Tag: alcohol

Via a reader tip comes this news of how drinking is being banned in designated areas in South Korea’s mountain parks:

Laws banning drinking on mountain tops and in other designated natural areas start this month.

The National Assembly passed the revised anti-drinking laws on Tuesday that affect visitors to mountains and parks under national, city or provincial management, the environment ministry said Wednesday. The laws begin on Mar. 13.

They include fines of 50,000 won ($46) for a first offence and 100,000 won for subsequent violations for people caught drinking in the designated areas.

The ministry’s latest bid reflects its intention to lower accidents in the regions. From 2012 until 2017, 64 of over 1,300 accidents on mountains and in parks were due to alcohol intoxication. Ten accidents were fatal.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the ban includes smoking as well.  It seems like this is going to be incredibly difficult to enforce unless they plan to have police patrol every mountain.

The alcohol restriction for US military personnel in Japan due to a recent deadly drunk driving incident has been relaxed:

U.S. Forces Japan has loosened alcohol restrictions imposed after a fatal Nov. 19 vehicle accident involving a 21-year-old Marine on Okinawa.

The revised rules, which took effect at 4:30 p.m. Thursday local time, allow servicemembers to purchase alcoholic beverages on base and drink them in their on- or off-base homes, Maj. George Tobias, a 5th Air Force spokesman, told Stars and Stripes.

“The purchase or consumption of alcohol off-base is still not permitted with the exception of one’s own off-base residence,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but if personnel in Japan think the current restrictions on alcohol are bad, at least leadership in USFJ has not resorted to blood alcohol tests at the gate like we have seen in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea many years ago.

My favorite part of the below story is how one of the officers was accused of not completing their Anti-Terrorism Level-1 training.  Wearing a PT belt might be more effective at stopping the below stupidity than the AT Level-1 training:

Three married U.S. Marine officers have found themselves under investigation for a night in February that went off the rails in Bogotá, involving allegations they went drinking with some local women, were slipped illicit drugs, robbed of U.S. property and landed in a local hospital emergency room.

The men may have fallen prey to what is known as “burundanga poisoning,” according to a report on the investigation conducted by the Marine Corps Forces, South, a Southern Command subsidiary, and obtained by the Miami Herald.

The report recommended that Marine Col. Roger T. McDuffie, a Harrier pilot who serves as the chief of operations at the unit known as MARFORSOUTH; Maj. Andrew L. Mueller, described as a theater security cooperation planner; and Maj. Mauricio Saenz, exercise planner, face “appropriate administrative or judicial proceedings.”  [Miami Herald]

You can read the rest at the link, but these three ended up bringing the prostitutes back to their rooms at the hotel, while walking by other Marines at 4:30 in the morning mustering to get on a shuttle bus to the airport.  After getting to their rooms they were then robbed of their government phones and laptops among other personal possessions by the prostitutes.  To make this story even more incredible is that one of the officers actually used his government travel card to take out a cash advance to pay two of the prostitutes.

What were these guys thinking, that this was a Secret Service job interview?

Has anyone ever tried traditional Korean gamhongro before?:

During the Japanese colonial era, there was a crackdown on home brewing, followed by the influx of alcoholic beverages from the West. Traditional Korean liquors subsequently faded from popular use, but have recently been making a comeback.

There is, for instance, gamhongro, literally “sweet red dew,” which was considered one of the three best liquors of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). This drink has been passed down by Lee Ki-sook, the 60-year-old daughter of Lee Kyung-chan (1915-1993), who was known for his ability to brew moonbaeju, a drink made from wheat and millet that has been placed on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list. In modern times, gamhongro has only ever been produced within Lee’s family.

In former times, Koreans enjoyed gamhongro so much that it even appears in a traditional folk tale, titled “Byeoljubu-jeon,” which is about a turtle luring a rabbit into the sea to use its liver in order to cure its ailing king. The rabbit takes the bait when the turtle tells it that there is a plentiful supply of gamhongro lying in wait beneath the sea.

Before passing away, Kyung-chan taught the art of brewing to his two sons. Ki-choon, the elder son, learned the recipe for moonbaeju while Ki-yang, the younger son, was taught how to make gamhongro.

When Ki-yang died in 2000, gamhongro almost disappeared from the world forever, but feeling the dire need to pass on her father’s legacy, Ki-sook started making gamhongro based on what she had seen her father do.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

The alcohol ban and lockdown on Okinawa was put into affect after a drunk driving accident involving a US sailor injured two local Okinawans.  Now every sailor in Japan is paying the price:

Sailors in Japan are barred until further notice from non-essential, off-base activities and banned from drinking alcohol, Navy officials announced Monday following a recent spate of high-profile arrests of servicemembers and civilians.

