Category: Anti-American Crap

Unfortunately there are plenty of people in South Korea that actually believe this nonsense, fortunately they are a small, but vocal minority:

North Korea on Friday urged South Korean political parties, organizations and people from all walks of life to rally against the U.S. and war via its nominal political party’s letter of plea sent to them in an apparent bid to defend its stance on tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

“All the parties and people from all walks of life in South Korea should rise up in the anti-U.S., anti-war struggle for peace, clearly seeing through the nature of the U.S., the chieftain of aggression and disturber of peace,” the letter, sent by the Central Committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party, said.

Inter-Korean relations remain so tense due to the ongoing South Korea-U.S. “rehearsals for a “nuclear war” which have gone beyond the critical phase, said the letter, carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency. The rehearsals refer to Foal Eagle and Key Resolve against North Korean provocations that began on March 1 for a two-month run in the South.  [Yonhap]

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.

Over at Reddit they have a translation to this Kyunghyang Shimun article that claims that the THAAD radar is making people sick and even crazy in Japan:

A reporter from the paper went to Kyoto Japan where a Thaad radar facility is located. There, he found that Japanese residents were suffering from serious health problems including lack of breast milk from mothers, severe headaches, insomnia, and other side effects. The most severe side effect was the constant droning sound of power being fed into the facility which is driving the people living near it, crazy. The paper interviewed one Japanese resident who said even standing near the Thaad facility for 30 minutes makes him throw up. The concern in the Japanese village is that there is no study done on the effects of constant electronic magnetic signals. The paper also says that a few residents welcome the Thaad station because they profit from the central government rewarding the town with subsidies for hosting Thaad. But the reporter says the more reasonable Japanese residents who don’t care about money, are warning the Seongju residents to not ignore the harmful effects of the radar system which can’t been seen with human eyes.  [Reddit]

First of all the radar in Japan is not a THAAD battery, it is a forward based AN/TPY-2 radar site in Kyoga-Misaki that uses the same radar antenna as a THAAD battery.  Secondly this is just another example of how the leftists in the Korean media are going to distort and lie to push their political agenda just like what happened in 2008 with the phony US beef crisis.

Why doesn’t this reporter request to interview the soldiers that are around this radar every single day and see if they are getting sick and going crazy?

Once again due to Korean media lies we have mad cow 2.0 happening over the THAAD deployment to South Korea.  Fortunately this is happening in a rural area of Korea and not Seoul where the Korean left would be able to mobilize huge crowds more easily.  We will see what happens when the usual suspects such as the KCTU will likely get involved in this.  I would not be surprised if the Korean left tries to makes this look like Camp Humphreys back in 2005 to get this battery installed in Seongju.  If the US military was smart they would wait until after the summer protest season to deploy this battery to Korea.  The Korean left will not be able to mobilize huge crowds in the freezing cold of January in rural Korea:

An angry mob of Seongju residents besieged the prime minister for more than six hours on Friday during his visit to the southeastern rural town to explain the government’s recent decision to place a controversial U.S.-led missile defense system in their neighborhood.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, accompanied by Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo and Vice Minister of Interior Kim Sung-lyul, traveled to Seongju, North Gyeongsang, in the morning to meet with residents after Seongsan-ri of Seongju, a village with about 2,800 people, was selected Wednesday as the site to host the U.S. Forces Korea’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system.

After arriving in Seongju by a helicopter, they met with North Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kwan-yong and visited the artillery base in Seongsan-ri. A Korean Air Force artillery unit currently stationed there will be relocated and the U.S. military will install the Thaad system by the end of next year.

Hwang then arrived at the Seongju County Office and met with Kim Hang-gon, head of the county, who has been on a hunger strike in protest. About 3,000 angry residents were waiting for Hwang and pelted him with eggs and poured water on him.

