Anyone familiar with the villes in South Korea outside the US military bases knows that these areas are pretty seedy and filled with questionable characters.  Most of these questionable characters are some of the bar and business owners looking to fleece as much money from USFK servicemembers as possible.  However, there are times when some of the USFK servicemembers are just bad as some of these questionable business owners and there is no better example of this than the 2005 Osan Shakedown Scandal.  In March 2005 news broke that the leader of the 51st Security Squadron town patrol 1st Lieutenant Jason D. Davis was regularly shaking down local club owners in the Songtan entertainment district outside of Osan Air Base.  Davis was accused of accepting bribes, gifts, and sex with women at the clubs in exchange for not putting the clubs off limits.  Here is a picture of Davis from his days as a cadet at the Citadel, which he

Davis as the head of the 51st Security Forces Squadron’s town patrol had the ability to put the clubs outside of Osan AB off limits for 24 hours before being reviewed by his leadership for further action.  Davis used this power to threaten club owners with being put off limits if they didn’t provide him with free drinks and prostitutes. He would do this by executing unauthorized sting operations:

He said Davis also had him take part in unauthorized “sting” operations in which Dooge and other airmen would enter clubs and try to buy alcohol or try to arrange sexual liaisons with bar girls — a process known as “bar fining” and a violation of U.S. Forces Korea policy.  [Stars & Stripes]

Davis would then go on to strike up a relationship with the daughter of a club owner.  The Korean woman Kim Mun-hui would then go on to give Davis a number of gifts such as a Chrysler Sebring, a Rolex watch, Louis Vuitton slippers, cash, free drinks, and even a vacation to Guam.  Kim however would go on to become the person responsible for the ultimate down fall of Davis.  However, during Davis’ corruption spree he rented out an apartment outside Osan AB just so he could have a place to have sex with all the various women he was hooking up with in the clubs.  He was doing all this while he was still married to a woman back in the US.

On top of all of this 1LT Jason Davis was a bully to the people that worked underneath him:

Airman 1st Class Nathan D. Dooge, formerly of the 51st Security Forces Squadron, said Davis pressured him to house-sit Davis’ dogs without pay.

Davis encouraged him to drink alcoholic beverages although he was 19 and under the legal drinking age, Dooge testified.  (…………)

In addition, Dooge testified, Davis fired plastic pellets at him from an airgun, locked him for about 30 minutes in the squadron’s women’s dressing room and refused to release him.

1LT Davis’ world of corruption would come crashing down in February 2005 when his Korean girlfriend Kim Mun-hui contacted Osan authorities to say she had been raped by Davis.  This likely wasn’t true because according to unconfirmed rumors this was probably an attempt by Kim to get back at Davis for cheating on her when she found out Davis took a trip to Russia to meet up with one of his Russian girlfriends there.  The Korean police would also go on to charge Davis with keeping a firearm in the off post apartment he kept.  The Korean authorities would ultimately pursue only minor gun charges against Davis, but nevertheless the cat was now out of the bag and authorities at Osan AB were going to have to do something about it.

What is really amazing about the whole Osan Shakedown Scandal is that who knows how long Davis would have been allowed to get away with his corrupt dealings without the rape charge?

The court martial of 1LT Davis was handled very carefully with it being executed during Chusok to probably avoid Korean press coverage.  There was also a pre-trial agreement put in place that assured that the court martial would be over quickly. Also the Korean girl that Davis had a romantic relationship with that exposed his activities to begin with didn’t testify assuring that possible juicy details not already made public was not exposed during the court martial. Davis faced up to 21 years in jail if he was convicted of all the charges he was faced with, but due to the pre-trial agreement this is what 1LT Davis ended up being convicted of:

Davis pleaded guilty to running illicit police undercover operations, accepting gifts and cash from club owners, maintaining illicit sexual liaisons with bar girls, breaking the U.S. military’s curfew that the town patrol had the duty of enforcing, being drunk and disorderly, having sex with women who were not his wife, illegally possessing weapons, illegally keeping an off-base apartment, using racial and ethnic slurs, filing a leave request with false information as to his intended destination and maintaining an improper relationship with a subordinate airman.

Davis only received a two year sentence for all of these crimes.  Servicemembers convicted for something as simple as BAH fraud have received sentences similar to what Davis received. Most interesting is that Davis did not have to forfeit all pay and allowances, which meant he would still be getting paid as a lieutenant while in prison.  The only reason I think of the judge did not impose this penalty is that he wanted to make sure that Davis’ wife back in the US still had income to take care of herself.  Something else that is strange about what he was convicted of was the fact that despite admitting to having sex with various bar girls he was not convicted of any prostitution and human trafficking charges.  Even more strange was the fact that the ROK authorities pursued no real charges against Davis for his crimes.  Not pursuing the rape allegation I understand considering how Kim would not cooperate with authorities.  However, why wasn’t Davis pursued in Korean courts for thee shakedowns he was conducting off duty?  If the anti-US groups want to complain about US servicemembers getting away with crimes here is a perfect example of this, but it has nothing to do with the SOFA and everything to do with ROK authorities not pursuing the case.  Probably to at least create the appearance of doing something the ROK authorities did fine Davis $4,800 for keeping an illegal firearm in his apartment:

But according to testimony in a June 10 pretrial hearing into the Air Force’s charges against Davis, Korean National Police officers found firearms when, armed with a warrant, they searched an off-base apartment Davis was accused of keeping illegally. Agents of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations joined in the March 1 search, according to hearing testimony.

Police allegedly found various weapons and ammunition. Air Force special agent Etai Shpak testified at the June hearing that police found two pistols and one shotgun, a rifle, and various types of ammunition.

Among other weapons allegedly found during the raid, Shpak said, were brass knuckles, thumbcuffs and pepper spray. Korean officers seized the weapons, he testified.  [Stars & Stripes]

Where did these weapons come from?  Are they Air Force weapons?  If so what type of weapons accountability did the 51st Security Squadron have?  If they are not Air Force weapons then how did Davis get them into the country?  If he smuggled them into the country shouldn’t he have received far greater punishment for weapons smuggling?  Additionally what was he using these weapons for?  The amount of unanswered questions regarding the weapons charges is really amazing.  This guy is able to shake Koreans down for sex, money, and gifts and have a number of illegal firearms in his apartment and only gets a $4,800 fine.

Anyway despite the light punishment Davis received from the US court martial he appealed the conviction and tried to get his sentence reduced.  If you can believe it the appeals court actually dropped the negligent dereliction of duty charge against Davis:

An issue not raised, but addressed by this Court, concerns Specification 5 of Additional Charge I. The appellant was convicted, in accordance with his plea by exceptions and substitutions, of negligent dereliction of duty. The specification at issue, after exceptions and substitutions, states “…was derelict in the performance of those duties in that he negligently conducted ‘sting operations’ against Songtan-area business establishments, as it was his duty to do.” (Emphasis added). This Specification fails to state an offense, and is therefore dismissed.  [USAF Court of Criminal Appeals]

Ultimately the light sentence Davis received has only fed into the conspiracy stories surrounding this case that he received the light sentence in order to keep him quiet about higher level corruption at Osan AFB.  It seems to me that if no one in 51st Security Squadron or the Armed Forced Disciplinary Control Board (AFDCB) was aware of what Davis was doing then at the very least they were derelict in their responsibilities.  I’m not saying his chain of command was in on the corruption, I’m saying they may have been told what was going on and decided not to believe it or were too lazy to investigate it thus leading back to my theory they were derelict.  Davis deserved to go to jail and should have received more time then he received, but I would hope the leadership in his chain of command at Osan AB were at least administratively held responsible for what happened.  Maybe that was done I don’t know, however the only thing that was done publicly was that most members of the town patrol were reassigned to different jobs.  Considering all the unanswered questions and lack of accountability for those involved, is it any wonder why the conspiracy theories surrounding the Osan Shakedown Scandal have never gone away?