The order covers all ranks and bans both on- and off-base alcohol consumption, according to a joint announcement from 7th Fleet and Commander Naval Forces Japan.

“These measures are not taken lightly,” said Rear Adm. Matthew Carter, CNFJ. “For decades, we have enjoyed a strong relationship with the people of Japan. It is imperative that each sailor understand how our actions affect that relationship, and the U.S.-Japan alliance as a whole.”

Sailors living off-base can commute to work and engage in “essential activities,” such as grocery shopping, gym use, child care and gasoline pickup, according to a Navy statement.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but is this going to be the standard every time an incident happens?  Lock everyone down and ban alcohol?  Unfortunately with such a large population of US servicemembers on Okinawa the expectation that there should be no incidents is unrealistic.  Especially when you consider that the actions of non-US servicemembers also gets blamed on the military as well.

This sounds much like how South Korea was during the Roh Moo-hyun administration at the peak of anti-Americanism in that country.  Curfews and lockdowns did not stop all incidents, they still happen today they just don’t get the attention they did under the Roh administration.  This is because the politics of anti-Americanism in South Korea changed due to the failure of the Sunshine Policy and increasing North Korean provocations.  Likewise the anti-Americanism in Okinawa is only going to end with a political change that curfews and lockdowns will not influence.

However, it is the easiest tool in the commander’s tool box to show they are doing something until a political settlement of some kind takes place on Okinawa.  In the meantime I don’t expect the curfews and lockdowns to end any time soon.

It is not much of a gift set when people are told they have to first pay for it, especially when the items are of inferior quality:

To celebrate its seventh congress, Pyongyang distributed one tube of toothpaste, one toothbrush and one bottle of liquor per household, the Tokyo-based Asia Press reported on Wednesday, citing sources in North Korea. Not only were the gifts sets depressingly mean – they weren’t even free.

“Collective farms near where I live refused to take the gift sets because they cost about 1,500 (North Korean) won [$1.67],” a source was quoted as saying, “and I didn’t claim them, either.”

The anonymous source added that the toothpaste distributed by the government was unpopular among the public because of its much lower quality compared to products from China. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

I bet this hangover free alcohol works as well as their supposed hydrogen bomb test:

North Korean scientists have invented a hangover-free alcohol, according to the Pyongyang Times.

The state newspaper says the “suave” liquor will spare you wincing when you wake, despite boasting 30%-40% alcohol.

The brew is reportedly made from a type of indigenous ginseng called insam and glutinous rice, and cultivated by an organic farming method.

North Korean media is known for making often outlandish claims about its domestic achievements.  [BBC]

You can read more at the link.

This number has got to be deflated because it seems pretty low to me:

Six out of every 10 women in their 20s living in Seoul drink alcohol and 10 percent of them are heavy drinkers, according to a recent survey.

The survey, conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and released Tuesday, showed 64.8 percent of women said they drank alcohol more than once a month in the past year, up from 57.7 percent in 2008.

Among them, 9.7 percent said they drank more than five glasses of soju, which contains between 17 and 20 percent alcohol, more than twice a week.

Drinking is not just a habit for young women, however. A total of 45.1 percent of all female respondents said they drink, up from 40.8 percent in 2008; the drinking rate for men in the city increased by 1.8 percentage points during the same period.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Via the Korea Herald.

Here is another example of the mixed messages that the US military continues to send to servicemembers:

A handful of Jack Daniel’s-branded gathering places draw whiskey drinkers and other patrons in sports arenas, stadiums like Wrigley Field, even in Dubai International Airport.

You might not expect to see such an establishment inside the gates of an Army base. As of Friday, you’d be wrong.

The Jack Daniels’ Lounge opens that afternoon at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, taking the place of the Lanyard, a bar last renovated during the Reagan administration. [Army Times]

You can read more at the link, but this promotion of Jack Daniel’s goes against the message the Army has been sending to the troops to stop the promotion of alcohol that is a key factor in DUIs and sexual assaults that has caused so much criticism of the military. The 7th Air Force in Korea has launched an anti-alcohol jihad where personnel are banned from drinking their first 30-days in country while other military units have banned alcohol in the barracks. On deployment personnel cannot drink at all. While all these anti-alcohol efforts are going on the DoD is busy
promoting a beer company during the Super Bowl and now a whiskey company in the middle of Ft. Sill.