The quiet farming town of Seongju, with a population of about 45,000, has become extremely volatile since residents fear the deployment for security and health concerns. North Korea warned of a physical response to the Thaad base, while concerns were also raised that the electromagnetic waves emitted from the Thaad radar are harmful to humans. The government said the radar poses no harm to humans outside of its 100-meter (328-foot) radius.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but as I have been saying repeatedly the safe keep out zones for the THAAD radar are well known, but leftists in the Korean media continue to publish articles claiming THAAD is going to make people sick.  What seems lost to these people is that US soldiers work around this radar every day, so using their logic US soldiers must have some magical immunity to these scary electromagnetic waves that can some how magically make only Koreans sick.

Is THAAD the new Fan Death of Korea?

It looks like the US embassy had some useful idiots stop by recently.  If they are so concerned about toxins in South Korea how come they are not busy protesting the companies that deliberately dumped 3000 tons of dangerous chemicals into the Han River for people to drink instead of anthrax spores mistakenly sent to South Korea that infected nobody?:

South Korean police said Saturday that two people were arrested for carrying out an illegal protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.

“A man and a woman were arrested after they displayed banners and leaflets calling for ousting U.S. troops from the country,” authorities said. “The protest was never authorized, so they broke the law.”

Police said the two lashed out at U.S. troops for bringing in live anthrax spores into the country earlier in the year. They said both were members of the Corean Alliance, a local civic group, whose headquarters was raided by authorities Wednesday.

The raid was carried out because the group was accused of promoting North Korean ideologies in breach of the anti-North Korea law.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Members of civic groups stage a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on May 29, 2015, after U.S. Forces Korea said the previous day that a live anthrax sample that was accidentally sent to the U.S. Osan Air Base in the city of Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, has been destroyed. (Yonhap)

It is going to be interesting to see what other dirt the ROK government digs up on Kim Ki-jong:

The suspected attacker of the top U.S. envoy in Seoul contacted a South Korean man previously convicted of spying for North Korea before carrying out the attack, police said Friday.

Kim Ki-jong was arrested last week on charges of slashing U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert on his face and wrist with a knife during a breakfast function in downtown Seoul. The attack left Lippert with wounds that required 80 stitches.

The 55-year-old faces charges of attempted murder, violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction. Police said they are planning to ask the prosecutors to take over the case later in the day.

Kim has said he was acting alone. But a special task force investigating the case said the 55-year-old contacted more than 30 people — including a former spy for North Korea and a key member of a pro-North Korea organization here — in the run-up to the incident.

Kim Cheol-jun, the lead investigator from the National Police Agency, said authorities are delving further into Kim’s phone and bank transaction records to find out whether any of them had been involved.  (……….)

Police said they also believe the attack was premeditated. Kim’s Internet browsing history shows that he had looked up Lippert’s blog, his height and South Korea’s criminal law a day before the incident, according to authorities.

He also appeared to have had an intent to kill, police said. He reportedly said he brought a knife because his previous attempt to harm a Japanese ambassador to Seoul years ago failed. He also slashed Lippert at least twice, leaving deep gashes on his face and arm that required more than 80 stitches.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is what the attacker of US ambassador Mark Lippert is saying after being interrogated by police:

A 55-year-old South Korean activist was taken into custody Friday on charges of attempting to murder the top U.S. diplomat in Seoul.

Kim Ki-jong also faces charges of violence against a foreign envoy and business obstruction in the shocking attack on U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert the previous day.

Wielding a 25-centimeter fruit knife, Kim slashed the ambassador five times at a performance hall in downtown Seoul where the envoy was to give a speech. The wounds weren’t life-threatening, but the attack left a deep gash extending from the envoy’s right chin to cheek, requiring more than 80 stitches.

The Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Kim, saying “The reason and the necessity of his arrest were fully explained.”

Before entering the court for a hearing to review the legality of his arrest, Kim said he had no ties to North Korea.

“That’s nonsense,” he told reporters when asked about the police investigation into the possibility.

He denied being sympathetic to Pyongyang and having ever been to the country despite police announcements earlier to the contrary.

He also shook his head when asked if he had an intent to kill and said there was no one else involved.

Kim had previously told police officers that he plotted the attack to stop the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises that kicked off earlier this week.

The exercises are part of Seoul and Washington’s efforts to better deter threats from North Korea. Kim said he thought the drills hampered efforts to re-unify the two Koreas as they remain technically at war since the Korean War in the 1950s ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Hwang Sang-hyeon, Kim’s attorney, also said the attack was not premeditated.