Note: You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link: 

It is looking more and more like the Mapo GI rape case doesn’t have much evidence to support it considering how long it is taking to get an indictment.  Here is an update on the case provided by the Marmot’s Hole:

According to the Herald Gyeongje, Women Corea released a statement today demanding that Seoul Seobu prosecutors quickly indict the GI accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Mapo and steeling her notebook computer. They noted it’s been over half a month since police turned the case over to the prosecutors to decide whether to indict, but prosecutors have not indicted the GI. This means the prosecutors, who hold “absolute power,” is minding USFK.

They also warned—perhaps unaware of the impact such a warning could have on any future discussions over amending the SOFA—that if the prosecutors didn’t quickly indict the suspect, they would run up against public resistance.

In response, a high-ranking prosecutor said prosecutors will still conducting additional investigations, and that the indictment wasn’t coming any later than it would in other cases. He also stressed that the suspect and USFK was cooperating fully with the investigation and that he and his office were not carrying out a lazy investigation or minding USFK.  [Marmot’s Hole]

This case reminds me of the policewoman rape case where the evidence didn’t support what happened but the GI was indicted and convicted anyway likely due to public pressure at the time.  After the media sensationalism died down the GI appealed the sentence and his conviction was overturned by the appeals court.  I can see the same thing happening here.  The prosecutors may just be waiting to see if the media attention dies down or not before making a decision to indict him.  If the media attention doesn’t die down they will probably go ahead and indict and convict him despite the lack of evidence and then let the appeals court let him go after the media attention dies down.

Thanks to the ROK Heads who have shared this article with me which is one of the biggest examples of shoddy journalism I have seen in quite a while in the Korean media.  This article is in the Donga Ilbo in response to the recent GI crime incidents.  I will quote the article in full and then provide my comments after various passages:

The string of sexual crimes committed by American soldiers in Korea in recent weeks is known to have resulted from reckless recruitment of men with criminal records, mental disorders or other problems.

According to U.S. Defense Department data released in 2008 by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, the number of U.S. Army recruits convicted of felonies such as robbery or assault more than doubled from 249 (based on U.S. Army statistics) in 2006 to 511 in 2007.

Waxman blamed unconditional recruitment of soldiers amid a shortage of military manpower due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Felony Recruiting Myth

First of all the two soldiers accused of rape were both 21 year old Private First Classes so they were not recruited in 2006 so the linkage to felony waivers that year is irrelevant.  Since the Donga-Ilbo wants to bring this subject up I have already debunked the felony recruiting myth years ago but I will address it again here.

Over 180,000 soldiers were recruited into the military in 2007 and only 903 recruits needed a waiver.  That is .5016% of all recruits that needed a waiver which is hardly of concern.  Also the claim that felony waivers are needed to meet recruiting numbers doesn’t hold up either.  In 2007 the US Army recruited 80,635 soldiers.  511 of the soldiers had the felony waivers.  If the US Army did not allow in every recruit with a felony waiver they still would have met the recruiting mission of 80,000 soldiers in 2007.  The other important thing to realize is that these waivers are only issued on a case by case basis and signed off on by a senior field grade officer.  The vast majority of the waivers are thefts and drug crimes.  So if a teenager writes a bad check, shoplifts, or gets caught smoking marijuana, they shouldn’t be allowed in the military?  If anything these are probably people that need to join the military to learn discipline.  Out of all the felony waivers in 2007 only five were for sex crimes.  Yes five people out of 80,000 recruited that year by the Army and this is something that is supposed to be leading to increased sexual assaults in Korea?  By the way anyone wonder how many servicemembers in the ROK Army have felony convictions especially sex crimes?  Maybe the Korean media has looked into this before, but I sure haven’t seen it.

The GI Crime Myth

The Donga Ilbo article goes on:

Analysts say crimes committed by American soldiers in Korea have increased in number because a considerable portion of inexperienced soldiers are deployed to Korea. The number of crimes committed by American soldiers in Korea surged from 207 in 2007 to 316 in 2010.

First of all young men whether they are in the military or not cause more crime than older men.  So it is no surprise that younger enlisted Soldiers commit the majority of the crime.  However, sending nothing but older personnel to Korea is unfeasible.  You cannot have a military force filled with nothing but NCO’s and officers.  Any military that is effective needs to be filled with young men trained to fight.  The second thing I will point out from this passage is that these stats are not attributed to anyone.  Where did the Donga-Ilbo gets these stats from?  As ROK Heads know I have compiled USFK crime stats for years here on the ROK Drop from the USFK court martial results published every month just to be able to respond to blatant media fabrications which this obviously is.

Here is the real number of crimes committed by USFK servicemembers the last two years:

Number of Crimes Committed

• 2009: 98 crimes
• 2010: 153 crimes

As you can see this is much lower than what the Donga-Ilbo is claiming.  So once again where did they get their stats?  Also here is the number of USFK servicemembers convicted of crimes in Korean courts for the past 4 years:

USFK Servicemembers Convicted In Korean Courts

2007: 48 criminals
2008: 66 criminals
2009: 87 criminals
2010: 128 criminals

So overall there has been an increase in USFK crime, but not as bad as what the Donga-Ilbo is claiming.  Also something else the Donga-Ilbo doesn’t point out is that the increase in crime is caused mostly by the fact that USFK is allowing more of its personnel to drive cars which means increased driving infractions that are handled by the Korean courts.  Here is a list of traffic related crimes from 2010 compared to 2007.  My one caveat is that bodily injuries are usually from injuries sustained from a traffic accident, but this is not always the case.  Unfortunately the criminal prosecution results published by USFK don’t specify why the servicemember was convicted for bodily injury.  So all bodily injuries being traffic related is an assumption on my part.  Anyway here are the statistics:

Traffic Crimes from 2009 Compared to 2010

• Bodily Injury – 2007: 8 – 2010: 22
• Traffic Law Violation – 2007: 0 – 2010: 11
• Hit & Run – 2007: 1 – 2010: 9
• DUI’s – 2007: 13 – 2010: 28
• Violation of Auto Management Act – 2007: 0 – 2010: 3
• Total Traffic Crimes – 2007: 22 – 2010: 73

The driving change can be linked to an increase of up to 51 crimes in 2010 compared to 2007.  This is important context when talking about GI crime that is not reported by the Donga-Ilbo.  With that said that is why I have always believed that the best way to judge GI crime is to look at major crimes committed.  The Korean National Policy Agencyconsiders Murder, Burglary, Rape, Larceny, & Assault as major crimes when compiling Korean crime statistics.  So lets compare the number of major crimes from 2010 to prior years:

USFK Rate of Major Crimes from 2007-2010

• 2007 – 23
• 2008 – 15
• 2009 – 21
• 2010 – 48

So what crimes is causing the numbers to increase?  When the numbers are analyzed the major crimes increased in 2010 because of because of burglary and assaults.  Why are these crimes increasing?  I don’t have the data to prove anything but it could be the curfew change has allowed servicemembers to be out later and thus increasing the amount of time available to get into altercations with Koreans.  Like I said before this is just a theory with no data to support it since the court martial results do not provide any times when the incidents occurred.

