Is a Drunken Fight More News Worthy Than Rape?
The Marmot reports about a drunken brawl in Uijeongbu between three US soldiers and a Korean national. If you can read Korean you can get more details here. I’m sure this guy was minding his own business doing absolutely nothing when he just randomly got assaulted by the evil GI’s that prowl the streets of Uijongbu. (Yes I’m being sarcastic.) That is the usual story by people who tend to loose drunken brawls. I guarantee you that if the GI’s came out on the loosing side of the brawl and were beat up like Mr. Cho nobody would care then.
I think that the GI’s story should be heard before passing judgment. How do we know that this Korean guy and his buddies didn’t assault the GI’s and came out on the losing end? Also the fact that the Korean police handed over the one suspect to the US MP’s shows that they didn’t think that the incident was serious enough for them to investigate. Once the case got publicity of course the police go ahead and blame the SOFA just like all the policemen do to cover themselves though the SOFA has nothing to do with this case since the soldiers were off duty.
This all goes back to my posting from last month about, Swallowing Your Pride. If Mr. Cho some how bumped into the soldiers like he claims or even took a swing at them, which at this point we don’t know for sure; those soldiers should of just got out of the area quickly because in confrontations with Koreans you will never win no matter how rightly justified you feel you are. Your best option is to swallow your pride and get away from the situation.
Speaking of random assaults I wonder if this burglary and rape of a USFK soldier stationed in Daegu made any of the Korean news?
South Korean police are searching for a Korean man who allegedly raped a female U.S. officer Sunday in Daegu.
A Daegu Nambu police detective said authorities are seeking a 5-foot-5-inch Korean man who they say entered the American woman’s off-base apartment around midnight Sunday.
The detective said the suspect entered the apartment from a balcony, struck the woman and raped her before stealing about $1,100 and 250,000 won (about $250), and about $2,000 worth of items, including a digital camera.
The police officer said the 22-year-old American worked for a medical support unit and that local police are conducting a joint investigation with U.S. Criminal Investigative Command agents.
This isn’t the first time a US service member has been raped, murdered, or assaulted in Korea by a Korean and probably won’t be the last. But will anybody in Korea hear about it? That is the question I am wondering. If the Korean police are serious about catching this guy wouldn’t they want to publicize it as much as possible?
I guarantee if it was USFK service member that did this crime there would be never ending news coverage of it complete with all the emotional pictures of crying families, talk of the unfair SOFA agreement, and talk of all the crimes committed by US service members in Korea while simultaneously ignoring the fact that Koreans commit just as serious crimes against USFK soldiers.
Oh My News and the rest of the Korean media where are you? Is a drunken brawl that happens all over Korea every day more news worthy than the rape and and burglary of a 22 year old female? The silence in this case is deafening.
As I noted on the Marmot's blog, a favorite little game of Koreans is too create a toxic environment for foreigners through stealth-abuse: the favorite Korean game of subtle sidewalk chicken — by subtly steering into an on-coming GI to make them yield as a demonstration of Korean dominance. Usually, if the soldier does not yield, the Korean will withdraw the shoulder at the last minute — but, some Korean males test their manhood by allowing a body check with the shoulder, and then act-out a belligerant or victimized response.
Koreans are very aware of this abusive game although they won't tell you.
Bacteria creates a toxic chemical aura around its perimeter(anti-biotics)making the space noxious for other competing bacteria — Koreans create a noxious environment against foreigners — especially GI's walking in the Korean public through this petty game.
Swallowing our pride emboldens the Korean male to take this abuse to its higher levels. I applaud the GI for his willingness to take a stand and create an attitude adjustment with this Korean Rodney King wanna-be.
In fact, it's this subtle "fuck you" attitude that compelled the two girls (Angels in all our hearts)to stand their ground against the Army vehicles that crushed them: an irrational defiance that gets many Koreans stupidly killed.
GI — you should be more savvy about what is going on outside the safe confines of Yongsan, and show a healthier respect for your own soldiers.
Savvy?
Just updated my post, noting your comments. When I checked Naver.com, three Korean news agencies did cover the rape, and one of them was OhMyNews. Granted, compared to the beer bottle incident, it was just a blurb, but at least they covered it, which is more than I can say for most.
It is good at least that it was mentioned at least in passing by the Korean media but could you imagine the coverage if a US service member raped a Korean woman? Even if a ESL teacher raped a Korean woman would be big news. I'm really curious how vigorously the Korean police are going to investigate this crime to capture the rapist before he rapes someone else? That is what is most important about this and media attention would only help the police to track this person down.
