Prelude to Attack

There have been many flashpoints on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) over the years with patrols being ambushed and even an American barracks being bombed, but there has probably never been a North Korean attack as brazen as the ambush on Camp Liberty Bell.  On the afternoon of August 28, 1967 soldiers of Charlie Company 76th Engineer Battalion had just returned to Camp Liberty Bell for dinner after a hard day of working on improving the main road that travels north to the Korean armistice village of Panmunjom located 2.3 kilometers north of the camp.

Map of the DMZ via The Advocate website

Chow Hall Ambush

Some soldiers were sitting down on tables eating while many others were still waiting in line to get their food. As the soldiers went through their daily ritual to get their chow shots suddenly rang out and bullets smashed into the chow hall tent. Soldiers ran for cover and others turned over the chow hall tables in hopes they would provide adequate cover from the incoming bullets.

Hill overlooking Camp Liberty Bell where North Korean commandos attacked the camp in 1967.  Image via the 2ID Association website.

The soldiers outside also raced for cover and spotted the gunmen on a 100 meter hill overlooking Camp Liberty Bell firing down on the American soldiers. The camp’s quick reaction force (QRF) raced to prepare a counterattack against the enemy. With shots still ringing out, the quick reaction force advanced up a road leading to the top of the hill to intercept the gunmen. The QRF took two casualties as they advanced up the road when one of the American soldiers stepped on a landmine planted by the North Korean commandos.  By the time the QRF was able to get to the top of the hill the commandos had fled. The QRF estimates that they saw about 9-12 North Korean commandos on the hill and found over 1,000 rounds of unspent Soviet 7.62 ammo left at the firing position on the hill. The QRF followed the commandos’ tracks leading from the position and determined they had successfully crossed back over the DMZ to North Korea.

In this modern day Google Earth image you can see the hill that rises above the current Camp Bonifas where Camp Liberty Bell at the time time of the attack was located.  The proximity of the DMZ fence made escape very easy for the North Korean commandos. 

The aftermath of the attack saw Camp Liberty Bell with pools of blood splattered across the compound mixed with the shouts of pain and suffering from the wounded. Unfortunately three soldiers could not shout out in pain because they lied dead on the ground after the North Korean attack. The initial dead included one American, Specialist Michael Vogel and two Korean KATUSA soldiers that died in the unprovoked attack. Private First Class Curtis Rivers was seriously wounded and would later die of his wounds raising the death toll further.

Attack Aftermath

The attack was considered the most serious attack since the signing of the Korean armistice agreement in 1953 that involved an area south of the demilitarized zone. The attack followed two North Korean ambushes launched on August 10, 1967 that killed three US soldiers.

Photo of the Camp Liberty Bell front gate in 1973 via The Advocate website.

The attack on Camp Liberty Bell proved even more deadly with four soldiers dead and many more wounded. In total twenty-six people were wounded in the attack that included fourteen US soldiers, nine South Korean soldiers, and three Korean civilian employees. The United Nations Command made the usual protests against the North Koreans during a meeting a Panmunjom and of course the North Korean communists denied all knowledge of the attack. This attack would be one in a long series of attacks that would occur against frontline forces stationed in Korea in what would eventually come to be known as the “DMZ War“.

For more DMZ Flashpoints articles please click the below link:

A persistent GI myth perpetuated around Korea in the early 2000’s was the dumping of  formaldehyde down a drain on Yongsan Garrison in Seoul in February 2000 by a USFK mortician.  Spectacular headlines were splashed across Korea’s media outlets especially on the internet about how the mortician had exposed the millions of people in Seoul to cancer causing chemicals.  This incident reached such mythical proportions in Korea that the most popular monster movie in Korean history was based on it.

This incident all started when the so called environmental group Green Korea released reports over the internet about the dumping of formaldehyde on Yongsan followed by leading protests against USFK.  Green Korea, a group no one had heard of before, quickly became the darlings of the Korean media.

Here is a press release they released concerning the 2000 water dumping:

Nowadays the U.S army’s toxic fluid dumping to Han-river is main issue in Korea. On February 9th, in the US Eighth Army Mortuary Building, 480 bottles of formaldehyde, used for embalming were dumped in a drain without any detoxification.  It has been confirmed that the US Army has been releasing Formaldehyde for long periods of time into the Han-River.

Mr. Albert L. McFarland after issuing an order to pour these fluids down the drain, was refused by his subordinate on the basis that the drain led to the Han River, and that the chemicals are known to cause cancer and birth defects. Mr. McFarland swore at the soldier, and ordered him to execute the order. Do you know why Mr. McFarland ordered like that? The only reason is that the boxes were covered with dust.

This case was reported to the Headquarters of the Eighth Division in a statement made by the soldier who executed the order.  On July 10th, the Headquarters concluded that, ‘there was no problem if the chemicals were diluted with water’. Formaldehyde is a very toxic chemical. This is the label of the bottle. It was written like this Poison, Can not be made none poisonous.

This case serves as an exemplar for how the US and US military is deceiving, purposefully or not, Korea and its people. They asserted that the American bases in Korea caused no harm or damage to the environment, and that the US military is abiding by US EPA regulations, and that it is environmentally much safer than Korean bases or companies.  However, the fact that the US military is disposing of toxic fluids such as formaldehyde in the Han River, where 10 million people use it for household use, is in itself an outrage and mockery to the Korean people.  [Green Korea United]

These accusations by Green Korea were repeated over and over again in the Korean media with one editorial in the nation’s largest newspaper the Chosun Ilbo asking, “Would they dump toxic chemicals into the Potomac River?”:

These toxic chemicals are widely known to cause cancer and birth defects. The Han river supplies drinking water for over 10 million citizens residing in metropolitan Seoul and its satellite cities. Are Koreans disposable people?

The news is ethically repulsive. Environmentally, the act is destruction-friendly. In psychiatric terms, it comes close to an act of quasi-murder [oh my!].  For, what matters here is the sick mind and attitude that made possible the dumping of the cancer-causing substance. Whether or not the quantity of the discarded was enough to cause cancer is not the issue here.

Notice how this article sounds almost exactly like the Green Korea press release.  It makes you wonder if Green Korea wrote it for the Chosun Ilbo.  Green Korea and their media and political allies demanded the imprisonment of the USFK mortician and even the resignation of the USFK commander.  These sensational headlines also caused widespread public condemnation of USFK in Korea with no one in the media actually interested             in finding out what really happened.  Of course the truth of what really happened that day on Yongsan is of no concern to these people, establishing the mythology is.