The most important fact to point out is that despite the increase in GI crime, USFK still has a lower per capita crime rate than the general Korean population:

• Korea: 1 major crime out of every 128 people
• USFK: 1 major crime out of every 594 people

What is also interesting it was just back in July when it was reported that overall crime in the 2nd Infantry Division had dropped over the past 12 month period which the police chief of Dongducheon said was because of better educated Soldiers coming to Korea.

The SOFA Myth

Anyway the shoddy journalism from the Donga Ilbo continues:

Despite mounting crimes committed by American servicemen here, no effective measures or regulations are in place to punish them. Clause 5 under Article 22 of the Status of Forces Agreement on the deployment of U.S. forces in Korea suggests that even if an American soldier commits a violent crime such as murder or rape, Korean police can take the suspect into custody only when they directly catch him at the crime scene.

All the Korean authorities have to do is fill out paperwork requesting that a USFK servicemember be handed over to Korean custody.  This is done to ensure that the rights of the accused servicemember are protected. A SOFA is a document signed between the United States and the host country of US military personnel in order to clarify each side’s rights and responsibilities in regards to a variety of issues that arise with the stationing of US troops in a foreign country.

A SOFA between different nations is never the same because each nation has different legal and political systems that influence the way in which a SOFA is written. For example in the United States people expect that someone accused of a crime should have the right to remain silent and have access to lawyer. With that it is important to realize with Status of Forces Agreements is that unlike civilians, troops are ordered to go overseas. Since troops are under orders they are owed the legal protections they would find in the United States. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard summarizes this best, “we sent them under our system, and we owe them those protections.”

Not all countries the United States has troops in respect these rights. For example the SOFA between the US and Japan allows the military to hold servicemembers accused of crimes until they are indicted by a Japanese court, to which then they are handed over to Japanese authorities. This holding of the servicemember prior to indictment is to protect their rights to remain silent, not to have coercive interrogation tactics used against them, and have access to a proper lawyer, which is not something readily available to them if held by local Japanese authorities. It is legal differences such as this that make detailed status of forces agreements necessary.

You can read more analysis about the SOFA at this link:

• GI Myths:  The Unfair US-Korea SOFA

The Donga Ilbo’s criticism against the SOFA is especially ridiculous considering that USFK just handed over the Soldier accused of rape in Dongducheon just like all other GI criminals after the Korean authorities submitted the proper paperwork for his transfer.

The Donga Ilbo goes on:

In other cases, Korean police must hand over the suspect to U.S. authorities if requested.

Moreover, the U.S. military has the right to reject Korea’s request to put a suspect in detention if and when it finds even a slight chance that the soldier’s rights could be infringed on in a Korean criminal investigation or trial by a Korean court. For this reason, U.S. soldiers who commit crimes are detained mostly by military police of their own units rather than Korean authorities.

In addition, if the U.S. demands that Korea hand over jurisdiction, the latter has no choice but to do so except in cases in which the crimes are deemed “exceptionally serious.” For this reason, Korea has used its jurisdiction over a U.S. military suspect in less than 5 percent of all crimes committed by American soldiers stationed here.

Why doesn’t the Donga-Ilbo provide one example of when USFK refused to hand someone over?  Just one please.  Also once again, where did the stat of 5% come from?

Shady Statistics

Here in the final passage I think we can probably attribute all these shady statistics to this well known anti-US group:

A source at the National Campaign for Eradication of Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea said, “To minimize punishment, U.S. authorities arbitrarily judge that most crimes were committed while on official duty and thus take away jurisdiction over cases from Korean authorities,” adding, “Even in cases where Korea holds jurisdiction, only one to two U.S. soldiers as defendants are given prison sentences per year.”

The utter lies allowed to be published in the Donga-Ilbo is really astounding.  Once again can the Donga Ilbo provide examples of all these people getting away with being tried in Korean courts because USFK says they were on duty?  The only examples I can think of are traffic accidents while driving military vehicles with the most famous example being the 2002 Armored Vehicle Incident.  I would like just one example of a non-traffic related incident such as assault or rape where a GI was declared on duty to avoid being tried in a Korean court.  I would like just one example.  Then the claim that 1-2 servicemembers are given prison sentences per year in Korean courts is more lies.  Just looking back at the ROK criminal prosecution results for this year, 7 GI’s were given prison sentences.  So once again where did the anti-US groups stat come from?

USFK Needs To Do More

So I think I have made it pretty clear that this article is filled with lies that the Donga-Ilbo should be embarrassed by, but I’m sure they could care less because they are out to promote perceptions of American GI’s instead of facts.  I just wish the USFK public affairs office would do more to counter this blatant propaganda instead of allowing it to circulate unchallenged in the Korean media.  As long as USFK doesn’t dispute these lies by engaging the Korean media in Korean then the false stereotypes that many Koreans have of American GI’s will continue perpetuate.

Quiet possibly the most common complaint from Koreans about being host to thousands of American servicemembers is that they commit an inordinate amount of crime and then get away with it because of the “unfair” Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). This belief is widespread and believed by many in the country with no one stopping to ask themselves is it true?

I have even heard from KATUSAs (Korean Augmentees to the US Army) that GIs commit crimes and get away with it because of the SOFA. When I challenge them and others that have made these statements to provide an example of a soldier committing a crime and getting away with it because of the SOFA, they always bring up the 2002 Armoured Vehicle Accident as evidence. I always appreciate them bring up that tragic accident because it is so easy to debunk and makes a great teaching point. The accident in question happened while the soldiers were on duty which clearly states in the US-ROK SOFA that it falls under the jurisdiction of the US military just like the SOFAs the Korean government has signed with nations that host Korean troops.

The American SOFA with Korea is actually better than the SOFAs that Korea has signed with other countries because it allows US soldiers to stand trial in Korean civilian courts for crimes committed while off duty while the Korean SOFAs do not. Some examples of the Korean SOFAs being activated to clear Korean soldiers from being tried in foreign courts include the 2005 shooting of an Iraqi soldier by a Korean servicemeber[i] as well as a 2006 traffic accident that killed a Kurdish political official in Irbil, Iraq[ii]. Each of these incidents were handled by Korean military courts because of the SOFA Korea signed with Iraq. Even more telling is that ROK military servicemembers in Korea do not stand trial for crimes committed while on or even off duty. This just begs the question of if Korean civilian courts are not good enough for their own servicemembers who speak Korean and understand the system, than why should Korean civilian courts be good enough to try US servicemembers who do not understand the system much less even speak the language?

Let me make clear before I move on that I am not advocating for any revision of the current SOFA to exempt American servicemembers from Korean courts. I am only pointing out the sheer hypocrisy of those in Korean society who do want to change the SOFA to be able to try US servicemembers for incidents that happen while on duty when it is something their own military will never agree to, even for crimes committed while off duty.

Despite Korean conventional wisdom that the SOFA allows GIs to literally get away with murder and fly back to America, the truth of the matter is that there is not one reason to blame for why GI incidents occur; GI incidents are a product of simple statistics, the environment in Korea, and leadership. Statistics of criminal activity show that the usual troublemakers are immature, young, male, junior enlisted soldiers. Guess what USFK is primarily filled with, young, male, junior enlisted soldiers. Then these soldiers are thrown into a sleazy “ville” (entertainment areas outside US camps) filled with alcohol and prostitutes; is it any wonder why these soldiers commit the most crimes in United States Force Korea (USFK)? Trouble from this pool of soldiers has happened long before now and will continue to happen in the future. It is a statistical certainty. What is important to determine is the measures taken by USFK to limit incidents from happening and how the USFK crime rate compares to the local population.