Rape is one of national sports for Korean male.
You must be careful always as long as you're in Korea.
Silly Sally, while I agree with your "Sidewalk Chicken" comment, you are completely wrong about the girls standing their ground against the tank. Accounts of the incident report that the two girls were walking in the same direction as the tanks with their fingers in their ears to reduce the noise. They didn't see the tank.
GI Korea,
"Those soldiers should of just got out of the area"
You say some important things here, but I want to point out that "should've" should be written out as "should have", not "should of". Sorry for nitpicking, but I would hate for people to try to dismiss what you have written because of bad English. (It happens.)
One of the main reasons that the rape incident did not get published in the mainstream media is simply because it happened outside of Seoul/Kyounggi. The Korean media world revolves around the capital and it takes a major news event to make the major papers….aside from missing that minor detail…you are exactly on the money about the discrimanatory writing… I have a dream…That some rich foreigner would decide to become the owner/editor of an English newspaper here in Korea and start printing the news with some integrity. The reason so many of us read sites like Marmots/GI/Asiapages/et al is because we can get a realistic view and learn about things that we would not otherwise get in the English "press" in korea. If it was not for this site, I am sure that most people who see it would never have heard of it….even those who live in Daegu where it happened. Keep up the good work GI.
I somewhat agree and disagree, but more on the disagree side.
I haven't gotten the review of this events back up on my http://www.usinkorea.org site, but a year or two ago (maybe even three or four by now), there was a big event in Itaewan that did not reach any of the mainstream Korean press.
It was a huge brawl with some Irish expats and Korean security guards. It included pepper spray, batons, broken bottles, and even gas guns. At least one of the Irish was shot in the head and required medical attention. It was started after the manager in one of the clubs already placed off limits by USFK decided to close up early since it was Chusok. The problem was, according to the Irish, they had just been served another round of beers when it was announced the place was closing a couple of hours before the scheduled time. When the Irish didn't leave right away, the manager had his security people get tough with them, and when that didn't produce the desired results right away, they had extra security in the area (apparently working for the same security company) come over and they forced the Irish out, and once in the street, all hell broke loose.
This was covered, as far as I could tell, by only one internet English language news org. It made a big noise in the Korea-blog-o-sphere, but it never made it into the Korean mainstream press —- English or Korean language versions, from what I could find.
I found that incredibly difficlut to swallow since I have followed the anti-US/USFK issue closely for many years.
A US soldier in a "small" city in Kangwon province gets in a bar fight, and it can easily become national news.
But, a fight between some 8 to 12 Irish expats and about the same number of Korean secruity guards breaks out in Seoul, and guns are used, and there are no arrests and not a single news story about it????
Get a beer bottle across the face for accidently bumping into them (I would have to say it's an attempted murder/manslaughter). Nice. Is there any evidence that this was a drunken brawl?
Jack,
The girls being fully aware the vehicles were coming had plenty of room to step aside for safety. I have seen the photos of the surrounding accident scene. The accident was a result of the irrational defiance to the Yankee indoctrinated in the Korean schools. Being young girls they didn't know how to manage this defiance safely.
It's part of the same emotional defiance that creates the notorious side-walk chicken game against foreigners in Korea.
Pedestrians don't get out of the way of ROK Army vehicles either. 4 years ago during a joint training exercise I got to work with a unit of ROK K1 tanks. They complained of the same problems that I brought up during convoy movements concerning pedestrians. I think it is more that the people the live near the training areas grew up around the tanks and are not intimidated by them thus feel no fear when a convoy of them is moving in proximity to them. This was factor that led to the accident.
Once again you get it all wrong. I advise the soldiers to walk away from potential trouble because they cannot win. What does beating the crap out of drunk Korean do for you when you end up with long sentences in a Korean jail? I don't want to see any more soldiers going to jail over this stupid crap. We got enough of them in Korean jails already.
She paid a heavy price to find out the character of koreans/kyopos. I hope this served a lesson to those people out there who love korea.
When I was working in the ER at Yongsan, just about every payday weekend we'd get some guy who'd come in who was assaulted. Everytime, when we asked who did it they'd say it was these "three guys". Those "three guys" struck again…. :o)
The rape of a woman working for the US military was neither a major news in Japan, simply because the news wasn't broadcasted in Korea, I think. However, many young Japnese people picked up the news from the Web. The common responce was "I feel sorry for the lady but it doesn't surprise me at all.".