Tag: Korea

Hiking On the Trails at Sorak Mountain

This weekend I decided to spend it at Soraksan National Park. I am an avid hiker so I was looking forward to hitting the trails. I really like hiking here in Korea not just because of the scenic mountains but also because I always seem to run into interesting people. This hike would be no different.

I started my day at 0430 in the morning and began hiking towards the summit of Sorak mountain, Daecheong Peak, from the Osaek Hot Springs trail head located in the south of the park and from Daecheong Peak I would head to the Sorak-dong Village to meet up with my wife there. She can’t hike big mountains like this because she has a bad knee. The owner of the hotel I stay at everytime I go to Soraksan, the Hyundai Hotel in Osaek drove me to the trailhead that morning. The owner is really nice guy who runs an older hotel but the rooms are clean and only 25,000 won. Plus every room has a tub which can be filled with Osaek’s famous hotspring water. The owner will drive you to the nearby trailheads and give you hiking recommendations and advice if you ask. So if in Osaek I recommend staying at his place.

The trail to Daecheong Peak had just recently reopened due to the fire danger and the damage to the environment by people leaving litter everywhere. The park authorities have put up banners, signs, and flags everywhere around the park warning people not to smoke, cook, or litter while in the park.

It was really good to see the park trying to do something about the littering and smoking problems in the park because it would be a shame to see this great park end up like the Naksan Park and temple located nearby that received heavy forest fire damage due to probably someone throwing a cigarette butt out of their car.


Soraksan Mountain in the background ringed with clouds.

However, once I proceeded up the trail I found out the awareness campaign has had little effect. About an hour and half into the hike I reached Sorak Falls. At the falls I found evidence that some hikers had camped at the falls the night before even though the trail was supposed to be closed until opening on Saturday morning. They left trash, two soju bottles, and cigarette butts everywhere. I saw one area where you can tell somebody’s batteries died so they threw the old batteries on the ground and then the packaging for the new batteries was tossed right next to it. What lazy pieces of crap would just throw stuff like this on the ground in Korea’s most beautiful park?

Unfortunately many people in Korea do just what these campers did every day in Korea’s parks. This is what frustrates me the most about Koreans. Pack up the trash you take into the park! Don’t leave it on the ground for someone else to pick up! I couldn’t tell you how much trash I have picked up in Korea’s parks but I was on a 15km hike and didn’t have enough room in my bag or time in the day to pick up all the trash laying around like I usually try and do.


The view from Daecheong Peak.

Anyway I proceeded up the trail and an hour and a half later I reached Daecheong Peak which stands at an elevation of 1708 meters and is the third highest mountain in Korea. The view was great, you can see all areas of the park, plus Sokcho, Yangyang, and other areas along the East Coast. There was still some fog covering some areas but all in all a great view.


Marker on top of Soraksan Mountain.

On the top of the mountain I ran into a group of about 15 hikers who were very friendly and offered me some kimbab and oranges to eat with them. They were surprised to see a foreigner especially a GI up here on the mountain. They were even further surprised that I could speak some very basic Korean. These hikers were on a company bonding trip to the park. These types of trips are common in Korea. They were all employees of some pharmaceutical company in Ansan. They ranged in age from the late 20’s to 50’s. What was surprising was that the top manager on this bonding trip was a guy that was only 29 years old and was younger than 2/3 of his employees. This is an odd thing in Korea.


Descending from the summit towards a cabin that hikers can pay to sleep in overnight.

View looking towards the summit with the cabin in the foreground.

The hikers huddled around me and led by the top manager they gave me the usual interogation one receives when first meeting Koreans. How old are you? Are you married? Do you have a baby? Where are you from? How much do you make? Etc. Etc. I then asked the manager what time they left to reach the summit since they beat me here and I saw nobody else hiking up the trail. He told me they camped at the Sorak Falls and headed up from there. Aha! I found my litter bugs! He then said that they were going to camp at another location at the park Saturday night no doubt to litter that area too before heading down the mountain Sunday to go home to Ansan. Then one of the guys in the group threw the orange peels on the ground. I picked them up and put them in a plastic bag I had in my pack. He asked why I was picking up the orange peels. I told them that it is not right to litter a national park. Then I brought up the fact about all the trash at Sorak Falls. They said it was there before they ever got there, but they were clearly embarrassed and soon left. I think it is safe to say I didn’t win in friends in Ansan on this trip but maybe they will think twice before leaving their trash lying around on the mountain that night.


