Considering all the attention given to sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military it was only a matter of time before USFK did this because if they didn’t one of the activist groups would have exploited this issue to bash USFK with:
U.S. Forces Korea has banned servicemembers from buying drinks for workers in “juicy bars,” which have long been suspected of involvement in prostitution and human trafficking.
While the military has maintained a zero tolerance policy toward both practices and some commands have taken their own steps to shutter juicy bars, the prohibition on buying “juice” in exchange for female company is USFK’s latest country-wide effort to close the establishments, which used to cluster by the dozen outside some bases.
“Paying for companionship directly supports human trafficking and is a precursor to prostitution,” USFK commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti wrote in an Oct. 15 policy letter announcing the change. “This practice encourages the objectification of women, reinforces sexist attitudes, and is demeaning to all human beings.” [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link, but like I have always said the easiest thing to have done was to put all juicy bars with third country nationals in them off limits. It is much harder to human traffic Korean women when they understand the culture, language, and do not have to worry about having passports held from them. This latest ban pretty much has the same effect. It will be interesting to see what new business model the juicy bar owners come up with to get money from troops. Anyone have any ideas?
A man in Wonju came home to find a burglar robbing his home and proceeded to put a beat down on him that has now cost him his freedom:
A 20-year-old man is serving his jail term that he received for assaulting a 50-year-old burglar, YTN reported Friday.
Choi received an 18-month prison sentence in a trial on charges of making the thief brain dead by hitting him with a drying rack.
The thief, identified as Kim, broke into Choi’s house in Wonju, Gangwaon Province in March. Choi came home at around 3 a.m. after a drink with friends and found the thief rifling through drawers. Choi called the police and fought off the intruder.
He claimed self-defense in assaulting the 50-year-old man with the “light, aluminum” drying rack, but the court ruled against him.
The court found the drying rack was a “dangerous material” to use to defend himself against the thief who was unarmed and trying to run away. [Korea Observer]
You can read more at the link, but the beat down he put on the burglar resulted in him going brain dead. So the judge felt this was excessive force. If a criminal is in your house and you surprise him how is the home owner supposed to know what this guys intent was? This guy could have had a knife for all he knew. When it comes to crimes like this I definitely lean towards favoring the home owner rather than the criminal.
Lawmakers of the National Assembly Defense Committee inspect the K2 main battle tank built by Hyundai Rotem during their visit to the company’s plant in Changwon, southeast South Korea, on Oct. 22, 2014. (Yonhap)
Here is a perfect example of why the safety and cheating culture that is pervasive in South Korea is so hard to change:
In this Sept. 5, 2014 photo, Ryu Young-joon speaks during an interview at Kangwon National University Hospital in Cuncheon, South Korea. Ryu, the whistle-blower who exposed breakthrough cloning research as a devastating fake says South Korea is still dominated by the values that allowed science fraudster Hwang Woo-suk to become an almost untouchable national hero. (AP Photo/Joyce Lee)
The whistleblower who exposed breakthrough cloning research as a devastating fake says South Korea is still dominated by the values that allowed science fraudster Hwang Woo-suk to become an almost untouchable national hero.
In an interview with The Associated Press after almost a decade of silence, Ryu Young-joon, one of Hwang’s former researchers, said the cost of telling the truth still weighs on him but he doesn’t regret his decision to out Hwang as a false prophet.
The revelations in 2005 rocked South Korea which had celebrated Hwang’s research as a historic achievement, focused unfavorable attention on the country and diminished the reputation of its scientific establishment. The memory of the scandal is still painful today and Hwang, though convicted of embezzlement and violating bioethical laws, discredited and relegated to the scientific backwater of pet cloning, retains a loyal following among sections of the public and media.
In the nearly 10 years since Hwang’s accomplishments were found to be built on lies, Ryu feels little has changed in a society where cozy ties between government, business, the media and academics stifle criticism and foster blind nationalism. And junior researchers still face great pressure to produce the results their scientific mentors want and lack a formal channel for whistleblowing.
South Korea, said Ryu, is still obsessed with joining the ranks of advanced countries and to achieve that end, many people believe it is acceptable to sacrifice ethics, safety and other concerns.
“Mr. Hwang is not a peculiar person. He is a portrait of us. He shows the South Korean society as it is,” Ryu said. “Most people believe that if we play by the rules, we can’t catch up with the advanced economies.” [Associated Press via the Korea Economic Reader]
You can read the rest at the link, but what I find ironic about South Korean society being so caught up in catching up with advanced economies is that South Korea already is an advanced economy. The country economically has caught up and now it is time for Korean culture to change to realize this.
