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January 31, 2007

Hey! Clarify This!

South Korea expressed concern over “undiplomatic” remarks made by the top U.S. military officer here regarding possible delays in the relocation of U.S. military bases, a Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.  [link] Background here.  The Foreign Ministry would also like you to know that this is not an “official” warning; it’s really just the diplomatic equivalent of a fix-it ticket.  No fine, no court appearance.  Guess that “I support the alliance” bumper sticker paid off after all.  “The comment (made...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 30, 2007

An Ex-JAG’s Guide to Trouble and Lawyers in Korea

I started commenting on this thread on The Marmot’s Hole, responding to someone who may or  may not have been beaten by Korean police after a drunken “protest.”  This drew a few responses, including this one from fellow lawyer Brendan Carr: To my way of thinking, private lawyer is a waste (and I’m one of the private lawyers) — TDS counsel take great pride in fighting for their clients’ rights and contrary to your expectations, TDS counsel have no fear...
Categories UCMJ & SOFA
January 30, 2007

Almost Right

The Joongang Ilbo (among others)  writes about discontented foreigners, but disappoints by limiting itself to the financial issues faced by a limited cross-section of foreigners:  Let’s think about what it will be like if they return to their mother countries with mistrust and hate in their hearts. It will have a boomerang effect on Korean businessmen and students who are abroad. In this globalizing world, must we cut ourselves off through this exclusive attitude?  [link] Yes, and  this recognition is...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 26, 2007

If He’d Just Thrown His Medals Across the Fence, He’d Be a Senator Today

Sixty Minutes will broadast a long-anticipated interview with traitor  Joe  Dresnok this Sunday, and one thing’s apparent:  he’s eating well enough. From the CBS promo story: The last American defector still living in North Korea says a billion dollars in gold couldn’t entice him to leave the country he ran to 44 years ago.  In the first communication from Joe Dresnok since he defected in 1962, the former G.I. also says his fellow defector, Charles Jenkins, who was permitted to leave...
Categories Abductions/Defectors/U.S. Military
January 19, 2007

Three Minutes for Lieutenant Mark Daily

Lieutenant Mark Daily gave you his life; will you give him three minutes?   Knowing what he was getting himself into, Mark Daily sat down to write what he knew could be his epitaph.   It is composed with the poetic zen that so few writers can manage, the  expression of complex ideas in clear prose.   It is the  eloquence of a man who applied courage to his compassion and principle: Maybe the reality of politics makes all political action inherently crude...
Categories Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Military
January 16, 2007

Eum, Yang, and Korean Diplomatic Courtesy

A few days ago, Occidentalism  posted this absolutely priceless flowchart that is too telling by half about how some Koreans tend to scapegoat their way through real problems.  I suppose the temptation to pin blame on others  is human nature; that temptation  is at its greatest when a solution to the  underlying problem  seems beyond reach.  Witness  the  finger-pointing that followed last October’s nuke test (and the notable absence of constructive proposals accompanying it).  I shouldn’t miss this opportunity to...
Categories Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Diplomacy/History/Japan & Korea/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 12, 2007

Beyond Empty Threats

  Yes, Stealth fighters have some value in deterring a North Korean  first strike, if we think that’s a possibility, but I do not believe that any weapon in the U.S. military arsenal (with this possible exception) can deter or prevent a North Korean nuclear test.  The threat of a direct, large-scale  use of force by either the United States or North Korea against the other  is an empty threat.  The conventional Korean War has been a standoff since 1953. ...
Categories An Alliance?/NK Military/Resistance/ROK Military/U.S. Military
January 9, 2007

Will They or Won’t They?

The USFK Commander, General B.B. Bell, thinks another North Korean nuke test is “likely,” although the South Koreans remain in denial mode. Update:   As Kalani  points out in the comments, the headline arguably misstates what Bell actually said: There is no reason to believe that at some time in the future, when it serves their purposes, that they won’t test another one,” General B.B. Bell told a news conference. “So I suspect some day they will,” Bell said, adding...
Categories An Alliance?/U.S. Military/WMD
January 8, 2007

U.S. and Japan Quietly Prepare for North Korean Collapse

The Asahi Shimbun said the government has estimated that 100,000 to 150,000 people would arrive from North Korea and has been discussing with the United States how to deal with such a situation. Japan could only provide temporary shelter for several tens of thousands of displaced persons and would need to consider transferring them to third countries in such a case, the Asahi quoted government sources as saying. The refugees are expected to head to southern Japan from ports on...
Categories An Alliance?/Japan/Japan & Korea/Reconstruction/U.S. Military
December 28, 2006

