Tag: United States

For those that enjoy reading Korean War history, below I have consolidated the links to my on going series of Heroes of the Korean War. The Korean War is filled with many great heroes, but due to little public interest in the war, the stories of their heroics has largely gone unnoticed. Here at the ROK Drop the leadership, bravery, and sacrifices of the brave servicemembers who fought in the Korean War does not go unnoticed. I hope through my on going series to educate readers about these heroes.  So take the time and read the stories of these brave men who served so notably during the Korean War:

1950:
Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith (USA), Commander 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, Taskforce Smith Battle

Major General William Dean (USA), Commander 24th Infantry Division, Battle of Taejon

Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. (USA), Squad Leader 2-19 Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, Battle of the Chongchon River

Captain Charles M. Bussey (USA), Commander 77th Engineer Combat Company, Firefight at Yechon

General Tahsin Yazici (Turkey), Commander 1st Turkish Brigade, Battle of Kunu-ri

Ensign Jesse L. Brown (USA), US Navy 32nd Fighter Squadron, Chosin Reservoir

Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris (USA), Commander 65th Infantry Regiment, Chosin Reservoir

Lieutenant Colonel Russell Blaisdell (USA), Chaplain US Air Force, Operation Kiddy Car Airlift

1951:

Captain Lewis L. Millett (USA), Commander E Co. 27th Infantry Regiment, Battle of Bayonet Hill.

Colonel Paul Freeman (USA), Commander 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, Battle of Chipyong-ni

Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Monclar (France), Commander French Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, Battle of Chipyong-ni

Lieutenant Colonel James P. Carne (UK), Commander Gloucestershire Battalion, Battle of the Imjim x

Lieutenant Colonel J.R. Stone (Canada), Commander Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Battle of the Kapyong

Lieutenant Colonel Dionisio Ojeda (Philippines), Commander Philippines Expeditionary Force To Korea (PEFTOK), Battle of the Yultong

First Sergeant Benjamin Wilson (USA), First Sergeant Company I, 3d Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Battle of Hell Hill

Private First Class Anthony T. Kaho’ohanohano (USA), 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Battle of Chup’a-ri

1952:
Brigadier General Haydon Boatner (USA), Commander Geoje POW Camp

Colonel Young-oak Kim (USA), Commander 1-31 Infantry Regiment, First Asian-American Battalion Commander

1953:
Lieutenant Colonel George Koumanakos (Greece), Commander Greek Battalion, Battle of Outpost Harry

Post-Korean War:

Lieutenant General Subayya Kadenera Thimayya (India), Commander of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC), Operation Big Switch

Via a reader tip comes this article stating that US and ROK forces are possibly exercising beheading strikes against the Kim regime during the current Foal Eagle/Key Resolve exercise:

Massive joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises are a spring ritual on the Korean Peninsula guaranteed to draw a lot of threat-laced venom from Pyongyang. This time, not only are the war games the biggest ever, but the troops now massed south of the Demilitarized Zone have reportedly incorporated a new hypothetical into their training: a “beheading mission” against Kim Jong Un himself.

It’s the kind of option military planners tend to consider but almost never use. Neither the U.S. military nor South Korea’s defense ministry has actually said it is part of the Key Resolve-Foal Eagle exercises that began this week and will go on for about two months.

But Pyongyang, already feeling the squeeze of new sanctions over its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, is taking a plethora of “beheading mission” reports from the South Korean media very seriously. That goes a long way toward explaining why its own rhetoric has ratcheted up a decibel — even by its own standards of bellicosity. It could also explain some subtle rejiggering afoot in the North’s military strategy.  [Business Insider]

You can read the rest at the link.

“A Profile” is a continuing series of articles here on the ROK Drop that describes each of the different US military installations in Korea and the corresponding “villes” outside of the gate.  You can learn more about these locations at the below links:

• Bosandong Ville In Donguducheon (2011)
• Camp Bosan AKA TDC Ville (2025)
• Camps Casey, Hovey, Nimble, Mobile, Castle, & Kwangsa-ri
• Camps Kyle, Sears, Essayons, LaGuardia, & Falling Water
• Camp Kyle & Camp Sears (2020)
• Camp Casey (2025)
• Camp Mobile
• Camp Mujuk
• Camp Page
• Camp Red Cloud (2005)
• Camp Stanley
• Korea Training Center (KTC)
• The “TDC Ville” (2007)
• Teokgeo-ri Ville
• Uijeongbu
• Western Corridor Camps
• Western Korean Demilitarized Zone
• Yongsan Garrison, Camp Kim, Camp Coiner, Camp Jackson & Camp Market

Note: If anyone wants to contribute an article to this series feel free to send it to me using the “Contact” link above.  If it is of high enough quality I will publish it here on the ROK Drop.  I would particularly like to publish articles about camps that are now closed.  If you have served on a now closed camp and would like to share your thoughts and pictures of your time on the camp please write an article and send it to me or post it in the Forums.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (R) talks with Daniel Russel, U.S. assistant secretary of state, during their meeting in Seoul on Feb. 26, 2016. The U.S. diplomat arrived earlier in the day as the U.N. Security Council is getting closer to adopting a resolution that will slap tough sanctions on North Korea for its recent nuclear test and rocket launch. Russel heads to China on Feb. 27, whose cooperation is critical to making the sanctions effective. (Yonhap)

I guess the US has to go through the motions of telling the Chinese that the THAAD missile defense system is of no threat to them.  However, I have to guess that US officials know that the Chinese already know it is not a threat and instead are in my opinion using the issue to try and create a wedge between the US and the ROK:

The United States and China have been in discussions about the possible deployment of an advanced American missile defense system in South Korea, a diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter said Monday.