In mid-February, Kim received a letter of invitation from the organizer, and it was then he decided to confront the ambassador about the joint military drills, according to Hwang.

“He hadn’t planned on bringing the knife until (Thursday) morning,” Hwang told reporters as he took from a break from police interrogation late Thursday. “He was trying to alarm the U.S. but had nothing personal against the ambassador.” [Yonhap]

Who is their right mind would invite someone like Kim Ki-jong to an event like this with the US ambassador.  This was asking for trouble. It makes me wonder if the event organizer intentionally invited Kim just to cause an incident or it was just total incompetence?

Best wishes to US Ambassador Mark Lippert as he recovers from the cowardly knife attack by a Korean leftist:

A knife attack Thursday that injured the U.S. ambassador to South Korea is the latest act of political violence in a deeply divided country where some protesters portray their causes as matters of life and death.

The slashing of Ambassador Mark Lippert’s face and arm, which left deep gashes and damaged tendons and nerves, was an extreme example, but America infuriates some leftist South Koreans because of its role in Korea’s turbulent modern history.

Washington, which backed the South during the 1950-53 Korean War against the communist North, still stations nearly 30,000 troops here and holds annual military drills with Seoul. That’s something anti-U.S. activists view as a major obstacle to their goal of an eventual reunification of the rival Koreas.

Purported U.S. interference in Korean affairs appeared to be the main grievance of the man police named as the assailant, Kim Ki-jong, 55, who has a long history of anti-U.S. protests.

“South and North Korea should be reunified,” Kim shouted as he slashed Lippert with a 25-centimeter (10-inch) knife, police and witnesses said.

The attack left a gash on Lippert’s face that started under his cheekbone and extended diagonally across his cheek toward his jawbone. He received 80 stiches to close the 11-centimeter (4-inch) wound, Chung Nam-sik of Severance Hospital told reporters. Lippert, 42, also had surgery on his arm to repair damage to tendons and nerves and was in stable condition at the hospital.  [Associated Press]

The leftist Kim Ki-jong who was involved in the attack has a long history of violence to include attacking the Japanese ambassador to Korea with a concrete block.  He says he attacked Lippert because of the ongoing US-ROK Key Resolve military exercise:

Kim is well-known among police and activists as one of a hard-core group of protesters willing to use violence to highlight their causes. Such protesters often speak of their actions in terms of a war, of a struggle to the death.

Kim told police that he attacked Lippert to protest U.S.-South Korean military drills that started Monday — exercises that the North has long maintained are preparations for an invasion. Kim said the drills, which Seoul and Washington say are purely defensive, ruined efforts for reconciliation between the two Koreas, officials at Seoul’s Jongno police station said in a televised briefing.

Here is what North Korea had to say about the attack:

North Korea’s state-controlled media later crowed that Kim’s “knife slashes of justice” were “a deserved punishment on war maniac U.S.” and reflected the South Korean people’s protests against the U.S. for driving the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war because of the joint military drills.

The real question is if any of the North Korean spies within South Korea sent Kim to conduct this attack or not?  Another question is what was the security like around the Ambassador to allow this leftist loon to get access to the Ambassador?  You would think they would have increased security for him during the Key Resolve exercise?

Also keep in mind this is the not the first political knife slashing to happen in recent years.  In 2006 current President Park Geun-hye was slashed across the face by a knife wielding man:

Image via the BBC.

Park needed 60 stitches to seal the cut.  Ambassador Lippert’s wound looks much worse.  Anyway the person convicted of slashing President Park received 11 years in jail.  I think Kim Ki-jong’s days of protesting the US are over because he will likely receive a very long sentence to send a message to these leftist loons.  South Korea also needs to take a stronger stance when people commit violent acts against the Japanese embassy in South Korea as well.  As this attack shows these loons get emboldened when they are not properly punished after committing violent acts against the Japanese embassy.

North Korean people visit an anti-American education center in South Hwanghae Province, south of Pyongyang, on Feb. 8, 2015. (No sale outside of South Korea) (KCNA-Yonhap)