I then proceeded down the peak, but before I left a group of ajummas came up the mountain wearing those huge visors that look like something you would see at a Donald Duck convention. Anyway the wind suddenly picked up and blew their visors off and they went flying off the side of the mountain. I think that is a sign that mother nature doesn’t like those visors either.


Trail descending down the mountain towards the east.

Anyway I went past Dinosaur Ridge down into the beautiful Cheongbuldong Valley. In the valley you begin to see more of your day trippers dressed in their hiking finest. People wearing the funny socks, expensive hiking suits, rucksacks with every accessory imaginable attached to it. One guy I saw had an ice pick! Another guy had snow cleats. There is no snow left on that mountain.


Cheonbuldong Valley in Outer Soraksan National Park.

However, many of the day trippers were very nice and friendly when I stopped at the mountain huts to sit down and drink some water before moving on. Some of them were amazed that I was hiking from Osaek to Sorak-dong in one day with such a small backpack. If I was wearing as much crap as some of those people were I probably couldn’t make it in one day.

Anyway I did meet a really nice ajushi who was about 60 years old. He offered me some tomatoes and we talked for a little while. He gave me the usual interogation and then told me that he was from Pocheon which is a city here in the 2ID area I know well, he was also retired from a semiconductor company, and was taking his grandson who was the over weight teenager with him on a hike of Soraksan. This was the first time he had met a GI before even though he lives in the 2ID area. He always just saw us driving by in our tanks and trucks all the time.

He then asked me if I liked Bush or Clinton better. I told him I liked Bush and he said he liked Clinton. He told me Clinton didn’t want war with North Korea and Bush does. Ironically Clinton was actually prepared to go to war with North Korea in 1994 when Jimmy Carter without White House permission went to Pyongyang and negotiated a settlement that Pyongyang would never live up to but got plenty of free booty anyway.

I told him Bush doesn’t want war in Korea especially with so much of the military tied up in Iraq, but he doesn’t want to give free stuff to Kim Jong Il either. I told him I don’t want to see my tax money going to Kim Jong Il either. If South Korea wants to give him free money that is there choice. He then asked me about the Osan Security Squadron Scandal. I told him that 1LT involved will more than likely go to jail. He thought he should be tried in a Korean court. He was on duty during the offenses so under the SOFA he will be tried in a military court. He didn’t like that so we agreed to disagree.

However, it is embarrassing to have to defend the military here all the time when I get quized by Koreans I meet due to the yearly incident that seems to arise here. 3 years ago was the armored vehicle accident, 2 years ago we had the drunk driving staff sergeant that killed a Korean woman, then last year we had the Shinchon Chain Saw Massacre, and now this year we have the Osan Scandal. Maybe I should start quizing every Korean I see about what they think about the ROK Army’s scandals?


Chosen Era Calligraphy Carved in the Rock at Biseondae
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I hiked a while with him and he moved really fast for being an older ajushi. His grandson started to fall behind. I started to slow down but the ajushi kept going and said his grandson needed to lose weight. We then passed a group of hikers who were having a picnic on a rock in the creek. The ajushi stopped and yelled at them because they were not supposed to picnic because the picnickers leave trash plus they were smoking in the park. I was beginning to really like this guy even if he is a Clinton fan. Maybe there is hope to protect the environment here after all. We reached Biseondae mountain hut and parted from there because he told me his grandson wanted to watch the women there. I’m sure he probably wanted to check them out too.

Biseondae is only a 2km walk from the park entrance so here you have all the Seoul weekenders. The place was packed with Kangnam beauties in high heels and designer dresses with their equally dressed up boyfriends. I couldn’t tell who wore more makeup the girls or the guys. Was I in the wilderness or at the club? We just needed some techno tunes and a dance floor.

I quickly made my way out of there and had a heck of a scare when I nearly stepped on a snake. Yes that is right a snake! Korea does in fact have snakes. It was sitting in the path warming itself in the sun. It was about 10 inches long and a greenish color. I remember hearing before that the small snakes in Korea are poisonous but I don’t know. So I quickly jumped back and skirted that area since I didn’t want to mess with him. I he slithered off before I could unpack my camera. I can’t stand snakes.