The discussions are aimed at seeking China’s understanding that the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea is not aimed at undermining China’s security interests, the source said on the condition of anonymity.

While the U.S. is trying to explain technical details on why the THAAD is not targeting China, the Chinese side has not actively listened to the explanation from the U.S. side, the source said.

“The Chinese side has been opposed to the THAAD with incorrect information and the discussions are aimed at changing China’s view about the issue,” the source said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This just proves that the Chinese government is using North Korea to drive a wedge between the US and the ROK.  Declaring peace with North Korea would mean an end to the reason for the existence of US Force Korea (USFK) which is what the Chinese and North Koreans both want.  If China wants a more normal relationship how about they have North Korea stop threatening to nuke the US or turn South Korea into a Sea of Fire?  Or how about they get them to stop launching deadly provocations against South Korea and comply with United Nations resolutions?

The US and North Korea need to formally declare an end to 76 years of hostility if the international community wants North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to stop developing nuclear weapons, a top Chinese foreign policy official said.

“North Korea and the US still have not made peace, they’ve been in an extended cease-fire,” said Fu Ying, who chairs the foreign affairs committee of China’s National People’s Congress.

“You need to think how to bring an end to the war and enter a more normal relationship.”  [The Straits Times]

You can read more at the link, but in the fantasy land of peace in our time with North Korea does anyone really think the Kim regime would stop their provocations against South Korea?  Without the backing of the US, the provocations would likely get worse and more threatening.  The Kim regime has never accepted the legitimacy of the ROK and continue to be postured and train for the forceful reunification of the peninsula.

The Passing of a Supreme Court Giant – by @Peter_Wehner – https://t.co/5WRLd7txnJ pic.twitter.com/I4YnE4BZVv

— Commentary Magazine (@Commentary) February 14, 2016

Is Putin borrowing a tactic from the comfort women protesters in South Korea to stick it the US?:

Last week it was made known that the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation—a Russian analogue to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight, which has consultative powers—is planning to put forward a proposal for the installation of a memorial by the site of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, dedicated to the “genocide of the American Indians,” according to the RIA News Agency.

The request for permission to install such a monument was sent to the Administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and to the Moscow city authorities.

“The initiative to install the monument [near the US Embassy] is very timely as an act that will remind [people today] from where the history of the USA started,” stated member of the Civic Chamber Valery Korovin, who supported the proposal. “This monument must become the silent reproach to the modern American elites which had significantly deviated from the idealistic principles that were laid into the foundation of the American state.”

According to Mr. Korovin, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation should also appeal to the U.S. Congress to consider the “rehabilitation” of American Indians “as the native people of the United States, to admit the fact of their genocide by the US Government, to carry out the act of national repentance and thus to close this dark chapter of the U.S. history.”  [The Observer]

You can read more at the link.

Glimpses of Korea Under American Occupation feat. Jacco Zwetsloot on 2/2/16 https://t.co/6q5QIvJyfd via @ras_kb

— Sino-NK (@Sino_NK) January 30, 2016

Over at One Free Korea, there is a great update on the current actions going on in Washington, DC in response to the latest North Korean nuclear test.  It appears the one thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that the “strategic patience” strategy with North Korea has not worked.  So Congress is moving forward with their own sanctions package which is forcing the executive branch to preempt this by trying to implement their own new sanctions on North Korea.  Whatever the sanctions are it seems to me if it does not include threatening to cut off banks’ access to the US financial system for conducting business with North Korea it will not work to curb their nuclear program:

So far, so good, but then, Nakamura’s sources criticize the President for not trying hard enough to get a deal, which isn’t quite fair. As The Wall Street Journal told us yesterday, “U.S. officials say they have repeatedly tried to engage North Korea in dialogue about its nuclear program in recent months, but Pyongyang hasn’t responded to their advances.” It sounds self-serving, but the record supports that contention. Besides which, the harder American presidents try to “engage” North Korea, the worse their results tend to be.

In this climate, all the administration can really do is shift the focus to its push for tougher sanctions at the U.N. It needs a win in New York to make up for what looks like a general rout of its North Korea (non-) policy in Washington. The administration will probably announce new bilateral sanctions under existing executive orders to preempt some of the momentum in Congress, but I doubt that will appease Congress now. The administration can forget about any new diplomatic initiatives. Its goal now is to avoid a greater crisis, and to keep North Korea from sapping its credibility on other foreign policy issues.  [One Free Korea]

I highly recommend reading the rest at the link.