Let’s look at what really happened that day.  There was formaldehyde dumped down the drain on Yongsan Garrison in February 2000, that fact is not in dispute.  However, a number of the myths surrounding this fact are in dispute.  The first myth is the amount of chemicals dumped.  Green Korea claims that 60 gallons of formaldehyde was dumped into the Han River when in fact only 20 gallons was dumped.  The next myth are the claims that the people of Seoul were exposed to cancer causing chemicals.  The formaldehyde was diluted first of all by running water, then was processed through the Seoul waste treatment system, and finally through the Nanjido central metropolitan treatment plant along with 1.9 million gallons of other sewage and waste that was processed through these facilities that day.

To further clarify this point let’s look at the man in the middle of this controversy Mr. Albert McFarland.  To this day, this man is the subject of widespread condemnation in Korea with no one reporting his side of the story.  The ROK Drop has come into possession of some documents from the investigation that clearly shows McFarland’s side of the story that further clarifies that the formaldehyde was no danger to the public.  Note that none of the excerpts from the documents I am showing here are FOUO or classified:

McFarland was taking over and trying to clean up the facility he inherited when the prior supervisor had to return to America due to an illness in his family.  Part of the clean up was to dispose of the old formaldehyde.  McFarland decided to dispose of the old formaldehyde the same way he was trained to do it in the United States and has always done it, including his prior assignment in Panama.  This was all done in accordance with prior established procedures.  I guess that answers the question the Chosun Ilbo had if Americans would dump formaldehyde in the Potomac River.  It makes you wonder why the Chosun Ilbo didn’t bother to investigate and find out how US morticians are trained before making such claims?

The rest of the excerpt of this document concerns another myth put out against McFarland that he recklessly put the people who worked under him in danger.  As can be seen in the document an Industrial Hygiene Survey was done prior that rated the mortuary as being of “normal limits” which classifies its workers as not needing protective equipment.  Here is another excerpt from a document that further shows how absurd this claim is:

The next myth is that McFarland made racial slurs towards the Korean workers, once again there is always another side to the story:

Reading through the documents and witness statements it is clear that McFarland does lose his temper and say unprofessional things.  The other Korean witness confirms that McFarland would often call Mr. Kim stupid and another soldier that worked at the mortuary said that McFarland used to call Kim stupid and that he acts like a child and would make off color comments to him.  McFarland was definitely unprofessional in how he spoke to Mr. Kim, but none of the documents supported any claims of racial slurs used by McFarland.

It is clear that Mr. Kim had plenty of reason to dislike McFarland.  Reading through to documents even more discloses that Mr. Kim had even more reason to dislike McFarland:

So McFarland is the new boss and he begins making the employees and soldiers actually do their jobs and not hang out in the commissary all day and is extremely critical of the work they are doing.  It makes you wonder what the two Korean workers were doing at the commissary in the first place, but I’m sure people can draw their own conclusions on that.  Also if we have learned anything from these documents, it is that you don’t want to die while stationed in USFK:

Yes, the hero of the Korean environmental movement is a guy that throws away people’s body parts because he too lazy to put them back in the person’s body.

Obviously Mr. Kim did not like McFarland and preferred the prior supervisor Mr. Pool because he let him hang out in the commissary all day.  It doesn’t take any stretch of the imagination that Mr. Kim saw an opportunity to get back at McFarland when he had him dispose of the formaldehyde down the drain that day.  After disposing of the fluid he contacted Green Korea and staged pictures in the mortuary and then Korean media sensationalized the story.

So why was Green Korea and the Korean media so interested in sensationalizing this incident?  Well let’s go back to that prior Chosun Ilbo article to answer this one:

 “Are they here to defend us? Thanks but from whom?” The answer to the question is in a sense becoming more and more ambiguous and ambivalent in the post inter-Korean summit detente.

Frankly, some Koreans are also scared of the idea of a defense by those who commanded to dump the toxic substance; who murdered many Korean hostesses, the poor souls, who had to sell sex to earn their subsistence; and, who care little about those Koreans suffering from constant bombing exercises like the one in Maehyang-ri. Why are they reluctant to fully disclose the facts about Nogun-ri massacres?  Is the SOFA really a fair arrangement?

This incident happened in February 2000, but didn’t make massive headlines until July 2000.  The first inter-Korean summit between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il happened in June 2000; the public in Korea was delirious with unification fever and perceptions of North Korea changed dramatically from one of animosity to one of a misunderstood uncle.  Today we know that the summit and the follow on Nobel Peace Prize to Kim Dae-jung was bought with a $500 million dollar bribe to Kim Jong-il by Kim Dae-jung.  We also know today that the bribe and follow on aid packages given to Kim Jong-il in the name of the Sunshine Policy went on to expand his military and advance his ballistic missile and nuclear programs to the point that North Korea now possesses a nuclear bomb.

The Sunshine Policy is now recognized as an utter failure, but back then the Korean people thought very differently and this led the anti-US movement in Korea to exploit this change in sentiment by trying to create a perception that the United States was the reason for the continued division of the country and not North Korea.  They also used this incident to demand changes to the US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement which they claim is unfair, which is of course another GI myth.  They used this incident to further their aims which to this day this incident continues to be demagogued in South Korea with continued hatred of Mr. McFarland and claims of US environmental crimes.

So what ended up happening to Mr. McFarland?  Well he was investigated by the military and was the focus of vicious protests against him by Koreans that wanted him tried and jailed.  The investigation found that he did nothing wrong and it was recommended no action be taken against him.  The commanding officer disagreed and ended up suspending McFarland for 30 days without pay probably to appease the Korean public’s anger.  Well as history has shown with the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident, offering sacrificial lambs to appease public anger in Korea does not work.  The demagogues just whipped the masses into more of a fury and used the suspension of Mr. McFarland as evidence that USFK is committing great environmental crimes and don’t care about Koreans.  They continued to protest and make demands that the USFK commander resign.

Then the South Korean Ministry of Justice got involved even though they have no jurisdiction over McFarland since the incident happened on duty and on a US military base which the US-ROK SOFA agreement states is a case that is in US jurisdiction.  McFarland did not attend the trial but was fined $4000.  USFK paid the $4000 fine, probably once again in the hopes of appeasing public anger.  Of course this only encouraged the anti-US movement even more.