When looking at GI crime rates, people need to take a historical perspective on incidents in Korea. Just a decade ago the ville was a much more misbehaved place than what it is now. Back then I was appalled by the conditions in the entertainment districts located outside US military bases. I could not walk through the Dongducheon ville north of Seoul without being approached by multiple prostitutes or seeing a fight break out somewhere. Some of the older soldiers in my unit were stationed in Korea in the 80’s and they told me the ville was tame compared to what I saw then. With the environment that soldiers were thrown into in the ville it should come as no surprise that in prior decades there was much more serious crime occurring involving USFK servicemembers than there are now.

A Historical Look at GI Crime
The USinKorea website maintains an archive of GI Crimes in Korea through published American newspaper reports such as the New York Times and the Washington Post[iii]. The newspaper articles show that there were a number of violent incidents involving US servicemembers over the decades that are truly a disgrace to anyone wearing the uniform, however they also show that since the US-ROK SOFA was first signed in 1966 that US servicemembers have been regularly tried in Korean courts to include even receiving the death penalty. For example the first documented rape that was handled by Korean courts was in 1967, the first murder was handled by the Korean courts in 1968, and the first reported taxi cab related incident was in 1969. The rapes and murders continue through the years and this list is just what the site’s webmaster was able to dig up through published US newspaper reports, imagine how many more incidents happened that were never published. As appalling as all these incidents may be it is also instructive because it shows that the argument that US soldiers can literally get away with murder in Korea and fly home because of the SOFA is totally untrue and has been untrue for decades because all these American criminals that were tried and convicted in Korean courts.

Part of the reason that feeds this perception of GIs getting away with crimes is that in the past the Korean media which was controlled by authoritarian governments would not publish stories about GI crimes fearing that it would harm the alliance between the two countries. As democracy came to the country and the media received increased freedoms, stories about GI crimes began to appear in the news such as the 1992 murder of a Dongducheon bar worker Yoon Geu-mi by Private Kenneth Markle[iv]. Markle had brutally murdered the woman after he found out that she had been with another man the night before. Markle bashed her and then sexually assaulted her with an umbrella and Coke bottle before pouring laundry detergent over the body. The scene was horrific and photographs of the murder spread across Korea and the conventional wisdom soon became that US troops have been doing these types of crimes for a long time and had been getting away with it. However, as I have already demonstrated yes, horrible crimes have happened over the years involving USFK servicemembers, but they were tried and convicted in Korean courts for those crimes; it was just that the Korean public never heard about them. Markle went on to be tried and convicted in Korean court and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, just like the GIs criminals that came before him starting way back in 1967. The only thing that made his case different was that it was widely published.

Reporting GI Crime Today
In the past the Korean media may not have reported incidents of GI crime, but today the exact opposite has happened. Now the media reports the smallest incidents involving GIs. For example just last year a Korean newspaper ran an article about how an American GI brushed a Korean woman with the mirror of his car[v]. Would such an article have ever been published if the woman was brushed by the mirror of a vehicle driven by a Korean? Of course not, but the Korean media will report any incident involving a GI which further feeds the conventional wisdom of out of control GI crime.

Additionally, the proliferation of the Internet has only further added to the perception of surging GI crime. Often times the Internet will be the catalyst to publicize a perceived injustice by a USFK servicemember. For example the 2000 Yongsan Water Dumping Incident and the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident were greatly amplified with an incredible amount of disinformation and outright lies on the Internet before the media picked up the story and reported the same disinformation to further inflame the Korean public.

To further add to the perception of out of control GI crime is the sensationalism that the Korean media often adds to the reporting to inflame public anger. The best example of this is the 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl involving four USFK soldiers[vi]. One of the soldiers on the subway patted the behind of a Korean woman with him. A group of Korean males than confronted the American soldier about patting the woman’s behind. The woman explained to the male Koreans that she was in fact the soldier’s wife. After hearing this, the Korean males began to spat on and slap the woman for being married to the soldier. Needless to say the husband and friends intervened to prevent the Koreans from beating the soldier’s wife. However, the story that was published in the Korean media was one of drunk, American GIs sexually assaulting a Korean woman on the subway until confronted by concerned local citizens.

Here is how the Korea Times reported the case[vii]:

“The four went on the rampage in the subway station in May and beat Cho who tried to stop them, causing him injuries requiring three weeks of treatment, the prosecution claimed. They were indicted without physical detention on May 19.”

With a dishonest media narrative such as this, the incident quickly became one that inflamed anti-US sentiment in the country. This belief was only reinforced when the four GIs and the Korean wife were arrested and convicted of assault. Three of the GIs received monetary fines while the GI husband was sentenced to six months in jail while his wife, the one spat on and slapped, received a fine. The Koreans that started the fight in the first place were never even indicted. This is justice in Korea, that I show later in the essay, continues to be practiced to this day.

A year later the GI husband was able to successfully appeal his case and quietly his jail term was reduced to a fine just like the others involved. If the US-ROK SOFA had not been in place at the time he would have been imprisoned in Korean jail the entire time his case was awaiting appeal for an obvious travesty of justice. This case is one of many examples of why the US needs a SOFA with a country like South Korea where a sensational media and rampant xenophobic nationalism often makes any fair trial of an alleged crime by a USFK servicemember difficult.

Another more recent example of an outrageous arrest of USFK servicemembers was in 2002 when three American GIs were assaulted and then kidnapped off a Seoul subway by known anti-US activists.[viii] One of the kidnapped soldiers was taken to a packed college sports stadium and forced to make a coerced statement to the crowd condemning USFK that was broadcast on national television. Then the soldiers were taken to a hospital and forced to apologize to the anti-US activist who attacked them on the subway in the first place. Despite being assaulted on the subway, kidnapped, and then forced to make coerced statements on national TV, the soldiers were then booked by the police for assault.

A travesty of justice doesn’t begin to describe how despicable this case is. Could you imagine what the Korean reaction would be if a mob of US soldiers assaulted three Koreans, kidnapped them on to a US military installation, and then forced them to make coerced anti-Korean statements on the Armed Forces Network? There would be nation wide outrage in Korea, yet when it happens to US soldiers they are the ones charged with a crime. It truly boggles the mind.

As evidence that the railroading of American soldiers in Korean courts continues to this day look no further than the case of PFC Mark Feldman. Feldman was convicted of attempted rape of an off duty Korean policewoman, along with another USFK servicemember SGT Anthony Basel. Basel confessed and was convicted for the crime, but Feldman told police that he was outside trying to catch a taxi while Basel was using the restroom where the attack occurred. The victim did not see Feldman in the bathroom and initially the restaurant owner that broke up the attack did not see Feldman either in his initial sworn statement to police. However, later the police were able to get the restaurant owner to change his statement and were able to arrest and convict Feldman. Additionally the police pressured Basel to write a statement implicating Feldman in order to reduce his own jail time. During Feldman’s trial he was not even given an adequate interpreter to understand what was going on.

When Feldman was convicted the senior judge presiding over the case encouraged Feldman to appeal the conviction because it was so dubious, which he did. After sitting in Korean jail for 113 days PFC Feldman’s conviction was reversed because of lack of evidence and changing witness statements[ix]. Under the pre-2001 US-ROK SOFA, Feldman would have never been in jail to begin with because the old SOFA only sent USFK servicemembers to Korean jail after their appeals process was complete. Since the 2001 revision soldiers are now handed over to Korean authorities before the completion of their appeals process. Yes the SOFA is unfair; it is unfair towards American soldiers not Koreans.

