Korea that the THAAD radar causes cancer, miscarriages and ruins crops:

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will pose no environmental problems whatsoever if it is set up away from heavily-populated areas as in Guam, a U.S. Congresswoman representing the Pacific island territory told South Korean media.

Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam) made the remarks in a meeting with South Korea’s Defense Ministry Joint Press Corps on Tuesday following their tour of an operational THAAD battery a day earlier.

The reporters were on the island to check how an actual THAAD battery is run and if it poses a health risk to people nearby and the environment.

She said there has never been a complaint raised about noise related to the THAAD system since it was brought onto the island in 2013. She said that as long as the battery is placed in an “isolated” area and not in the middle of a town there should be no problems.

The lawmaker also made clear that since the battery’s deployment, there has been no signs that it has impacted the environment around it, and that the presence of THAAD has not hurt the island’s tourism trade.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This photo, taken on July 19, 2016, shows a pistol and bullets that the Busan Police Agency has confiscated from a high-ranking member of a major yakuza group known as Kudo-kai. The member smuggled himself into South Korea in January 2015 before being apprehended by police on July 7. The Kudo-kai crime syndicate is based in Kitakyushu, Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture.(Yonhap)

The left wing Hankyoreh newspaper went to the Kyoga-Misaki radar site in Japan to try and dig up dirt to use against the deployment of THAAD to South Korea and found much to do about nothing:

In June of last year, when South Koreans first started talking about THAAD, I came here to report on residents who were concerned about the noise and the health effects of the electromagnetic waves.At the time, there was considerable opposition from residents who were afraid that their health would be damaged by the radar, but over the past year, the residents appear to have come to terms with the radar, like it or not.  [Hankyoreh]

The generators for the radar used to create noise for nearby residents, but they were muffled last year which eliminated the vast majority of the noise and next year the radar is going to be hooked up to the commercial power grid thus turning off the generators.  This will eliminate all the noise.  Also the radar looks out over the ocean thus there are no concerns about electromagnetic waves.

Despite all these facts the Hankyoreh reporter did everything he could to end the article in an ominous tone:

“The negative effect of the radar is invisible,” said Munenori Owan, 75, co-chairman of the Kyoto Group Against the X-Band Radar Base. “Electromagnetic waves are invisible, and the effect of the noise varies with the individual.  If I’m having problems and the person next to me is fine, that makes me the weird one.”“If South Korea teams up with the US against China, South Korea won‘t be able to prosper. Security problems must be resolved through dialogue and not through military conflicts that antagonize the other side. Focusing solely on electromagnetic waves and noise will make you miss the heart of the problem,” Owan said.  Sodeshi Village is weighed down by a sense of despair and discontent that is drowned out by the ominous rumble of the generator. Is this the future that the South Korean government wants for Seongju?

What is really ridiculous about this report is that no mention about the radar at Kyoga-Misaki that is part of the JADGE system that detects and protects Japan from missile attack is made.  Below is a map that shows the various JADGE radars in Japan; the Kyoga-Misaki radar can be seen towards the center of the map:

This radar has been there for years and no one is complaining about electromagnetic waves from that radar.  This is similar to the fact that South Korea operates various radars across the ROK as well and no one is protesting those radars.  This is just another example of how the opposition to the THAAD radar is purely political and has nothing to do with environmental concerns.

I think the Musudan tests had more to do with being able to show the US they can target Guam and build Kim Jong-un profile domestically than any concerns about THAAD:

North Korea’s recent firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile at a high angle appears to be intended to push South Korea to accept the deployment of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system here and cause a rift in Seoul’s relations with Beijing, a North Korean expert said Tuesday.

Hong Woo-taek, a research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), said, “Pyongyang might have sought to exploit the tension between South Korea and China over the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system issue to strengthen its hitherto weakened ties with Beijing.”

“But China is not foolish enough to alienate itself from South Korea to take sides with North Korea. Pyongyang won’t be able to achieve what it intended by firing the Musudan missile at a high angle last month,” Hong said in his recent report, titled “North Korea’s Intentions and THAAD.”