Unhappy with the results, the Seoul District court ordered a re-trial.  Yes you heard that right, McFarland was convicted once and since the anti-US groups didn’t like the verdict another trial was ordered.  That is how it works in Korea, it is “rule by law” instead of “rule of law”.  It is this manipulation of Korean law for clearly partisan political purposes, why a SOFA agreement with Korea exists in the first place.

The new trial sentenced McFarland to six months in jail, which was more jail time than a taxi driver that raped a newly arriving American Army private at Incheon airport ever saw because his original conviction was overturned because the US private did not show enough evidence of resisting the rape.

What else is so hypocritical about the protests, anger, and down right demagoguery of this issue is that when Korean companies contaminate the Han River, Green Korea could care less:

It is shocking news that 29 timber companies were found to have released 271 tons of formalin over the past three years into streams feeding the Han River, the main source of drinking water for Seoul and Kyonggi Province.

Formalin is basically a watered-down version of the highly toxic formaldehyde.

The discovery vividly testifies to the futility of the government’s campaigns to preserve water resources and protect the environment. […]

The timber companies have used the chemical to prevent the decay of their products to preserve the original patterns and the quality of wood used to make furniture or flooring.

Although the companies had the financial capability to install facilities for treating the polluted water, they simply did not bother.  [Korea Times]

Lumber companies dump 271 tons of chemicals directly into the Han River with no treatment at all and it is worthy of a brief mention in the Korea Times; a Yongsan mortician drains 20 gallons of formaldehyde mixed with water down a drain that is the established procedure for disposing of the fluid, which then gets processed through not one but two water treatment plants and months of protests occur, an entire nation is brainwashed to hate the mortician Mr. McFarland, he is tried twice and jail sentence give to him, and even a blockbuster monster movie is created to further exploit this myth.  Truly incredible, and yet people wonder why there is a SOFA Agreement in place?

In a bit of poetic justice, in October 2006 it was discovered that a number of anti-US groups including those in the Korean environmental movement like Green Korea were linked to the Il Shim Hoe North Korean spy scandal; not that the people invested in perpetuating this myth really care.

Further Reading:
The Mortician’s Tale – Asia Times
Great Dumping Scandal of 2000 – USinKorea

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

Comments:

• Dada
  8:30 am on March 18th, 2008 1

Yo GI Korea… I am curious… Just how much money are you gettin paid from the Japs for all your hard work in slandering South Korea? And I am being real serious here.

• GI Korea
  9:07 am on March 18th, 2008 2

Does it bother you that much that you cannot counter the facts I presented that you have to resort to unsubstantiated claims against me?

Instead of claiming slandering why don’t you point it out?

• Peter Hungus
  2:10 pm on March 18th, 2008 3

Dada need pacifier…..boo hoo hoo!

• Kalani
  2:16 pm on March 18th, 2008 4

Hey…I saw it in the movies. If I saw it in the films, it must be true.

How dare you try to confuse me with facts!!!

But truthfully…nice to read the facts in this case. Long but interesting. Nice job…

Also very disturbing about what was done to the bodies. It does raise some legal questions about the appropriateness of the actions by the mortuary staff before Mr. MacFarland’s appearance and their suitability for their positions if they were disposing of body parts after the autopsy. It also says something for the former boss who allowed the practice. I wonder if family members in the states who had their loved ones undergo autopsies in Korea ever knew about this? We’re talking big time legal suits. I left my heart in Korea might take on new meanings.

One point though… Green Korea was quite active for many years before the Yongsan case. They were involved in the Saemangeum affair which I sided with their views — as well as the Kooni Range closure fight which I didn’t. However, as a whole, I agree that they seem to have an agenda that is slanted towards nailing the USFK.

• Pete
  8:45 pm on March 18th, 2008 5

If my memory is correct Mr. MacFarland was selected as USFK’s civilian employee of the year soon after the incident. But I don’t think he ever went to jail.

• Surabol
  12:20 am on March 19th, 2008 6

Is it also true that fans can’t suffocate you to death during your sleep?

• CPT KIM
  1:29 am on March 19th, 2008 7

Whatever happened to Mr. Kim? Is he still KGS in same job?

• GI Korea
  1:43 am on March 19th, 2008 8

Kalani, I agree the treatment of the bodies is definitely disturbing and I can understand why McFarland was so pissed off about it. This may also provide additional motive on why Kim went to Green Korea and the media to have leverage to save his own skin for obvious incompetence of his official duties. If I was the parents of deceased soldiers processed through that mortuary I would be highly upset about what was going on there.

I looked around Green Korea’s webpage and they have been active with the Saemangeum affair since 1997 however they didn’t start making big headlines until 2000 along with their Kooni Range activities that also became big news in 2000. My opinion is the group is a anti-US front group which has to pick a few non-US environmental issues in order to keep the appearance of being an environmental group instead of the anti-US group that they really are. The fact that the Korean environmental movement was linked to the Ilshimhoe spy scandal only further validates this.

Pete, As far as I know McFarland is still working at the mortuary which I actually find to be a good thing because he obviously cares about the job he is doing and that mortuary is probably extremely squared away right now. As far as being employee of the year I do not know but judging by his efforts to fix the mortuary I wouldn’t be surprised.

He was sentenced to jail but the sentencing was all show because the Korean court system does not have the power to send him jail due to his SOFA status. So the whole conviction was a sham and was nothing more then legal theater for the anti-US groups to bash USFK with.

• GI Korea
  1:46 am on March 19th, 2008 9

CPT Kim,

As far as Mr. Kim I do not know what his status is but judging by his documented incompetence in caring for the bodies processed through the morgue as well as his actions in allowing unauthorized pictures to be taken in the mortuary I wouldn’t be surprised if he was no longer working there.

Also just the fact that Mr. McFarland is still working there leads me to believe that Mr. Kim is probably gone because I can’t imagine those two still being able to work together, but like I said I do not know for sure and would appreciate anyone who knows to leave a comment.

• Nomad
  2:22 am on March 19th, 2008 10

Excellent post, GI Korea.

• Mike McStay
  2:54 am on March 19th, 2008 11

You Know I wonder if, “The Host 2” will be the revenge of Mr Kim?

I also wonder if “The Host 3” will be about the canal and Korea awaking a Soju Godzilla.

Could make for some interesting films.