The Statistics of GI Crime
The Korean media and politicians like to play with statistics as well in order to feed the conventional wisdom of out of control GI crime. Often statistics will be released that shows a high USFK crime rate, however the media will inflate the statistics by including such minor offenses as parking tickets to support their claim of out of control GI crime. Left wing Korean politician Lee Young-soon in 2005 released statistics from the Seoul police department that USFK soldiers committed 780 criminal acts over a six-year period and were not held for trial[x]. To sensationalize this statistic even further, the newspaper headline read, “No US Soldiers Held in Hundreds of Crimes”. Of course this statistic was inflated with unpaid parking tickets but the article also made no distinction of whether the soldiers not tried in Korean court were found to have no involvement in the crime by the police or were handed over to the US military for trial for minor crimes. From personal experience I have seen Korean police hand over soldiers for minor crimes such as urinating on a building to be handled by the military justice system so they do not have to prepare all the necessary paperwork to handle a US servicemember case in the Korean justice system. It should come as no surprise that this politician was later linked to a North Korean spy scandal[xi].

So what do the real criminal statistics say about GI crimes in Korea? For example let’s start with the statistics for SOFA status persons convicted of crimes in Korean court in 2007. These statistics are compiled from the ROK criminal court records involving USFK members published every month on the USFK website:

• Crime Soldier Dependent Contractor
• Rape 2
  
• Sexual Assault 1
• Assault 11 2              1
  
• Bodily Injury 5
  
• Larceny 3
  
• Robbery 1
  
• Drugs 2
  
• DUI 10
  
• Prostitution 1
  
• T.M. Violation           2
  
• Totals: 36 4 1

USFK currently has approximately 27,500 soldiers stationed in Korea. This means that .00131% of the population of USFK servicemembers in Korea are the ones causing trouble while the other 27,464 soldiers are minding their own business and respecting Korean law. Further more if the number of USFK servicemembers is divided by the number of incidents the ratio comes out to 1 criminal incident for every 764 soldiers.

This ratio is even further improved when just serious crimes are considered. The Korean National Policy Agency considers Murder, Robbery, Rape, Violence, & Larceny as major crimes when compiling Korean crime statistics. Of these five major categories USFK soldiers committed 23 cases of serious crime. When the USFK population is divided by this number, the ratio comes out to 1 serious crime for 1196 soldiers.

So how does this compare to Korean crime rates? The Korean National Police Agency has 2007 statistics for serious crimes committed by Koreans on their website. The KNPA has arrested 385,704 Koreans for serious crimes out of a population of 49 million Koreans[xii]. Here is how the statistics break down:

• Crime Number
• Murder – 1,062
• Burglary – 3,731
• Rape – 7,795
• Theft – 102,688
• Assault – 270,428
• Total – 385,704

Korea has a conviction rate of 99% which means that of the 385,704 people arrested that comes out to roughly 381,847 people convicted.  If the total Korean population of 49 million is divided by the number of serious criminal convictions, the ratio comes out to 1 serious crime for every 128 Koreans. As I have just demonstrated the USFK crime rate isn’t just lower than the Korean crime rate, but is significantly lower.

These statistics are even more interesting when compared by individual crime. For example by using the same equation as above, for assaults 1 in every 183 Koreans are arrested for assault compared to 1 in every 1,718 USFK servicemembers. The Korean statistic for rape is much high then the USFK number with 1 in every 6,350 Koreans are arrested for rape compared to 1 in every 9,166 USFK servicemembers. For combined burglary and theft 1 person is arrested for every 181 Koreans compared to 1 person arrested for every 6875 USFK servicemembers. Finally, for murder 1 in every 45,623 Koreans are arrested for murder compared to zero arrests for murder for USFK servicemembers.

These numbers are truly stunning and show how hard USFK has worked in recent years to lower what was already a low crime rate to begin with. The most stunning statistic the last few years has been that no USFK servicemember has been involved with murdering a Korean.

If you look at murders from 1990-2000 there was the infamous 1993 Kenneth Markle murder[xiii] of a Korean prostitute in Dongducheon, followed by another murder in Dongducheon in 1996 of another prostitute by Steven Munique[xiv], then a 1998 murder by Jerome Henrix[xv] of a prostitute in Itaewon, and then the 2000 murder of yet another Itaewon prostitute by Christopher McCarthy[xvi]. Additionally a USFK dependent murdered a Korean man at the Itaewon Burger King in 1997[xvii].

Now compare these murders to the time period between 2001 through 2008 where not one murder of a Korean civilian was perpetrated by a USFK servicemember. In fact a USFK servicemember was more recently murdered by a Korean than vice versa when in 2000 Major David Berry was murdered in broad daylight in Itaewon by a deranged Korean man[xviii].

The Spread of Disinformation
What else is interesting is that the most notorious Korean anti-US group USA Crime has launched a campaign claiming that USFK is releasing mentally deranged soldiers into Korea due to their service in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and that they are committing increasing crime in Korea[xix]. The statistics above prove that this is nonsense especially the murder statistics. How does USA Crime explain that during the peace time military before 9/11 that USFK servicemembers were responsible for murdering four Korean civilians, but after 9/11 not one Korean civilian has been murdered by these so called mentally deranged soldiers? They can’t explain it and they won’t explain it either because their sole purpose is to spread anti-US disinformation to the Korean public, which they are very effective at doing. They could care less about the actual truth of USFK crime rates.

It is because of the blatant smears, disinformation campaigns, and subsequent publicity that the Korean public continues to believe that USFK is responsible for an inordinate amount of crime in Korea. This perception problem has caused a command environment within USFK where commanders are trying to prevent every incident when preventing all incidents is statistically impossible. There is approximately 40,000 USFK servicemembers, contractors, and family members in Korea. Is there a town of 40,000 people in either the US or Korea with no crime?

Conclusion
The USFK attempt to create a crime free utopia is statistically impossible. In order to create this utopia, a curfew is implemented, the battle buddy policy exists, the loss of driving privileges for most of USFK service members was enacted, blood alcohol content (BAC) regulations in the 2^nd Infantry Division were implemented, certain areas of Korean cities are put off limits, along with a host of other regulations to limit the amount of incidents involving USFK servicemembers.

All these regulations greatly effect soldier life in Korea which effects morale and has the side effect of creating a negative perception of Koreans because everyone knows these restrictions are enacted on them because of a general Korean public that believes GIs are out of control criminals. This perception will not change until the Korean media stops reporting every Korean brushed by a USFK servicemember’s car mirror as well as the media stopping the sensationalizing of major USFK crimes without providing context of how the USFK crime rate is significantly lower then the Korean crime rate.

The Korean media is only going to change the way they report when USFK and the American government begins to vigorously defend the rights and reputations of American servicemembers stationed in Korea. Korea has a long pattern of arrests of GIs, such as the 1995 subway incident that are driven solely by xenophobic nationalism. When these incidents happen why are American politicians and media silent while US soldiers are being railroaded through Korean courts? As long as America’s political leaders and media continues to be ignorant of the treatment of USFK servicemembers on the peninsula, cases of nationalistic xenophobic prosecutions will continue for little regard of whether the soldier is guilty or not simply to appease the masses in Korea that desperately want to believe GIs are out of control criminals despite all evidence that says otherwise. Just because Korean authorities are more concerned with appeasing the masses instead of rendering justice doesn’t mean our political leaders should be as well. USFK servicemembers deserve better than this.

