Suicide Bomber Kills Korean Servicemember in Afghanistan

UPDATE #2:  More information is coming out from the Korean media about the deceased ROK Army soldier SGT Yoon.  SGT Yoon was sent to the United States by his parents to attend middle school and high school in Indiana.  After completing high school he attended the University of Indiana and studied business.  Yoon hadn’t been back to Korea for over 10 years when he decided to go back and complete his mandatory service commitment to the ROK Army.  He could have stayed in the US and applied for a Green Card, but he decided to serve his country instead. 

Yoon joined the ROK Army in 2005 and became a member of the Korean Special Forces and volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan last September against the wishes of his family.  In Afghanistan he was helping teach local Afghanis job trade skills.  He was scheduled to redeploy from Afghanistan in April of this year and complete his mandatory service in May. 

SGT Yoon’s parents and his two older sibling are understandably distraught over this tragedy and his dad condemned the terrorists for killing his son.  What I found kind of distasteful though was how the Korean media are just storming this poor family.  For the love of God give these people some space and let them grieve. 

I really have nothing but the up most respect for SGT Yoon.  He could of stayed in the US, made money, and avoided the mandatory service, but he decided to go back to Korea and serve his country where he was making probably less than $100 a month base pay for a conscriptee.

People in Korea should really reflect on this and ask themselves, like many in America do about our servicemembers, where does Korea find such great people like SGT Yoon?  Koreans should also take note that their military is filled with many other great soldiers like SGT Yoon and should be proud of the selfless service of all the men and women of the ROK Army as well as all those who volunteer to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and soon in Lebanon as well.

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UPDATE#1:  Milblogger MAJ John stationed on Bagram has a good posting about the bombing that happened yesterday.  Apparantly the terrorists hid the bomb in a shipping container and as the truck got to the front of the gate to be searched the bomb detonated killing an American soldier and a Korean soldiers along with a host of kids and Afghan truck drivers.  Yes the big, bad Taliban is able to blow up a bomb that kills mostly kids and truck drivers and the media is of course hyping the resurgent Taliban threat because they can blow up kids and truck drivers. 

MAJ John also says that Vice President Cheney was over a mile away from the bombing and in no danger.  However, this hasn’t stopped the media from running irresponsible headlines of an assassination attempt on the Vice President.  Would it be an assassination attempt on President Bush if someone blew up a bomb at the front gate of the White House killing civilians and gate guards?  No it would be labeled as terrorism because that is what this was.  That bomb had no intention of ever getting into the airbase.  It was simply blown up to kill as many people as possible to make the very headlines these idiots in the news media are publishing. 

The conspiracy theorist in me also thinks this bombing was used to send a message to the Vice President.  Remember before visiting Afghanistan Cheney visited Pakistan and had some very strong words to say about President Musharraf’s less than agressive policy to fight the Taliban fighters hiding in western Pakistan.  The Vice President’s trip would be quite secret, but assuredly the Pakistan government would have known about it.  Could the Pakistan government had tipped off the Taliban about the VP’s visit and the Taliban rushed to set off an explosion to grab news headlines while at the same time Pakistan could use the bombing as a great big, –ck you to the VP?

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The ROK Army has suffered its first casualty in the War on Terror:

A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, killing at least 14 people and wounding a dozen more. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target.

Cheney’s spokeswoman said he was fine, and the vice president later met with President Hamid Karzai in the capital, Kabul, before leaving the country.

There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said 20 people were killed, while NATO said initial reports indicated three fatalities, including a U.S. soldier, a South Korean coalition soldier and a U.S. government contractor whose nationality wasn’t immediately known. NATO said 27 people also were wounded.

(…)

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said one of its troops stationed in Bagram, Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho, 27, was killed in the explosion. South Korea has about 200 engineers and medics in Bagram.

It just goes to show that no matter how bad the US-ROK alliance may appear to be politically, it doesn’t effect the relationship militarily between the US & ROK armies, as is shown with US and Korean soldiers dying together in Afghanistan.  I have always found soldiers from the ROK Army to be some of the best soldiers from a foreign military I have ever served with. 

SGT Yoon appears to be no different as he was a graduate of Indiana University in the United States and was serving as a translator a translator in Afghanistan.  Initially it was reported SGT Yoon and the other US soldier were working as guards at the entrance of the Bagram Base when they were attacked which I would find surprising to see a ROK soldier working such a dangerous job an entry point guard due to the Korean government’s extremely risk adverse stance with their soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq because of the fear of casualties.  However, Joong Ang Ilbo is reporting that SGT Yoon was actually at the entry point to meet some Afghans he was working with:

According to Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the attack took place at the front gate of the base. Mr. Yun, a sergeant with the Dasan unit, was killed instantly.
Sergeant Yun was on a mission right outside the gate, the military said, escorting residents of Afghanistan into the base for a technology training program.
No other casualties or injuries to the Korean contingent were reported, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that the terror attack was apparently not targeting Korean troops.

The Taliban is saying that the bomber attended to assassinate Vice President Cheney who was visiting the base which is ridiculous.  More than likely the Taliban got word of Cheney visiting the base and sent this suicide bomber out to strike a soft target near the base to get international headlines of trying to assassinate the Vice President.  It just so happens the softest target around any military base is the entry point where people and vehicles are waiting in line to enter the base.  This cowardly suicide bomber probably simply walked to the front of the line and blew himself and the people around him up. 

What will be interesting to see is how the death of SGT Yoon will be portrayed in the Korean media.  Will his death be framed as an honorable and brave soldier serving his country or a needless death in support of an American cause?   Could this start a movement to withdraw Korean engineers from Afghanistan?  Initial reports are encouraging that the Korean government plans to continue with their reconstruction mission in Afghanistan:

Park said the incident is unlikely to affect Seoul’s plan to keep the troops in Afghanistan.

"In my personal view, it seems that there will be no change in the plan to retain the troops there by the end of this year, as set by the National Assembly," he said

Let’s hope the government of Korea honors SGT Yoon properly as a hero who tried to make life better for the people of Afghanistan instead of ignoring or marginalizing his sacrifice like the Korean government has done in the past with the six sailor killed in the 2002 West Sea Naval Battle. 

Rest in peace SGT Yoon and thank you for your sacrifice in support of the United States and most importantly the people of Afghanistan.

You can read more over at the Marmot’s Hole and OFK.