• Jerry
  3:32 am on March 19th, 2008 12

One other bit of information that wasn’t presented anywhere (that I saw), the effluent from the wastewater treatment plant enters the Han River downstream from any water intake facilities. Yes, it flows into the ocean, not into the Seoul City (or any other city) domestic water distribution system. On the other hand, all the stuff from the lumber industry does in fact enter the river upstream of Seoul and then gets sucked into the Seoul City water distribution system (which supplies water all the way to Pyeongtaek, it’s a huge system).

• Jerry
  3:33 am on March 19th, 2008 13

Oops, not into the ocean, into the West Sea.

• Wedge
  6:43 am on March 19th, 2008 14

Great post, GI Korea. The only improvement would be to find out what Korean hospitals do with their excess formaldehyde, which I suspect is the same exact thing.

• Wedge
  6:46 am on March 19th, 2008 15

But hey, how did Dada ever find out you were on the Japanese payroll? You need better OPSEC.

• Dangerous Chemical Leaked into Taegu Water Supply
  9:34 am on March 20th, 2008 16

[…] will go into an uproar about this chemical spill like it did when USFK mortician Albert McFarland poured 20 gallons of diluted embalming fluid down a drain at the Yongsan Garrison mortuary that was processed through two different water […]

• usinkorea
  7:36 pm on March 19th, 2008 17

USFK made a big mistake allowing the fine to be paid and not stone walling the Korean courts. This was clearly a line of duty infraction, and if don’t repect the SOFA, who the hell will? It set a bad precident and gave credence to the likes of Green Korea.

Also, back in 2000, and for some time after that, the Green Korea site had nothing but USFK-related material on it. I checked the site frequently for a long period of time, and in my memory, the notes about the reclamation project and other affairs not related to USFK or the US Embassy were not put up until months or a couple of years after the dumping incident.

The way it seemed to me based on watching the site and reading up on this years several years ago, Green Korea did as frequently happens in Korean civic groups as it gained in recognition thanks to the press championing it against USFK in 2000 —- it began taking onboard other environmental groups that were already operating before Green Korea became a national figure or were organized afterward. Either way, it seemed clear to me they had affilitated themselves with Green Korea in the typical umbrella fashion of Korean civic groups.

It wasn’t until this expansion that Green Korea really seemed to become a national movement, and from my looking at the site back then, unless I’ve gotten knocked in the head hard between now and then and dreamed all this up, none of the non-USFK, US Embassy stuff was on the site before the group mushroomed.

I do remember they had up one typical base waste oil page up that focused on a ROK installation, but I did not see the land reclamation or any other non-US related stuff in Korean or English when I was watching back then.

As for the new documents, they did clear up one big question I had never been able to satisfy before: how long had Mr. Kim been working for USFK?

When the images were staged of him dumping the chemicals came out from Green Korea, I wondered if he were a new employee and a plant.

The USFK documents seem to clearly show what GI Korea said: it was a classic case of a new boss coming in and taking charge and shaking things up and the old employees becoming disgruntled.

• Disinterested
  8:24 am on March 20th, 2008 18

Mr Kim was fired shortly before he went to Green Korea. And yes Albert “Bones” Mcfarland is still around.

• How Things Get Stupid and Out of Control «
  10:39 pm on March 21st, 2008 19

[…] How Things Get Stupid and Out of Control Remember back in 2000 when the US was accused of poisoning the water supply in Seoul with formaldehyde? The blog ROK Drop has a very accurate break down of what happened and how the local press was played like a fiddle by these radicals. Take a few mintues and ready this, very enlightening. […]

• The final cut: March 2008
  8:52 pm on March 27th, 2008 20

[…] March 27, 2008 the 2000 water dumpingGI KOREA TELLS IT LIKE IT IS…GREAT POST. I STILLED LIKED THE KOREAN MONSTER MOVIE THAT THIS SO […]

• GI Korea Really A Nork Spy
  4:56 am on April 1st, 2008 21

[…] you all haven’t caught on yet, I’m not only accepting bribes from the Japanese, but I am even linked to North Korean spies so says the Sports […]

• ROK Drop — Keeping the USFK Gravy Train Rolling Since 1950.
  10:23 am on April 1st, 2008 22

[…] has decided to quit blogging. (2) If you all haven’t caught on yet, I’m not only accepting bribes from the Japanese, but I am even linked to North Korean spies so says the Sports Chosun. (2) […]

• MJ Miller
  4:41 pm on May 7th, 2008 23

I was stationed at Yongsan from 97-00 and worked a few yards from the old main gate (pre-bridge days). While this was going on the protesters outside the gate (we would watch from the walkover bridge) were shooting rockets and water balloons filled with Han River water over the walls into the office complex area just east of the gate. It was quite a scene, 50 or so people and about 4x that number of “journalists”.

The bigger joke was the fact that every day on my walk to work from Bokwang-Dong (right on the river SE of Yongsan Garrison), I would pass auto repair shops that were draining used motor oil, coolant, and transmission fluid straight into the street or curbside drains – sewer and run-off drains that *did* run directly to the river without the benefit of waste treatment processing.

That’s the nice thing about living in Korea (6+ yrs as of this writing) – if there’s a way to blame your problems on someone else, the gov’t, press, and people will beat that horse until it’s WAAAAAAAY past dead.

• More Sogogi-gate Weirdness — ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal
  11:31 am on May 8th, 2008 24

[…] no further then the Yongsan Water Dumping Issue, the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident, the GI Crime issue, or the US-ROK SOFA issues.  All these […]

• More Sogogi-gate Weirdness — ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal
  11:31 am on May 8th, 2008 25

[…] no further then the Yongsan Water Dumping Issue, the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident, the GI Crime issue, or the US-ROK SOFA issues.  All these […]

• Breaking the Korean Mind Block of US Beef Protests
  6:28 am on May 9th, 2008 26

[…] because demagoguery is the order of the day in Korea because it works. Look no further then the Yongsan Water Dumping Issue, the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident, the GI Crime issue, or the US-ROK SOFA issues. All these issues […]

• mizar5
  4:42 pm on June 20th, 2008 27

If Green Korea were a legitimate environmental group, wouldn’t they focus on the substandard environmental standards in Korea, instead of slandering the US Army?