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Note #1: I would appreciate if everyone DIGG this story by clicking here and if you have a blog to link to this posting. The internet is filled with disinformation about USFK GI crimes and I want to get this posting pushed up the Google page rankings as much as possible to combat the high level lies and propaganda on the Internet that only continues to feed the perception of out of control GI crime in Korea. Thanks.

Note #2: This posting has been updated with the latest 2007 KNPA criminal statistics and adjusted to reflect a 99% ROK criminal conviction rate.

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[i] “Korean Soldier Accidentally Killed Iraqi”, Chosun Ilbo, 13 April 2005, http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200504/200504130032.html

[ii] Jung Sung-ki, “Kurd Official Killed in Traffic in Erbil”, The Korea Times, 02 February 2006, http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2006/2/kurdlocal98.htm

[iii] USinKorea Site, http://www.usinkorea.org/crimes/, accessed 14 February 2008-02-14

[iv] “Former GI Convicted of Murder Released from South Korean Prison Early”, Stars & Stripes, 29 October 2006, http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=40120&archive=true

[v] “Woman Demands Justice for Hit & Run Accident”, The Hankyoreh, 27 June 2007, http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/218697.html

[vi] Nicholas Kristof, “Subway Brawl Inflames Issue of GI’s in Korea”, New York Times, 24 August 1995, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEED81430F937A1575BC0A963958260

[vii] “US Sergeant Involved in Subway Brawl in May Given 6 Month Jail Sentence”, Korea Times, 22 December 1995

[viii] UsinKorea Site, http://usinkorea.org/issues/subway/, accessed 07 February 2008

[ix] Jimmy Norris & Hwang Hae-rym, “Soldiers Jailed in Attempted Rape of South Korean Policewoman Freed”, Stars & Stripes, 16 January 2008, http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59127&archive=true

[x] “No US Soldiers Held in Hundreds of Crimes”, Chosun Ilbo, 26 September 2005, http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200509/200509260010.html

[xi] “Prosecutors Accuse 5, Including American of Spying for North Korea”, USA Today, 08 December 2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-12-08-korea-espionage_x.htm

[xii] Korean National Police Agency, http://www.police.go.kr/eng/index.jsp, accessed 14 February 2008

[xiii] “Former GI Convicted of Murder Released from South Korean Prison Early”, Stars & Stripes, 29 October 2006, http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=40120&archive=true

[xiv] USinKorea Site, http://www.usinkorea.org/crimes/1996_murder/, accessed 14 February 2008

[xv] USinKorea Site, http://www.usinkorea.org/crimes/1998_murder/, accessed 14 February 2008

[xvi] “US Soldier Guilty of Sex Killing”, BBC, 16 June 2000, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/793426.stm

[xvii] Terri Weaver & Hwang Hae-rym, “South Korean Murder Victim’s Family Wins Settlement”, Stars & Stripes, 21 January 2006, http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=33581&archive=true

[xviii] “US Strengthens Safety for Its Troops in South Korea”, CNN, 19 July 2000, http://edition.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/east/07/18/skorea.us.military.ap/

 UPDATE: ZenKimchi has more K-blog reaction to the verdict and you can read Marmot’s reaction in the comments section, but both are critical that he got off because he was drunk.  Not only was he drunk but there was plenty of other mitigating circumstances as well, but this is a separate issue from these two GIs receiving equal treatment in Korean courts.

We all know Korean courts give jacked up sentences for sex crimes, but I’m thinking about this case setting a precedence so GIs don’t get screwed over in Korean courts like we have seen repeatedly in the past.  So that is why I find the outrage that GIs received treatment in Korean courts similar to what a Korean would receive, from the anti-US groups and netizens quite ironic.

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I am quite amazed by this, but the two GIs involved in the policewoman rape case have been released:

The Seoul High Court on Monday freed two U.S. soldiers who were serving prison terms after being convicted of attempting to rape an off-duty South Korean policewoman last April.

Sgt. Anthony Basel and Pfc. Mark Feldman, both 61st Maintenance Company, were convicted July 27 of attempting to rape the woman in a public restroom in the Gangnam district of Seoul after a night of heavy drinking.

Basel, who admitted attempting to rape the woman, was sentenced to 3½ years and Feldman, who maintained his innocence, was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

On Monday, the court overturned Feldman’s conviction, citing a lack of evidence and changing witness testimony during the investigation.

“At the time of the incident, right before the incident there was misconduct and [Feldman was seen] running away with defendant Basel,†head judge Cho Hee-dae said through an interpreter. This might create the suspicion that he is guilty. However, there is no concrete evidence.

Cho reduced Basel’s sentence to 18 months, minus the 113 days he had served, but suspended the sentence for two years.

Cho said he reduced and suspended Basel’s sentence because it was a failed attempt at rape; Basel was highly intoxicated at the time of the attack; he’d suffered trauma during a deployment to Iraq; and the 10 million won (about $10,905) settlement paid the woman after the first trial. [Stars & Stripes]

This is an amazing announcement and the first time I can personally remember a GI being found not guilty in a major case like this. After all the dubious convictions of GIs in the past maybe the Korean legal system is actually starting to mature.

Over at the Marmot’s Hole Robert has translated Korean reactions to the announcement and they are of course not pleased:

The Herald Gyeongje, meanwhile, reports that controversy has already started. Women’s groups and left-wing civic groups are “shocked†by the decision, despite it “being clear that the crime was premeditated.†Netizens, meanwhile, are ashamed.

Jeong Yong-jun, the director of the Peace Alliance of JinboCorea, called the decision a “typical political judgment.†He said, “One can only see it as a political decision made in consideration of the United States and negotiations between Korea and the United States. She might have been in plain clothes, but one cannot reduce sentences and acquit [criminals] for the serious crime of premeditatedly attempting to rape a police officer.â€

Netizens, meanwhile, are ashamed… or so says the Herald Gyeongje. Said one, “Many people call our country, ‘Small but Strong Korea,’ but to America, we must seem like nothing.†Another, meanwhile, said it appears nothing has changed since the time two middles school girls were killed after being struck by a US military vehicle in 2002.

Not surprising the netizens bringing up another dubious case like the 2002 armored vehicle accident to justify their rage at another dubious case such as this. How do these netizens explain all the GIs convicted over the years and sentence in Korean court before and after 2002? It still amazes me how Koreans still think GIs get off in Korean courts when this is the first major incident I can remember a soldier being acquitted.

Robert calls the decision to release Basel “outrageous” and commenters seem to agree, but lets look at the facts instead of emotional reactions. I have followed this case very closely from the beginning because it was dubious. I knew the evidence of this case had to be weak because of how long it took to file the charges. Usually charges against GIs in high profile crime cases are filed rather quickly.

PFC Feldman was clearly innocent when he was originally convicted. Feldman claimed he was trying to hail a taxi while SGT Basel went to use the restroom. This alibi is highly likely since the victim did not remember seeing Feldman in the restroom. Also the Korean restaurant owner who heard the woman yell in the bathroom originally wrote on a sworn statement after the incident that he saw only one man in the restroom. Then days later after the police got a hold of him he changed his statement to say he saw Feldman in the restroom. Additionally the Korean prosecutors were linked to trying to coerce Basel into writing a statement saying that Feldman was in the restroom for a lighter sentence.

The evidence against Feldmann was so dubious that when he was convicted the chief judge encouraged Feldmann to appeal the sentence which is what he did. Finally, on appeal Feldmann was found not guilty and when look at the evidence he should have never had any charges brought against him in the first place.