Wore out I finally made it to Sorak-dong at about 1PM and linked up with my wife. I covered approximately 15km of mountain trails in 8.5 hours, met lots of people along the way, saw some ugly visors get blown of the mountain, got to see everyone dressed in their expensive hiking outfits, saw my first snake in Korea, plus got to laugh at all the dressed of metrosexuals. If that isn’t a fun day I don’t know what is.

However, I didn’t see any other fellow foreigners the whole day until I got to the Sorak-dong area where there was many foreigners. If you are going to the park the Sorak-dong area provides some nice scenery but it is overly crowded and you should really hike into the back country to get a real appreciation of Soraksan. If you are planning a trip to Soraksan and need some advice let me know. I know the mountain really well and should be able to make you an itinerary to fit your time and fitness level. More foreigners should try to get into the back country it really is worth it.

Yongsan Garrison, Seoul Korea

NOTE:  I have a much more updated posting about Yongsan available at this link.

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The Garrison – Yongsan Garrison is a large compound located right in the middle of Seoul. It is truly an odd sight for such a big base in the middle of one of the world’s largest most vibrant cities. Could you imagine a large military base in the middle of Manhattan? That is why there are currently plans to move the compound within the next three years.

If you are lucky enough to get stationed here enjoy the place while it lasts because it is a great place to be stationed. Yongsan is one of the nicest military posts I have been on to include anywhere in the United States.

The camp houses some 6,000 soldiers, 1,000 ROK Army KATUSA soldiers that are augmented by 1,000 US civilian workers and 6,000 Korean civilian workers. The on post housing is outstanding with many new barracks buildings for the soldiers. There is also the newly renovated Hanam Village for families that are housed off post. For those that choose to live on the economy off post beware that there are numerous people willing to swindle you, so make sure you read your housing lease very closely. Click Here for the latest Yongsan housing information.

The shopping on the post cannot be beat. The PX is the largest I have seen in the army accompanied by the largest commissary I have ever seen. The post also has numerous mini-malls to augment the already great shopping at the PX.

The Post also has a multitude of eating establishments to choose from all over the post. The nicest restaurants are located at the 5-Star Hotel The Dragon Hill Lodge.

That’s right, Yongsan has it’s very own 5-Star Hotel. The Dragon Hill is one of the nicest hotels in all of Korea and is affordable to the average GI. Not only are the rooms and restaurants great but the hotel also has numerous bars and shopping areas to keep you occupied not to mention the fitness center and swimming pool.

Shopping – The Itaewon district just outside of the Yongsan garrison offers plenty of both shopping and entertainment. The district is the easiest market for shopping for foreigners in Korea. The shop owners in Itaewon all can speak some English and are familiar with western tastes. Unbelievable discounts on suits, leather jackets, hand bags, wallets, jewelery, etc. can be found in Itaewon. You will be absolutely amazed by the bargains there. Make sure you always haggle for the best price because in Asian culture haggling is expected so don’t by shy to negotiate for a lower price. Just tell them “kaka-chu-seyo!” This is Korean for, “I want a discount.” Use this phrase because it will save you money. Don’t pay more than you have to because if you do it encourages the shop keepers to raise their prices to rip off other foreigners.

Nightlife – The nightlife in Itaewon is outstanding. There is a club for everybody’s taste in Itaewon. There are rock clubs, jazz bars, Irish pubs, rave clubs, and your typical “juicy girl” bars. One of the most popular bars in Itaewon that is great for meeting other foreigners is Geckos just across the street from Burger King. Definitely a good place to start your Itaewon adventures at. However, do be careful what bars you go into at Itaewon because many of them have been put off limits by the army.

You do not want to get busted by the MPs. The MPs do have people in uniform and plain clothes monitoring the off limits establishments. The penalties are severe for infractions. Overall you can have a great time partying in Itaewon without visiting the more shadier establishments. So don’t feel like you are missing out on anything.

The Day A Scientologist Knocked On My Door In South Korea

Today I had something really weird happen. This afternoon there was a knock at the door my wife answered the door where she began to engage in a conversation with a middle aged Korean woman. They began to argue and I asked my wife what they were arguing about. I came to find out that the woman on our door was a Scientology recruiter trying to enlist my wife. My wife is a die hard Christian so she was getting worked up by the Scientology sales pitch.