• Looking for the Next Spike in Anti-US Activity
  12:06 pm on June 26th, 2008 28

[…] anti-US activity over a variety of issues — The Great Water Dump was the most memorable one (GI Korea’s Review). But, the Koon-ni/Maehyang-ri Bombing Range Saga was also finally picked up by average Koreans. […]

• Huh?
  7:55 pm on September 20th, 2008 29

I don’t know why you folks like to downplay the FACT that formaldehyde was dumped down the drain on yongsan and it did make its way into the han river. Irregardless of the quantity, the fact remains the us army was responsible for this dumping. REMEMBER: the us army, air force, navy and marines are here as guests. Dumping chemicals, of any type, into the korean waste/water systems and/or the ground is wrong. Don’t bitch about how the koreans treat their country; it is their country – they can do as they see fit with it. But the us military is a guest here and must follow and OBEY their own rules for environmental issues – or is it just being a hypocrite? like always?

• Sick of it
  10:32 pm on October 15th, 2008 30

I agree with Huh, I dump lots of chemicals into the drain here in Korea and I mean a lot. Formaldehyde is nothing compared to what others dump. I saw a guy draining his motor oil into the open sewer system. I didn’t say anything because its his country. Again, formaldehyde is nothing and in fact check out the history of formaldehyde’s history used as a preservative in food and beverages.

It’s their country, what nonsense is that? ever hear of an ocean current or something called wind? How about the jet-stream?

• GOREA
  12:51 am on October 20th, 2008 31

Al Mcfarland was voted civilian of the year again.

• ????????
  5:07 pm on December 25th, 2008 32

[…] : http://rokdrop.com/2008/03/18/gi-myths-the-2000-yongsan-water-dumping-scandal/ […]

• An engineer
  2:28 am on September 7th, 2009 33

I’m an engineering student, who uses a lot of chemicals for research. Before saying that they were compliant to the regulations, you should check ‘safety precautions-Waste Disposal’ here. http://www.ehs.berkeley.edu/pubs/factsheets/49for…
They clearly limit the amount of formaldehyde you can dilute and drain one day.

• GI Korea
  5:40 am on September 7th, 2009 34

You are citing a fact sheet from Berkley not USFK.

If you read the investigation documents McFarland followed the procedures that he was trained to follow as a mortician to dispose of the fluid because USFK had no established procedures to do so that he could find. So he just followed the disposal instructions on the USFK Material Safety Data Sheets as well as the procedures that he brought with him from his prior duty station in Panama.

• Brandon
  5:28 pm on September 23rd, 2009 35

What the hell! Are you kidding me? Formaldehyde? Have you seen the stuf f koreans put in the river? They dont care what goes in the river! I fish here in Korea all the time, especially in the HAN. Its absolutely ridiculous how dirty Koreans are. I also metal detect on the beaches and the sh1t I dig up is incredible. When on the beach Koreans just get up and walk away leaving all their trash laying exactly where they left it. Koreans pollute their waterways like crazy and care nothing for the environment. When I first read the article and seen that a organization was claiming to be a GREEN KOREA, I thought, hmm this has got to be some bullshit with some nice NORTH KOREAN funding. Thats all these organizations that are ANTI U.S are, North Korean funded.

Look at the leaders of all the Anti American Protest, Its always the same guys leading and antagonizing the situation. A great recent example was the FTA and the mad cow disease protest near city hall where the korean people beat their own country men and locked down the city hall street for a month, what kind of bullshit is this? Koreans need to get a grip of this media shit and realize when they are being fooled. Heres my solution, if you dont like the U.S in Korea and the fact the U.S has drastically boosted South Koreas economy to become one of the top ten in the world. If you dont like that we stopped the North Koreans from raping and killing your ancesters. If you dont like that Americans are in your country. Well then get the hell out, better yet lets box all the AntiAmerican Koreans up and ship them to North Korea you ungrateful little communist. So what the guy dumped some chemicals down the drain, KOREANS do worse every day, SO what the girls were killed up north by that tank a few years back, LET’S contact the families of all the vets KIA’s MIA’s and WIA’s in the Korea war and get them protesting! I hate these sympathetic waiting in the shadow bastards waiting to pounce or make someone elses life miserable because they want to seem important or got a different agenda! Wake up Koreans and kick the sh1t out of these people! They are giving us both a bad name!

B

• Brandon
  5:29 pm on September 23rd, 2009 36

Ok, here we go.

What the hell! Are you kidding me? Formaldehyde? Have you seen the stuf f koreans put in the river? They dont care what goes in the river! I fish here in Korea all the time, especially in the HAN. Its absolutely ridiculous how dirty Koreans are. I also metal detect on the beaches and the sh1t I dig up is incredible. When on the beach Koreans just get up and walk away leaving all their trash laying exactly where they left it. Koreans pollute their waterways like crazy and care nothing for the environment. When I first read the article and seen that a organization was claiming to be a GREEN KOREA, I thought, hmm this has got to be some bullshit with some nice NORTH KOREAN funding. Thats all these organizations that are ANTI U.S are, North Korean funded.

Look at the leaders of all the Anti American Protest, Its always the same guys leading and antagonizing the situation. A great recent example was the FTA and the mad cow disease protest near city hall where the korean people beat their own country men and locked down the city hall street for a month, what kind of bullshit is this? Koreans need to get a grip of this media shit and realize when they are being fooled. Heres my solution, if you dont like the U.S in Korea and the fact the U.S has drastically boosted South Koreas economy to become one of the top ten in the world. If you dont like that we stopped the North Koreans from raping and killing your ancesters. If you dont like that Americans are in your country. Well then get the hell out, better yet lets box all the AntiAmerican Koreans up and ship them to North Korea you ungrateful little communist. So what the guy dumped some chemicals down the drain, KOREANS do worse every day, SO what the girls were killed up north by that tank a few years back, LET’S contact the families of all the vets KIA’s MIA’s and WIA’s in the Korea war and get them protesting! I hate these sympathetic waiting in the shadow bastards waiting to pounce or make someone elses life miserable because they want to seem important or got a different agenda! Wake up Koreans and kick the sh1t out of these people! They are giving us both a bad name!

B

• Korea.com | Gateway to Cyber Korea » “But how could the government possibly conduct a project that hurts water quality?”
  7:23 pm on December 6th, 2009 37

[…] degree.  GI Korea has frequently pointed out that Koreans pollute their own rivers, it is only when Americans do it, that it becomes […]

• Mallory
  5:41 pm on July 19th, 2010 38

Well…im only 13. And Albert McFarland is my grandpa…its a very long story. And there is a great reason why i havnt met him before. Its great when you try to look up for biological grandpa and all this pops up on the internet. He is really a great guy from wat my mom tells me. And i dont really understand this whole thing but im sure he wasnt trying to harm anyone. All this is stupid. But if anyone happens to know were he is now that would be soo very much appreciated if you would please tell me. And if you knew a way to contact him…that would be greatly appreciated too. I would really like to meet him one day. Its hard growing up without a grandpa.