Now let’s look at Basel’s case. The restroom was a unisex restroom and Basel had 20 beers that day and was highly intoxicated. He goes into the restroom and walks in on the woman there. Basel says he only remembers going into the restroom and after some confrontation with the woman pushing her on the ground while his pants were down. Remember she was not raped by Basel and he was in a restroom he had every right to go into since it was unisex. He could argue his pants were down because he taking a piss before the confrontation for all we know. From the media reports we don’t know if he attempted to take clothes off of her. It would be hard to rape somebody if you don’t take their clothes off.

The only thing we know is that he was highly intoxicated, went to take a piss, got into a confrontation, pushed the woman to the ground while having his pants down. He definitely committed a crime but if he made no attempt to take the victim’s clothes off I would consider this more a drunken sexual assault than a rape. However, the evidence itself shows there is no way this incident was premeditated as the Korean feminist and left wing groups claim.

To complicate things further is the changing witness statements and the fact that the prosecutors were linked to trying to coerce Basel into implicating Feldman. It is times like this it is important to remember these important words of every expat’s favorite lawyer in Korea.

So the appeal judges when looking at Basel’s case had to take into consideration the police and prosecutors incompetence in the case, the courtroom was originally not providing accurate translation services for the trial, the fact that the incident was what the Korean judges call a “failed attempt at rape”, as well as the fact Basel according to Korean custom paid over $10,000 in compensation money to the victim. Additionally you have to take into consideration Korea’s own lack of stiff penalties with rape cases. When you combine all these things that is how you get Basel receiving a suspended sentence after serving 113 days in jail.

If you don’t agree with this sentence ask yourself what would a Korean in similar circumstances have received? I can tell you very well what they would have received:

The Seoul High Court yesterday overturned the conviction by a lower court of a 49-year old taxi driver who had been charged with the rape of a 19-year old U.S. female soldier.
The man had received a 10-month prison term in the original trial after being convicted of luring the newly-arrived servicewoman from Incheon International Airport to a hotel near there where the woman said he raped her.

The woman reported the incident to U.S. military authorities, who asked for assistance from Korean prosecutors. The appeals court ruled that the woman had shown no evidence of having refused the man’s advances, and that he used “not enough violence to constitute rape.

This taxi cab driver committed what was obviously a premeditated rape of a 19 year old soldier who had just arrived in country and originally received a 10 month sentence for it before the case was overturned. This guy wasn’t even drunk, premeditated the attack, and actually raped her and received no jail time. You want outrageous this case is outrageous. I can also point to the case of the ROK Army soldier who sexually assaulted a female US soldier on Camp Casey while she was sleeping and he to received no jail time. If you look at past precedents SGT Basel has already been punished more harshly than other Korean rapists and sexual assaulters.

SGT Basel is only going to be further punished because his career is over and will probably face an other than honorable discharge of some sort that will follow him around the rest of his life. I’m not sure if being convicted of a sex crime in a Korean court would cause him to have to register as a sex offender in the US, but if he did, that would be something else that would follow him around the rest of his life. He probably deserved more jail time which if he was tried in a US military court he would have assuredly received, but the mitigating circumstances in the Korean court were overwhelming and I overall look at this case as a step forward for the Korean legal system and maybe one day justice for GIs in Korea will not be so hard to find.

Prominent K-blog commenter and lawyer Brendon Carr offers some outstanding advice in today’s Stars and Stripes newspaper. Brendon hits on a number of potential issues with soldiers who get in trouble in Korea. Here is probably the most telling statement from the article:

Beyond language difficulties is the prospect that South Koreans who give testimony might feel it culturally acceptable to lie, especially if it will increase their chances of winning bigger damages, Carr said.

This culture, Carr said, does not place the same value on truth or view the truth through the same prism that Americans do. There is very little social disapproval of making false official statements in order to achieve an objective for your friend or relative or for a tribemate.

Once it breaks down to ˜those Americans versus us Koreans, many, many Koreans will perceive it as their duty to make sure that the Korean is the winner of the dispute. So there’s a lot of lying when witnesses come forward, Carr said.

(more…)

UPDATE #1: Yonhap has a few more details about the taxi cab incident this weekend. However, nothing has been provided yet to explain what happened to cause soldiers to “run amok.”

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The Lost Nomad inquires why incidents between soldiers and Koreans keep happening in 2ID. The Marmot also is wondering what the heck is going on in 2ID. I’m sorry but this is a long post but some things just need to be said.

Now let me shed some light on what is going on. Basically the ville here is a big play pen for the soldiers. With the curfew and other restrictions on the soldiers they have few options other than go to the ville. There are very limited entertainment options on post so they turn to the ville. Then to top things off the battle buddy policy makes it nearly impossible for the soldiers to carry on any meaningful relationship with anyone other than drinky girls. How many girls would like a boyfriend that has to bring their buddy with them on every date everywhere they go. Not my idea of a romantic time out.

Something else that ukes me is that the USFK leadership constantly harps on alcohol abuse and human trafficking and prostitution but what do we do, we send the soldiers to spend the majority of their free time in a place that promotes alcoholism and prostitution: the ville! The Army creates conditions for these soldiers to get in trouble through their policies that indirectly promote what I call the “ville culture”.

What I really find interesting is that the drinking age is raised to 21 to reduce alcohol related incidents but these underage soldiers are still allowed to go into all the clubs. Why are the underage drinkers allowed in these clubs to begin with? Underage drinkers are not allowed into drinking establishments in the US so why should it be allowed here? We tell the underage people not to drink but then we set conditions for these guys to fail and get in trouble because the alcohol and sex is waved right in their face. You got 18-20 year old soldiers in a club with ajuma pushing alcohol and half naked Russian & Phillipino drinky girls on them making the soldiers feel like a king. A lot of them cannot resist the temptation at their age. So the soldiers drink get involved with these drinky girls and take this I’m king of the ville attitude with them everywhere else they go in Korea.

Things like fights in the ville, beer bottles over the head, and other similar incidents happen in the ville but the club owners do not publicize it. They let the MPs handle it and let it go through UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) channels instead of the local police because they don’t want to harm business with the GIs in the ville. Soldiers do get seriously hemmed up under UCMJ. If you get an alcohol related incident you can count on some serious punishment. However, this “what happens in the ville, stays in the ville mentality” carries over into the real Korea outside the play pen called the ville by some of these soldiers.

So when a drunk Korean in a situation outside the ville bumps into a soldier and they exchange words and maybe a few shoves the “what happens in the ville, stays in the ville” mentality takes over for some of these soldiers because these soldiers may have seen over their time in Korea people get in fights in the ville over the same reason and appear not to get in any trouble because they do not see the UCMJ process that takes place. So they get in an with the ajushi and walk away thinking it is no big deal. When it happens in the play pen called the ville it may not be a big deal but outside the ville it is a big deal because there is no business interests that wants to keep it hush hush.

Even if the soldier did not provoke the fight in the end the soldier will be the bad guy and ajushi an innocent victim. I have seen it to many times with my own eyes the Korean police side with crooked or drunk ajushis over altercations with soldiers though the ajushi was clearly in the wrong. Another factor that plays into this; is that in the US when you are provoked or assaulted you feel you have the right to self defense and will not get in trouble if you are assaulted by someone else. Here in Korea it is usually the guy who is beat up the most who is declared the victim no matter who started the fight. So if a soldier got the worst end of a fight with an ajushi and a beer bottle across his face you would hear nothing about it and it has happened before because I have seen it with my own eyes.