The recruiter was happy to see me though because she must of realized she wasn’t getting anywhere with my wife and tried to convince me about the wonders of Scientology. One of her claims were that Scientologists were some of the first people on the scene in Taegu after the subway fire a few years back and they rescued many lives. I checked out her claim on the internet and she is slightly correct:

In the same month Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers went to the aid of the Sakhalin victims, they also served in the aftermath of the huge explosion that rocked Taegu, a large city in southern South Korea. A construction site gas main had blown up, killing and injuring scores of people, including children.

One Scientologist and a student from the university where he teaches English were among the Volunteer Ministers who hurried to the scene of the accident to give assists. Dozens of children who were distraught at the start told the professor and his student after the assists that they were calmer, relieved and no longer afraid.

She also claimed that Scientologists were aiding with the tsunami disaster. Which I also found to be true. However, when I asked her if the Scientologists were just aiding the disaster victims to gain more members, she just commented that if people in the region wanted to join after their aid efforts that is perfectly acceptable. I personally find it reprehensible that any religion would use the tsunami relief effort as a method to recruit more members to their religion.

So what exactly is Scientology? If you are interested you can clikck here to find out more about it, but it appears just to be nothing more than a cult based around the teachings from the books by L. Ron Hubbard. I found a Fox News report about Scientology that claims that the Scientology is a cult and brings up the names of many of the movie stars that practice Scientology such as Goldie Hawn, John Travolta, and Tom Cruise. Allegedly Scientology is what broke up his marriage to Nicole Kidman.

I was curious about Scientology in Korea and I asked the woman how many Koreans practice Scientology and she just told me many are joining every day. I take that to mean not many. So I checked it out on the internet and found on a Scientology website that there is in fact 443 Scientologists in Korea. 401 of them are based out of Seoul.

During my research also found out that Hubbard had a connection to Korea. He was a military policeman here in 1946 and was discharged from the Navy following his tour here. While here in Korea he preached his Scientology philosophy and worked to create converts. It looks like they are still trying to create converts here; it just isn’t going to be me.

Places In Korea: Incheon's Chinatown

Just across the street from the Incheon train station is Korea’s only Chinatown. This Chinatown does not compare to Chinatowns in cities like San Francisco, New York, or Vancouver, but it is still interesting place to spend an afternoon visiting for those who live here in Korea.

The Chinatown in Incheon was officially established in 1884 in an agreement between the Korean King and the Chinese Qing Dynasty emperor in the Seonlin-dong hillside in Incheon to create a free trade zone for Chinese merchants. Incheon was chosen as the site for this free trade zone due to the port city’s proximity to the Korean capitol of Seoul. This hill side sits on prime real estate in central Incheon located between the Incheon train station and Jayu Park.

Before the Korean War the Chinese community in Incheon and Korea in general flourished. In 1942 Korea had 80,000 registered Chinese immigrants. After the Korean War the nation wide distrust of the Chinese due to their invasion of Korea during the war plus the post war policies of then South Korean President Park Chung Hee forbidding the Chinese to own businesses and moving them out of Seoul to help Korean business owners, led to a mass reduction in the amount of Chinese people living in Korea. Currently the public’s attitude toward the Chinese has improved but there is still only 30,000 registered Chinese residents in Korea and only 500 of them live in Chinatown. Even today racism may be alive and well against the Chinese who do live in Chinatown according to this Korea Herald piece that includes an interview of a Chinatown family.

Although the days of the Chinese not being allowed to own businesses are over, racial discrimination is still a reality, some Korean-born Chinese say.

“The reason why there is no Chinatown here is because Koreans don’t like foreigners,” says Irene Chu, 32, the Korean-born Chinese owner of Chinese Fusion Restaurant in Incheon. “They don’t even like Chinese people working for them. The Koreans are very protective (of their culture).”

As Chu gets up to take an order, her 60-year-old grandfather breathes a long sigh and pipes in.

“They mistreated us, looked down upon us and saw us as foreigners. I am Chinese. I don’t consider myself Korean. Things have improved now, but what does it matter anymore? I’m an old man,” says the grandfather, who came to Korea when he was 5.

In fact when was in Chinatown I saw very few Chinese at all. Many of the street vendors were all Koreans selling Chinese junk. I went to a large, newer looking Chinese restaurant to eat. I asked the waitress dressed in a traditional Chinese dress if the people in the restaurant were Chinese because they all looked like Koreans to me. She told me that the only Chinese that worked in the restaurant were the cooks that prepared the meals. Everyone else was Korean.