What is really sad about this is that Ryu instead of being thanked for exposing this fraud nearly a decade ago was demonized and lost his job. Even after learning of the fraud the then Roh Moo-hyun administration tried to cover it up. After the fraud could not be covered up, many Koreans still viewed Hwang as a national hero instead of the fraud that he was.
You can read more about Hwang’s fraud by digging back into the ROK Drop archives at the below links:
Is anyone that has been paying attention to this issue surprised by this announcement?:
The United States on Thursday agreed to maintain wartime control of South Korean troops in the event of an attack by North Korea for the foreseeable future, delaying the transfer of authority to Seoul that had been scheduled for 2015.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that delaying the handoff “will ensure that when the transfer does occur, Korean forces have the necessary defensive capabilities to address an intensifying North Korean threat.”
The agreement to delay the transfer has been discussed for more than a year and comes at the request of the Seoul government. There is no longer a deadline for the transfer; instead, it will be based on the progress of the South Korean military and the ongoing situation there, including tensions with North Korea and its ongoing nuclear ambitions. [Associated Press via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but the only thing I am surprised about is that it took this long to reach this conclusion. One down side I see with this is that the ROKs now have less incentive now to purchase equipment to replace capabilities the US is providing for them. Anyway this whole OPCON issue had little to do with military strategy and more to do with being a reactionary response to Korean nationalism. I had reach way back in the archives, but ROK Heads can read how this whole issue began from this 2005 posting.
It seems like this guy needs to see a psychologist instead of going to prison:
A man is to face jail time for sexually harassing a call service operator working for a telemarketing company.
The man, identified as Park, age 49, had initially requested to be connected to a specific line, when the operator explained such services could not be provided.
Park then started lashing out at the operator in foul language, using words “objectifying women,” according to Yonhap News Agency.
He was reported to have called 9,982 times since May last year, using offensive speech.
Various other workers at the telemarketing company also said they felt “humiliated.”
The Seoul Central Criminal Court sentenced Park to 18 months in prison after finding him guilty of sexual violence and work disturbance on Oct. 15.
He is sentence also included 80 hours of mandatory participation in a program on sexual violence. [Korea Times]
To me it is amazing that a guy that did not commit a violent act was convicted of sexual violence and sentenced to 18 months in prison just because he used offensive speech over the telephone.
The competitive gaming industry in South Korea is incredibly popular:
Top video game players in South Korea are household names. Millions of people tune in to watch game competitions on television. The largest Internet portal, Naver, has its own section covering the results.
Competitive video gaming is now taking off in places like the United States, attracting thousands of people to major events. But in South Korea, more than anywhere else, it has already oozed into mainstream culture. Couples going to game clubs is about as common as couples going to the movies.
Time and again, South Korea has provided glimpses of technology-related transformations before they expand globally, including widespread broadband availability and smartphone adoption. The country has also led in professional video game competitions, often called e-sports, creating organized leagues, training well-financed professional teams and filling giant stadiums with frenzied fans to cheer on their favorite players.
Such excitement was on display in Seoul on Sunday, when more than 40,000 fans filled the outdoor soccer stadium used for the 2002 World Cup semifinal to watch the world championship for League of Legends, one of the world’s most popular games. On stage, two teams of five players sat in front of computers wielding mouse and keyboard to control fantastical characters in a campaign to destroy the opposing team’s base. Three huge screens displayed the action. [NY Times]
You can read more at the link, but even more impressively according to the article there was a Starcraft tournament in Busan that drew an amazing 100,000 fans. As popular as competitive gaming is in Korea I do not see it ever reaching the same level in the US.
Unsurprisingly the North Koreans are blaming the ROK for the latest border clash despite their soldier intentionally violating the MDL:
North Korea has threatened to retaliate against South Korea if the South continues to make a military response against its patrol activities around the heavily armed inter-Korean border, the defense minister said Monday.
In a telephone message, the North denounced the South firing shots against its soldiers after warning broadcasts, claiming its activity around the military demarcation line (MDL) was just patrols, the ministry said.
The North also said it will continue to patrol around the MDL in the future.
The North’s response came after its second straight provocation around the border between Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday, about 10 North Korean soldiers who were approaching the MDL near Cheolwon, a central border city of the South, returned to their side after warning shots were fired by the South’s soldiers. On Sunday, other North Korean soldiers advanced toward the MDL near Paju, a city located about 40 kilometers northwest of Seoul to cause warning shots from South Korean soldiers. The North’s soldiers exchanged fire with the South’s soldiers before going back. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of how the North Koreans continuously try and keep tensions high to pressure the South Koreans to make concessions as well as to make international headlines to show the world they are still a threat. The latest concessions they want is for the ROK to stop the balloon launches and modify the NLL.