On June 22, the North fired two Musudan missiles, with one flying some 400 kilometers and reaching an altitude exceeding 1,000 km. Although the Musudan did not fly very far, some experts said the great height it achieved may mean the missile is capable of ranges up to about 3,000 km and could theoretically strike key military bases in the U.S. territory of Guam. The high angle at which the missile flew after takeoff also means it could be used to attack South Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Soldiers of the 2-8 Cavalry Regiment affiliated with the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division unfurl the unit’s colors at Camp Humphreys in the city of Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on July 18, 2016, as they take part in a ceremony to hoist them following the unit’s relocation from Dongducheon, north of Seoul, in this photo released by the division. The relocation is part of a plan to move U.S. bases north of Seoul to Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers southeast of the capital, by the end of 2017. (Yonhap)

In regards to the political opposition to the THAAD deployment to South Korea facts do not matter.  We saw this before with the US beef protests.  For those that do care about facts, the US military yesterday opened its THAAD base on Guam to reporters and test the electromagnetic waves from the radar.  Here is what they found:

The United States disclosed its advanced anti-ballistic missile battery in Guam to South Korean media on Monday to help allay fears about the health risks linked to the system’s powerful X-band radar.

A pool of Korean reporters visited the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in northern Guam, a part of Andersen Air Force Base, so they could check for themselves the major issues related to the electromagnetic waves emanating from the AN/TPY-2 radar and the noise level of the emergency generators.

Using equipment brought from Seoul, military officials of both the U.S. and Korea measured the levels of electromagnetic waves from the THAAD radar for the first six minutes at a point 1.6 kilometers away from the THAAD unit after it was activated. The measurement conditions in Guam were set similarly to those in Seongju, the selected site for South Korea’s first THAAD.

The radar waves reached a maximum of 0.0007 watt per square meter, accounting for 0.007 percent of the 10 watts per square meter maximum permitted under Korean laws.

Robert F. Hedelund, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea, told reporters that the THAAD battery does not hurt the health and safety of the unit’s operators, soldiers or residents nearby and that the safety standards that apply to the Guam THAAD unit are higher than those recommended by the U.S. government. He said the Guam base’s safety standards will be applied to Korea’s THAAD battery.

Another U.S. military official on the U.S. Pacific territory said that as the U.S. has a duty to protect its own soldiers and residents in adjacent towns, every effort will be made to make sure the THAAD battery to be set up in Korea will be operated safely.

As for the noise level of generators near the THAAD radar, soldiers working at the site do have to wear earplugs, but the noise is no longer an issue at about 500 meters away, the commander explained.

The U.S. military said as Korea’s THAAD system will get its power mainly from the commercial grid, not from emergency generators, soldiers and residents will not be affected by the noise.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but like I said facts don’t matter to the political opposition so expect to continue to hear about the health and environmental risks of THAAD in South Korea.  However, this visit at least allows supporters of the deployment to have hard evidence to point to in order to counter claims from the political opposition.

With the environmental concerns floundering this how the Korea Times decided to approach the THAAD visit by insinuating that the system doesn’t work:

When the two allies announced the deployment of the advanced anti-missile defense system in Korea, July 8, they stressed that the deployment will greatly enhance Seoul’s ability to deal with North Korea’s evolving nuclear and ballistic missile threats. But some experts still question the capability of the system.

Lockheed Martin, the producer of THAAD, said that the battery was nearly 100 percent successful in interception tests, but critics claim that such tests took place under defined conditions, and that THAAD has been never utilized in practice.

In addition, skepticism over the system has been also raised as Seoul and its surrounding area, with a population of roughly 25 million and major facilities, are out of its coverage range. The missile interceptor has an effective range of 200 kilometers, while Seongju is located 290 kilometers southeast of Seoul.  [Korea Times]

Of course tests are under defined conditions which get increasingly more complicated.  The last flight test for THAAD featured it conducting a joint live fire with the Aegis SM-3 system and was successful in shooting down all targets.  As far as being used in combat this is an impossible argument to counter because the system is new and there has not been a need to use it in combat.  As far as defending Seoul there are already Patriot systems in Korea that can defend Seoul.  The THAAD has always been intended to defend areas in the southern region of the peninsula.

In the coming weeks it should be interesting to see if the opposition to THAAD tries to change their message to focus more on the China and the THAAD doesn’t work angles to justify their opposition.