The last time I went to Chinatown was four years ago before the current development of the area and then I actually met more Chinese people then I did now. The area has been greatly developed since then and that has probably brought in more Korean businesses to cash in on the increased tourism.

The development of the area has caused Chinatown to look much nicer but it all seems kind of fake after a while because all the decorations are not authenic, like many of the people, and are just cheap plastic displays. If this artist’s rendition of the new Chinatown to be built in Ilsan is any indication of things to come, Korea will soon have the equivalent of a Chinese theme park filled with more cheap plastic decorations and wannabe Chinese people than Incheon’s Chinatown could ever possibly have.

Never the less Chinatown is still a great place to spend some time checking out. Grab a bite to eat at one of the local restaurants before heading up to Jayu Park. The food is one of the few authentic Chinese experiences you can have in Chinatown. For 20,000 won I stuffed myself with a huge meal that included sweet and sour pork, fish, clams, oysters, etc. Even with its quirks Chinatown should be part of any travel itinerary for those spending time in Incheon. It gets a GI thumbs up.

Jackie Chan on Arirang Channel

Martial arts action movie star Jackie Chan was in Korea recently promoting his latest movie, New Police Story. Last week he spent some time with Ahn Jung-hyun of Arirang Channel’s Heart to Heart talk show and had some interesting things to say.

Most notably he mentioned that he dated a Korean woman for eight years.

A- Now we want to talk about your special ties with Korea. I understand that you used to live here for a short while.

JC- In five years total, just in and out in and out. Even though I have–my family was in Australia. In Hong Kong just by myself so nothing to do like uh…Chinese New Year I just flew in by myself.

A- Why? (laughing slyly)

JC- (laughing) For my girlfriend. (a little embarrassed)

A- Ah ha! (laughing)

JC- You have to ask “why?” (laughing) You think I’m dumb just by myself here in New Year in the snow? haha

A- Well I wanted to hear you say that!

JC- Hahaha, (nodding) yeah at that time I had a very very good Korean girlfriend. Yeah, for 8 years. And…in the old days–I don’t know you remember or not, Korean women, very hard to get out of the country. There’s no way they can get out. And also, not like now, everybody have telephone everyone can call. No, you have to go umm…company. Telephone company. To book! I’m talking about….almost 30 years ago. Thirty years ago! Then book. Then what time you come back Jackie. Then come back 4 o’clock then sit there until “Jackie Chan!” “Yes?” “Booth number 2” “Oh, ok” (mimes holding the phone) “Jackie?” “Yes.” Just like that. Then when you have time, fly in to see her. Yeah. So I lean a lot of Korean from her. So in the old day when I speak, I speak like a woman because the only way she teach me. (grinning) And after, when I go back to Hong Kong continue make a film…and I run out of money, and I….even call is expensive. (shaking his head) But…face to face I can speak a lot of Korean. But on the phone? Difficult! You know, always like “Mo heyo? Ha poyo? Toah? Choa? Nanea saeyo?” (hanging up the “phone”) Then two days later call again same thing! Then…slowly slowly slowly (parting his hands ending in a shrug) didn’t call anymore.

A- Mmm…so that’s how you split up.

JC- Mm. Now I think she..she get better life now. She get married, have children…

Jackie also mentioned that he liked to sing old Korean songs but did not like modern Korean music because it is to Americanized.

A- (laughing) You speak Korean quite well.

JC- Used to be. Yen ha leh. Yen ha leh. I speak very…I think…30% Korean. But now, forget. Because at that time I love Korean song. Because I love Korean culture. Like what? (sings a bit of two Korean songs) I learn Korean song to learn how to speak Korean. That’s the best way. Yeah. Like today, nothing to learn anymore. When I look at Korean song everybody yo! yoyoyoh! (rapping) Uh! I rather see the old day! In the old day really can learn! That’s a Korean culture. But now (shrugging) I look at all the song is American culture! Everybody copying American song. We copy Korean song. Yeah. Nothing to learn anymore.

When ask about his favorite Korean movies, he said he like Old Boy best and really wanted to meet the writer of the movie. He also said he cried watching Going Home and he really liked the movie Tae Guki.

Throughout the interview Jackie demonstrated his Korean language abilities and displayed his typical charm and humor. Definitely an interesting interview worth checking out if you are a Jackie Chan fan like I am.Jackie also did a show on SBS, toured a fish market with actress Kim Hee-sun, and did some charity work during his stay in Korea. He pretty much did everything right in winning the public over in Korea. I’m confident his new movie is going to do very well here.