I will give you an example of an altercation that could of gone bad if the NCO involved didn’t keep his cool. Four NCOs get in a cab at the ville to get back to camp before curfew. One of the NCOs closes the door to the cab and a sun visor on the window falls off and ajushi starts claiming the NCO broke the sun visor and demands $30. The NCO will not pay ajushi because he knows all he did was shut the door and ajushi set him up to claim that he broke the sun visor. So the NCO continues to refuse to pay and the ajushi begins to grab the NCO and push him and making a scene demanding that he pay him. Ajushi is clearly trying to provoke a situation where some people may have hit him or pushed him back for the pushing and grabbing he was doing of the NCO.

If the NCO would of hit ajushi the Korean media would of dubbed it an American NCO runs amok in 2ID assaulting a taxi cab driver after being drunk and damaging the taxi. That is how it would sound in the Korean media with no reference to the soldier’s side of the story. That is why I say we should wait for more of the story from these past couple of ville incidents. But the soldiers in the other incidents even though they may have been provoked by the ajushis; they should not have beat the crap out of him even though they felt justified to, because they will not win in the Korean courts and have absolutely no chance of winning in the Korean court of public opinion. So as I have said before, swallow your pride and walk away because I hate seeing soldiers get hemmed up or thrown in jail for this stupid stuff.

Anyway back to my story, the NCO refused to be provoked by the taxi cab driver though he felt he was being by the cab driver. Eventually the KNPs come over to see what is going on. The NCO had the other NCOs with him as witnesses to what happened and the KNPs say that they are biased witnesses since they are his friends. Then he finds other American soldier witnesses who were standing nearby and saw what happened and they verify the NCO’s story. The KNPs say that those witness are not reliable because they had been drinking. The taxi cab driver then has other taxi cab drivers verify his version of events and the KNPs take that to be the truth. How are the American witnesses all biased but the other taxi cab drivers are not? The KNPs demand that he pay $30 or he will be taken to jail. He says fine take me to jail because I will not pay this crooked taxi cab driver.

By this time the American MPs arrive and see what is going on. They do nothing and tell the NCO to pay or he will be arrested by the KNPs and will make the blotter and his chain of command will be notified and be angry with him. He had already called his battalion Command Sergeant Major so the chain of command was already notified and trying to coordinate transportation to pick them up. However, the other NCOs with him all decided to chip in and pay the $30 because it was now past curfew and they just wanted to get back to camp. They ask the MPs for a ride and the MPs say they are busy and can’t give them a ride. They needed to take a taxi back to the camp.

All the other taxi cab drivers would refuse to take them and told them they had to take the taxi cab of the driver that just extorted $30 from them. All these taxi cab drivers in the ville are vultures that work together to extort money from GIs so they all were going to let this taxi cab driver further extort money from these soldiers because they all do the same thing. So they had to take the taxi back to camp and the driver extorts them by demanding $10 for a ride that by the meter would cost about 4000 won.

What kind of image of Korea do you think these GIs will carry of Korea the rest of their lives when they return to the states? Basically they will remember a trashy ville filled with prostitutes and alcohol, ajushis trying to rip them off, crooked policemen complacent in it, and MPs that did nothing to help them. That is the image Korea is portraying to many GIs. USFK only adds to the problem by setting conditions that cause things like this to happen by promoting the ville culture due to all the restrictions and regulations. A simple thing that could of prevented the incident from above from happening is that buses that run between camps should run later. Currently they stop running at 2100. There should be what I call the curfew bus that picks everyone up out of the ville at curfew or have a fleet of AAFES taxi there waiting to pickup soldiers so they don’t have to deal with the Korean cabs.

That is my two sense on what is happening. This is what the Nomad thinks should happen:

Why don’t we read about military personnel from Taegu, Camp Humphreys or Osan doing stuff like this? Is it something in the water up there? I have to wonder how long before USFK leadership cracks down, and hard?

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to stop holding only the individuals accountable. Maybe, just maybe, it’s also time to hold their supervisors accountable. And their supervisor’s supervisors. Or, if someone from a unit screws up like this, make the entire unit pay for it – lock them on base/post for 30 days with no liberty, period. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to stop concentrating on stopping prostitution (which should be left to the Koreans in the first place) and start concentrating on what’s causing this recent rash of incidents. Something is broken and it needs to get fixed.

First of all it would be easy for somebody to say why does all the other Area’s in Korea have all these drunk driver’s and hit and runs that give all us here in Area 1 all a bad name? There are drunk drivers in Area 2,3, & 4 because of the conditions there. Many soldiers until recently when the regulation was changed to E7 and up could drive vehicles in those areas, where in Area 1 you cannot. So you add the promotion of alcohol along with the ability to drive and you have drunk driving incidents.

You don’t have as many drunken fights between soldiers and Koreans because in the other Areas there is much more to do on post compared to 2ID camps. Going to the posts in Yongsan and Osan is like going to Disneyland for someone from 2ID. However to say these areas do not have their own share of problems is untrue. The infamous Shinchon Stabbing Incident involved soldiers from Camp Humphreys. Yongsan has had a soldiers that killed prostitutes in Itaewon just like 2ID has. So their is plenty of finger pointing that can be done depending on ones perspective.

Some of suggestions the Nomad has provided has already been done. I have seen multiple units get locked down on post for weeks at a time due to a string of alcohol related incidents in the unit and that still does not fix the problem. The incidents keep happening.

The only way I see to reduce the problem is to change the culture in ville. However, the problem will never be fully eliminated because there will always be stupid people who do stupid things. Is the military able to eliminate all alcohol related incidents in the US? No way, so it can’t be expected that USFK can end all alcohol related incidents in Korea.

However, more can be done to reduce the amount of incidents such as providing more things to do on post for one. The crappy clubs on post filled with guys and slot machines get old after a while. Why isn’t there regular shuttle buses that run to Everland or Lotte World? Or regular shuttle buses to different Korean National Parks that run at regular times? How about giving out more passes to soldiers to stay out over night so they can travel to some of these places. I can think of many things that can be done that provides something other than getting drunk for soldiers.

With the curfew and travel restrictions in 2ID it is tough for the soldiers to do anything other than get drunk and go to the ville. So it is important the change the current ville culture. So how do you do this? First of all, why are underage drinkers allowed in the ville? Why are clubs that have Russian and Phillipino drinky girls not off limits? Everyone knows they are not there to sweep floors but for prostitution. With all the preaching about human trafficking and prostitution, why are they not off limits? It is because USFK doesn’t want to piss off the locals who maintain the play pen. If underage drinkers were not allowed in the ville and places with foreign nationals were put off limits the club owners would lose a lot of money and may cause problems for USFK by publicizing “incidents” or holding protests. However, in the long run these club owners would have to change their business models and clean up the ville and create a club atmosphere that is more what you would see in states. These are just some simple suggestions.

If the Army really wants to create a culture change around here allow more command sponsored families here. All these married guys wouldn’t be getting drunk and hanging out in the ville if their families were here. This would greatly reduce the amount of people in the ville thus reducing incidents. Plus the ville would have to have to adjust their business models to attract families to want to go to the ville such as more family restaurants that would replace some drinky girl clubs. This is something that the other areas in Korea have going for them compared to Area 1 where there in no command sponsored families. This may be why Area 1 may appear to have more incidents.

Obviously this is a very complex problem that is not easy to solve. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I am just offering what I believe to be worthwhile suggestions that could improve conditions around here. In the mean time I will continue to do my best to keep my soldiers informed and out of trouble. From the conditions I have to deal with, it is not an easy thing to do.