• Brandon
  5:42 pm on July 20th, 2010 39

I know your grandfather, I need to know your email.

• Mallory
  2:38 pm on July 21st, 2010 40

blondiechik2015@aim.com

• Mallory
  3:01 pm on July 21st, 2010 41

Sorry! Thats my old one my new one is malloryolivia15@aim.com.

• david M.
  3:09 pm on October 19th, 2010 42

I served with Mcfarland. He is not an ethical person. For the record, he misused Army funds when he was stationed in the United States after his Korean assignment. The general at his location offered him the opportunity to retire immediately or face charges. He retired and eventually found his way to his job in Korea.

When I knew him in the Army, he was arrogant, dishonest, and self-serving. He took away from the morale of upright soldiers. This is ironic in light of his past service in much earlier years in Vietnam as a Green Beret.

• Hamilton
  5:59 pm on October 19th, 2010 43

David M. Color me skeptical.

• James Meyer
  12:25 pm on November 8th, 2010 44

I can not see Mr Mcfarlands hurt all things concidered he did abandon his own children during VET’Nam war and sighn off on someone adopting the out from under him to avoid child support this is not the actions of a MAN at all he should me tried for crimes against humans and stand a genivea trial.

• Troy Supanik
  2:10 am on November 10th, 2010 45

James Meyer, you do realize your daughter is on here trying to locate a solid man in her life besides her Uncle. I would suggest you keep your dim witted comments to yourself. If you want we can discuss the “actions of a MAN” but I think a public forum is inappropriate.

• Dunwoody Garage Door
  6:15 pm on January 9th, 2011 46

I searched for instance completely unique, but discovered your web-site! And must say regards. Great study. Will occur back.

• The top ten Korean horror movies – how many have you seen?
  11:58 am on January 25th, 2011 47

[…] the belief – as did his commenter – that Host was an anti-American military movie (covered here by ROK Drop) but I think Mike does an excellent job of explaining his view of why it […]

• Mike
  10:08 pm on January 25th, 2011 48

Life is too hard for GIs in Korea? Here’s an idea: pack up and go home!

Most Koreans want GI bases in the middle of Seoul about as much as Americans want a Korean army base in the middle of Washington D.C.

Seriously. You don’t have to keep blabbing on about harsh and unfair it is for you in Korea. Just go home. That will solve your problem.

• ChickenHead
  10:55 pm on January 25th, 2011 49

Silly Mike…

Educated Koreans want Americans GIs in Korea. Average Koreans don’t really care unless it comes to their attention in a bad way. Agitators complain for other reasons. Korean leaders want to continue the great security deal they are getting. American leaders like to keep America’s influence in the region.

GI Joe would just rather be home with his family, dog and car… but no matter how much he babbles on about harshness or unfairness, nobody is going to allow him to pack up and go home.

You are whining about the wrong whiners.

• Retired GI
  11:46 pm on January 25th, 2011 50

Mike, guess what, Korea and it’s two seasons (one of which smells like kaka) kind a sucks, as far as being a “country” is concerned.

But the high quality of Korean Prostitutes really helps with the harshness of the winters and smell of the summers.

Let me know when your Men are able to protect Korea. What has it been, 60 years and you still can not defend yourselves.

• fe52999g
  9:39 pm on January 4th, 2013 51

RETIRED GI and Brandon, foad you wastes of space

• Dr Chris
  10:12 pm on July 1st, 2013 52

A lot of these documents are missing, broken links.

Nevertheless, an argument is never helped by fallacies, such as well, it is harmful but not that harmful that we wouldn’t do it to our own rivers too; or yes it is harmful but Koreans themselves harm their rivers in a lot of ways too (2 wrongs make a right fallacy). And then there’s the boy are they stupid not to realize how lucky they are to have us there to protect them (attacking the source fallacy; also red herring). And finally, it wouldn’t have been a probem if the tree huggers had not needed an issue (unreliable source).

The fact is that harmful chemicals should not be dumped in other countries’ rivers under any curcumstances.

• Erin
  5:12 pm on April 20th, 2014 53

Hello…I was wondering if anyone has Mac’s current email/phone/address? I would really like to catch up with him. I was the US soldier that was working along Kim when this all happened. Mac was a great mentor to me and have nothing but great respect for him. Would love to say Hi. Thanks!

• Smokes
  5:57 pm on April 20th, 2014 54

Erin he’s still here, look him up in the global. Don’t really see anyone posting his contact info here.

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.

________________________________________________

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.

---

[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/

The Korean netizens and anti-US groups will assuredly keep talking about these two soldiers, but I can guarantee you won’t hear them talking about these soldiers:

Two 2nd Aviation Regiment soldiers traveling on a snowy highway last Friday said they reacted automatically when they spotted a car wrapped around a telephone pole with one bloody passenger hanging out a window.

“We have to stop, was the first thing Staff Sgt. Kimberly Veal, of the regiment’s Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion (Attack), told the driver, Pfc. Bradley Herron, of the same unit.

They found three others in the car: one dead, another injured and another who appeared unhurt.

During a phone interview Monday, both Herron and Veal said they were shocked to see people driving past the crumpled car without stopping to offer help. [Stars & Stripes]

No one stopping to offer help at the scene of an accident?  I’m shocked I tell you.  Anyway make sure to read the whole thing because these soldiers did go above and beyond the call of duty trying to aid the people trapped in the vehicle. Great job by these two soldiers.

 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.

Taxi cabs are probably the top area where incidents between USFK servicemembers and Koreans happen.  In fact the first USFK servicemember tried in a Korean court all the way back in 1967 was a taxi cab related incident.  The place where the second most amount of incidents happen between servicemembers and Koreans has to be the Seoul subway.  Gusts of Popular Feeling has an informative posting that brings to light one of the most well known subway incidents that happened back in 1995 when an American soldier was assaulted for trying to protect his Korean wife.  Here is an excerpt from the New York Times article that explains what happened:

It all began when an American soldier put his hand on a Korean woman’s rump.

The version that has captured the local imagination is that a group of drunken American soldiers were rampaging through the subway, molesting Korean women, and that the soldiers then attacked good citizens who dared protest the errant hand.

The American understanding of events starts with a fact that the Koreans tend to leave out: The American soldier and the Korean woman whose behind he patted were in fact a married couple.