GI Flashback: The 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident

The Shinchon Stabbing Incident occurred on May 15th, 2004 when 4 GI’s and a KATUSA went and partied in the Shinchon area of Seoul one night.  The soldier with tattoos pictured below apparently was extremely drunk and walked out in front of a taxi cab when the stop light was green.  This caused a confrontation between the drunk soldier and the taxi cab driver.  During the confrontation some “concerned citizens” intervened to help the taxi driver and some heated words were exchanged.  I believe it is safe to assume that many of the “concerned citizens” who mostly were Korean college students were probably equally drunk at the time.

Is there a better propaganda picture than this for the anti-US crowd? This picture was actually staged by the “concerned citizens” at the scene to give the soldier the worst image possible in the media.

Anyway a fight broke out and nobody can really say for sure who started it, but it ultimately ended up involving all the US soldiers who were surrounded by dozens of “concerned citizens” eager to pound on some GI’s.  One of the soldiers in an effort to defend himself pulled out a pocket knife to get the attackers off of him who were choking him. In a struggle with the attackers the soldier accidentally cut the throat of the Korean student.  This pocket knife would later go on to be described in the Korean media as a military issue knife conjuring up images of some Rambo blade when in fact it was a simple pocket knife. The soldiers were eventually subdued by the mob and arrested by the police department. I had predicted at the time nothing would happen to the students and the soldier would get slammed and nobody would care. Well that is unfortunately the case.

You can actually read a detailed account of what that night from John Humphrey at this link.

shinchon stabbing2
Private John Humphrey being choked by a “concerned citizen”.

The soldier in question, Pvt. John C. Humphrey was convicted of attempted homicide after stabbing a 27-year-old man in the neck with the knife. He was given a 2 1/2 year sentence in a Korean prison.  The soldier was at first charged with simple battery since he was trying to protect himself, but due to all the misinformation in the media the charges were upgraded to attempted murder.  This case I use as a perfect example to my soldiers of what not to do in Korea. Pvt. Murphy was probably a good kid just out having a good time with his friends when things went wrong and now his life has been seriously impacted and he had to sit in prison for 2 1/2 years. The entire Shinchon area is off limits to soldiers for good reason; to prevent incidents like this from happening. Unfortunately these soldiers did not abide by this command policy.  An additional thing to keep in mind is that GI’s should not carry knives with them in Korea.  I understand in America it is common to carry a knife, but in Korea pulling a knife on someone is like pulling a gun on someone in the States.  This is considered a massive escalation of the confrontation by Korean standards.

Anyway there is a fringe minority in Korea who looks to create incidents with soldiers and drunk GIs. Harassing a taxi cab driver is just asking for trouble. Any incident in Korea between soldiers and Koreans will always end with the soldier on the losing end no matter if the Korean started it or not.  Notice that in the Shinchon Stabbing Incident that these soldiers were assaulted by the “concerned citizens”, but none of them were charged with a crime, in fact they were treated as heroes:

No matter what poor judgement the Shinchon GI did or didn’t exercise in carrying a knife with him or for using it (I wasn’t there, either, of course, there were certain hugely mitigating circumstances that call into question the notion of the “crazed American GI tearing up the streets”, which certainly should shed doubt on the Korean media’s labeling the Korean guy who did the attacking in the first place any sort of “hero”, which should call into question that hack with a toy camera – Bae Sang Beom – being a “photographer” or a “journalist”, and should definitely cast doubt as to whether Oh My News is really even a “newspaper.”

Bae Sang Beom – you’re not a “photographer” or a “witness” or a “documentarian,” nor are you journalistically honest enough to admit to yourself that you actually didn’t see (or photograph) anything but a couple of GI’s being held by a large crowd, waaaaay after the fact. Sounds familiar to me, from what I’ve seen with my own two eyes and with my own cameras.

The bottom line is that when in a confrontation with Koreans, especially went it makes the news more than likely your side of the story will never get heard and you will be demonized in the media. So the best course of action is to always keep away from situations that can turn into something that makes you out as the bad guy. Walk away from confrontations and whatever you do never use a weapon. If you are soldier reading this heed my advice and follow all command policies, they are there for a reason, so you don’t end up becoming the next Pvt. Murphy.

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