N. Korean Soldiers Repatriated

Previous post here.  In this photograph, one of them is being escorted by a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and a South Korean First Lieutenant — without the use of a Baby Bjorn, which is not authorized with the uniform.  He looks thrilled to be on his way home, which is what you’d expect for a guy found  adrift and near death on a raft  in  the Sea of Japan  in December.     I’m sad that our Army had any...
Categories NK Military/U.S. Military
December 22, 2006

Roh Learns Bitter Lesson About the Futility of Appeasing Implacable Foes

… inside his own party. The president also laid into three aspiring candidates in next year’s presidential election, describing his appointment of the moderate Goh Kun as his first prime minister as “a failure. “I chose Goh in the hope that he would become a bridge bringing me closer to conservatives, but it alienated me and the government from them instead,” Roh said. His decision to appoint Uri Party hopefuls Kim Geun-tae and Chung Dong-young as health and unification ministers...
Categories An Alliance?/Korean Politics/ROK Military/U.S. Military
December 14, 2006

Chinese Diplomats on the Town, Behaving Like … American Infantry!

Heard in the Forbidden City:  “Those uppity vassals won’t get away with  indignities like this  when we build our governor’s mansion on top of Kwanghwamun!” Police pulled over a car with the diplomatic license plate of the Chinese Embassy near the main gate of Ewha Women’s University around 9:50 p.m. on Tuesday. The driver and three passengers declined to take the test or confirm their identities and kept doors and windows locked. Police guided the car into a corner, where...
Categories China & Korea/UCMJ & SOFA/WTF?
December 13, 2006

Korean Apartheid Watch

Arnold knew of only one pool in town, but when she went there she was told, ‘No Foreigners Allowed.”’ She asked a Korean co-worker to call for her and explain that she had to swim for health reasons. “I explained about you (doctor’s order) but they said no,” the co-worker wrote in a follow up e-mail. “Foreigner(s) cannot use the pool.”   [link] The article is incorrect when it states that discrimination is legal in Korea.  As I explained in...
Categories Korean Society/UCMJ & SOFA
December 8, 2006

Arrest Galloper, Part 2

Ladies and gentlemen, our long national nightmare is over. We finally have closure in a terrible tragedy in which  innocent Korean  pedestrians were cut down by  a reckless foreigner,  who managed to evade local justice and (the outrage!) face a quickie trial and light punishment  in his home country’s courts.  Remember the protests and the vigils?  No?  Probably because the driver was a drunk South Korean Hyundai Asan  employee, and the victims were North Korean soldiers.  Two were injured, one...
Categories Korean Law/Korean Society/UCMJ & SOFA/Uncategorized
December 6, 2006

A Billion for Tribute, But Not One More Cent for Defense!

Update:   Guess what?  GI Korea had it exactly right all along.    All hail GI Korea!   Wow.  Talk about nailing it. Let’s compare the $780 million dollar cost sharing agreement to the amount of money Seoul sends to North Korea.   While North Korea was busy creating international stability with their ballistic missile and nuclear bomb tests, the South Korean government was busy sending them a record amount of humanitarian aid.   The South Korean government sent $227...
Categories An Alliance?/NK Economics/U.S. Military/Washington Views
December 5, 2006

Robert Gates Gets It (Mostly) Right on Korea

Consider that:  how often do bloggers, who live to bite ankles, find no fault with the pronouncements of those who make policy?  I begin my observation of Gates as SecDef as a skeptic.  And indeed, nothing that Gates could say about Korea could make me a fan if he prescribes Surrender Lite in Iraq or “learning to live with” an Iranian bomb.  But listen carefully to his views on the Koreas, from his confirmation hearings.  Begin in 1994, back when...
Categories An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Washington Views
December 3, 2006

If the Alliance Has a Future …

Several new articles give us some idea of what it might look like. The first item is the alliance’s reason for being, part of which involves dealing with life after Kim Jong Il: OPLAN 5029. Back in April 2005 the South Koreans unilaterally pulled out of planning for it for fear of pissing off North Korea. A month later, talks seemed to be on again, but with no word on progress until now. A government source on Thursday said then-defense...
Categories An Alliance?/Reconstruction/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military