The Americans say the problems arose when some angry young Koreans on the subway accused the American of sexually harassing the Korean woman. When the Korean woman explained that she was the American’s wife, the Korean men allegedly spat at her and slapped her — leading the woman’s husband to punch the man who slapped her.

In any case, the result that evening in May was a huge brawl in the subway. It has reverberated through the country and underscored the delicacy of the mission of the 37,000 American military personnel in bases in South Korea.  [New York Times]

The soldier in question, his wife, and his friends that were with them initially received jail time, but after appealing, their sentences were reduced to fines while the Korean who started the brawl got away totally free.  This was 1995 and you would think the Koreans and the Korean legal system in general would have evolved since then.  Guess what, things haven’t changed that much.  If anything it can be argued that things have only gotten worse with soldiers being attacked & kidnapped on the subway, beaten, and then forced to make coerced statements on national television among a host of other highly dubious incidents that the Koreans involved were not punished for. In fact these attackers of GIs are often considered heroes!

Justice for GIs continues to be hard to find in Korea and it didn’t start in 1995 and it shows no signs of ending today.

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

The Cheonggyecheon Stream in downtown Seoul was a controversial project when it was first proposed, but I would think just about everyone would have to agree it is now a winner. The Cheonggyecheon wasn’t always a winner though.

Since Seoul is surrounded by mountains there are a number of streams that rush down the side of these mountains to drain rain water into the mighty Han River. One of these streams is the Cheonggyecheon. The Cheonggyecheon only tended to be full of water during the summer monsoon season and dry the rest of the year. However, occasionally during periods of heavy rain fall the stream would jump its banks and flood the downtown Seoul area.

To solve the problem with flooding, the Korean monarchy in 1406 under the reign of King Taejong, ordered the construction of a drainage system for the stream to prevent flooding. Workers labored for two years to dredge and expand the stream in order to flood proof the stream. In 1411 more work was done on the stream with up to 53,000 workers building stone embankments and stone bridges across the stream.

However, as Seoul expanded the Cheonggyecheon took on another purpose besides being used for flood prevention, it also became the city sewer. Residents would dump their excrement and trash into the stream so it could all be washed down the stream to the Han River and eventually out to sea. However since water didn’t continuously flow through the stream often the excrement and garbage would just sit in the stream bed. It is easy to imagine how bad Seoul must have smell not to long ago when the local sewer was the Cheonggyecheon that ran right through the center of town. Here is a picture of the Cheonggyecheon right after World War II in September 1945:

With the end of the Japanese occupation Korean leaders would look to develop the Cheonggyecheon area. In the 1959 South Korean President Syngman Rhee had the Cheonggyecheon covered over with concrete. In 1968 an elevated highway was built over the concrete covered stream in order to relieve traffic congestion in the city:

Well now you can see the Cheonggyecheon again and you don’t have to worry about it stinking either because it is no longer a sewer but a city park. The decision to revert the Cheonggyecheon back into a stream was the brain child of former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak. Mayor Lee wanted to use the Cheonggyecheon project to jump start urban renewal in Seoul. The urban renewal did not come cheap though:

The construction of the Cheonggyecheon began in July 2003 and concluded to much fanfare in September 2005. The total budget was a whopping 386,739 million won and just like any construction project in Korea it had it’s own corruption scandal as well.

Despite the costs and scandals the Cheonggyecheon has become one of the signature landmarks of Seoul that is enjoyed by people of all ages. Visitors to the Cheonggyecheon can explore the stream by following a couple of recommended walking courses:

For this posting I decided to walk Course 1 from Dongdaemun to downtown Seoul. Here is where I began my walk in the Dongdaemun area of Seoul:

Compare the above picture of the Cheonggyecheon now to what it was just a few short years ago:

I definitely prefer the stream over the highway that is for sure. Anyway as I continued down the stream I noticed this huge statue on one of the bridges near Dongdaemun:

This statue is of a garment worker Chon Tae-il who set himself on fire on November 13, 1970 in protest of the poor worker’s conditions at the time.

Continuing down the stream it is quite obvious the kids love walking across the various stone paths across the stream:

Here is the view back towards the Dongdaemun shopping area:

Here is one of the various bridges that crosses the Cheonggyecheon:

Every bridge across the Cheonggyecheon is drastically different from each other with the above brick bridge being one of the more tamer bridges. From this bridge I started following the path adjacent to the stream and was able to get some pictures of the fish that live in the stream:

Here is another picture of a child with his parent walking across one of the stone paths across the stream:

Here is a waterfall that cascades off of one of the vehicle bridges and into the stream:

Here is a picture of a young kid playing with the fish in the stream:

This is one of the things I love about the Cheonggyecheon because a lot of kids in Seoul may have never seen fish in a some what natural setting as this. All throughout my walk I saw kids running towards the stream and pointing out fish to their parents. I think giving kids such an experience is a great return investment for the citizens of Seoul who funded the project.

Besides having different themed bridges the stream also has walls with different themes as well:

The picture above is a replication of old Koguryeo kingdom paintings while the picture below is a wall with a waterfall:

One thing you can’t help but see when walking down the Cheonggyecheon are all the drab and ugly buildings of Seoul:

There can’t be a building uglier than the Jongno Tower though, that seems to loom over Seoul no matter where you are like the all seeing eye of Sauron’s Tower in Mordor:

Seriously how many buildings out there are more gaudy than the Jongno Tower? Not many. However, something that isn’t to gaudy is this Joseon era bridge that was uncovered during the reclamation of the stream:

The Gwangtonggyo Bridge was first constructed in 1410 and was the largest bridge in the old Joseon capital of Seoul. The bridge was used by foreign envoys to pass across while visiting Seoul. While passing underneath the bridge you will see inscription on the pillars that describe the repair and maintenance history of the bridge:

What is most interesting about this bridge is that some of the stone blocks used to construct the bridge has elaborate engravings in them:

These engravings exist because some of the blocks used to construct the bridge are left over from the construction of the royal tomb of Sindeokwanghu who was the second wife of King Taejo. It is amazing that such cultural history was buried underneath asphalt back in 1959 only to be uncovered again with the opening of the stream in 2005. This is another benefit of the stream, that it is helping to reclaim Seoul’s cultural history.

Continuing down the stream not to far from Gwangtonggyo Bridge is the beginning of the Cheonggyecheon at this large waterfall and fountain:

This is located in the center of the city and not to far from City Hall. You will know you have reached the beginning of the Cheonggyecheon because you cannot miss the most God awful public sculpture I have ever seen:

Not only is this sculpture ugly, but it was expensive as well costing the South Korean taxpayer $4 million dollars. The artists who made this monstrosity found it to be so ugly they haven’t even come to Seoul to see it. Personally, I have always thought it looks like Mr. Hanky mixed with food coloring.

Beside checking out the Cheonggyecheon during the day make sure to see it at night as well:

Seoul can actually be quite beautiful at night along the stream. You can see below that even at night people still love walking across the stone paths across the stream:

Here is a shot of the stream being overlooked by the moon:

I can honestly say despite the costs and scandals the Cheonggyecheon that runs through Seoul today is a huge improvement in the quality of life for the citizens of Seoul. The Cheonggyecheon may not be the San Antonio River Walk, but it is still a step in the right direction to greening the city of Seoul.

Most importantly it is one of the few places in Seoul and the only place in the downtown area where all the citizens of the city can congregate together. You see kids playing with their parents, young couples walking hand and hand, old grandmas sitting on the park benches, and even the rich business elite eating lunch in the shade underneath one of the bridges. It is truly a place for all the citizens of Seoul to enjoy.

Seoul has a handful of palace complexes that are all a bit different, have played an important part in Korean history, and are definitely worth checking out. However, out of all the palaces in Seoul only one of them, Changdeok Palace has been designated a World Heritage Area by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The palace is located in northern Seoul across the street from a fellow UNESCO site the Jongmyo Shrine and to the east of Kyeongbok Palace.  Changdeok Palace literally means “Palace of Prospering Virtue” and is easily recognizable when viewed from overhead because it is an island of green in the dense urban jungle of Seoul because of the thick foliage of trees that surrounds the palace.

In fact the green foliage and natural setting of Changdeok Palace played a major role in the justification UNESCO cited for including the palace as a World Heritage Area:

The Committee decided to inscribe this property on the basis of criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), considering that the Ch’angdokkung Palace Compound is an outstanding example of Far Eastern palace architecture and garden design, exceptional for the way in which the buildings are integrated into and harmonized with the natural setting, adapting to the topography and retaining indigenous tree cover.

Besides the natural setting of the palace, UNESCO also cited the outstanding palace architecture as part of the reasoning for naming the palace a World Heritage Area. From the moment you arrive at the front gate of the palace it is easy to see why this is true:

The front gate of the palace is known as Tonhwamun and was first constructed in 1412, seven years after the main complex was constructed in 1405. The gate stood until it was destroyed during the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea in 1592. After the war it was rebuilt in 1607 and some how it has survived all the other subsequent wars on the Korean peninsula to become the oldest two story wooden gate in the entire country.

It is here at Tonhwamun that I bought my ticket for 3000 won to enter the palace. However, unlike other palaces in Seoul, this palace can only be entered as part of a guided tour in order to protect the historical and cultural treasures within the complex. There are tours every hour, but the only English language tours begin at 11:30, 13:30, & 15:30. I toured Changdeok Palace six years ago and found the then English language tour to be quite poor. I was pleasantly surprised this time around because the tour guide was actually quite good, though a bit robotic. A problem with the English language tours is that the limited number of them means the tour groups are quite large. This makes taking pictures and listening to the guide a bit difficult because of the sheer number of people you are surrounded by.

Once the tour began, the first historical structure that was presented was the Geumcheongyo Bridge, which was built in 1411 and is the oldest bridge still used in Seoul:

On the other side of the bridge is the gate that leads to the throne hall of the Korean King:

Changdeok Palace was built in 1405 as a secondary palace for the Korean Chosun Dynasty King with Kyeongbok Palace serving as the primary palace for the Korean royalty. During the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea, Kyeongbok Palace was destroyed and after the war it was not rebuilt and Changdeok Palace became the primary residence of the royal family.

The Chosun Dynasty King’s throne was located in Injeongjeon Hall:

The structure was originally constructed like most of the buildings in the palace in 1405, but was destroyed during the Hideyoshi invasion and rebuilt in 1607. The structure had to once again be reconstructed when it was destroyed by fire in 1803. The throne was rebuilt a year later and the current structure is now over 200 years old.

From this building the King was able to review his troops and governmental officials. The small stone tabulets on the ground are not gravestones, but markers that designated where the different governmental and military officials stood during reviews by the king.

Inside Injeongjeon Hall sits the Korean throne that had served as the seat of power for the Korean King for nearly 300 years:

The throne room is decorated with lavish artwork. The painting behind the throne represents the sun, the moon, and the five sacred mountains of Korea. The room is really incredible to look at with its highly detailed artwork and extragavant chandaliers. As impressive as this room is, the King actually did not use it all that often. Towards the back of this building the King had a smaller throne room the Seonjeongjeon that the King used to hold meetings with his ministers.

Outside of the building the roof is decorated with small and decorative statues of animals that represent an old Asian tale about a monkey king:

The buildings in the palace is filled with bright and colorful artwork. Here is how many of the corners of the roofs are decorated:

The sides of the roofs were painted in these patterns:

Even on lesser structures you could find beautiful, detailed artwork:

Even the doors are beautifully painted:

If you like bright and colorful artwork, Korean royal palaces are definitely the place to see it.

Adjacent to the buildings housing the King’s throne and meeting room is the buildings that housed the royal living quarters and office:

Huijeongdang is the building that served as the royal office. Huijeongdang has some impressive artwork on the sides of the roof:

What is interesting about the King’s office is the combination of eastern and western furnishings:

You can see the combination of western and eastern design in the construction of the building as well:

Huijeongdang was not only the King’s office but was also his living quarters. The queens living quarters, Daejojeon is located behind Huijeongdang:

The furnishings of the Queen’s residence were more traditionally Korean:

However, the royal bed is a mix of western and eastern origins:

The royal kitchen also had plenty of western influence as well:

The heating system though for the palace is purely the Korean ondol system. The ondol system is when hot coals are burned underneath the buildings in order to heat the floors. The smoke from this system is piped out of the building and channeled to these large decorative chimneys behind the buildings:

The ondol system is largely responsible for the Korean habbit of sitting and sleeping on floors.

Across from these royal buildings is the royal garage:

The royal family has had a number of cars that were housed in this garage and are beautifully preserved for people to see to this day.

These first two areas of the palace took about an hour to cover before the tour moved on to the last two portions of the palace Nakseonjae and the Secret Garden.

Next Posting: Nakseonjae and the Secret Garden