The Marmot is reporting that AAFES employees are involved in black marketing of beer in Korea:
Police have busted a ring that was distributing some 33,000 cases of imported beer that was delivered to U.S. military installations [Yonhap News, Korean] but later slated for disposal after its expiration date passed.
Seoul police announced Sunday it had arrested two people, including a Mr. Yu, who was in charge of waste disposal for USFK’s exchange service (AAFES, I’ll assume), on charges of selling USFK beer whose shelf life had expired by some six months to local entertainment establishments. They also booked without detention 12 others, including a USFK exchange employee by the name of Baek, and are looking for four others who have fled.
According to police, the ring had delivered some 33,000 cases (225 tons) of old beer to local food importers between October 2005 and recently, making some 2.2 billion won in the process. The crew forged documents making it seem as if they left the beer with unlicensed waste disposal firm S, when in fact they took the beer and sold it through food importers in Namdaemun Market in Seoul, the International Market in Busan and other places.
USFK has been implementing the electronic tracking of both beer and commissary purchases in order to clamp down on black marketing, however the ajummas black marketing in the commissaries are small fries compared to the corrupt AAFES employees who really bring in the big dollars which is evident by this latest bust.
Those of us who have been in Korea for while do not find this news that AAFES employees are involved in black marketing, surprising at all. Remember just last year this black market ring in Wonju was broke up which was led by AAFES employees as well. In 2005, an AAFES black marketing ring was brought down that was operating in Uijongbu, Paju, and Dongducheon. These arrests led to the ring leader committing suicide. Then how can anyone forget the 2003 Tunnel Caper at Hanam Village. The black marketers were bold enough to dig a tunnel underneath the walls of Yongsan to smuggle out beer from.
These are just a few of the more notable cases of black marketing by AAFES employees in Korea, but there is a lot more that goes on. AAFES in Korea is corrupt in many ways and not just with black marketing as the recent SSRT corruption scandal has shown. The environment in Korea is ripe for corruption because of the cultural acceptance of it and that Korean laws are not stringent enough to discourage people from conducting corrupt ventures. It makes me wonder if the SOFA Agreement could be written so that when Koreans commit crimes on an American military installations they could be tried in a US court. That would dry up the corruption in AAFES very quickly if they new they would see real jail time for corruption. However, I don’t see any changes coming any time soon and I fully expect to see the once year bust of a black marketing ring to continue in order to create the appearance that something is being done, while the various black markets in Korea remain full of black marketed products.
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7:32 am on March 27th, 2007 1
Did you ever notice how the Korean media won’t give you the full name of the any Korean criminals it arrests but will fully enblazen a foreigners name over every media outlet they can find? I understand this is cultural but it still burns my butt.
8:12 pm on March 27th, 2007 2
Have you ever noticed AAFES cannot track millions of dollars worth of inventory and sales over the course of years. …While we are missing the short green light to get off post while every taxi has to stop so someone can look in the trunk.
Meanwhile, you dimwits, EVERYONE in Korea knows that the path to the black market is packed with big trucks with AAFES painted on the side.
There is no way the black market could be stocked with the quantity of goods it consumes by:
1. Sneaking stuff off post in the back of taxis.
2. Can you say backpack?
3. Even the biggest ox tail buying, cart full of spam and baby formula pushing race tracking ajima brigade could even come close to making a dent.
Wake up you buffoons. Stop Harassing E-4’s, dependents and contractors. Stop with the BS taxi trunk inspections (or at least do it so it does not impede traffic) and go after the REAL CRIMINALS. That is if you are serious about it.
10:57 pm on March 27th, 2007 3
Don’t worry, Leon.
There is a trail of documents showing exactly when and how OSI and CID have been informed of those AAFES trucks.
Their answer of, “We are aware of it and we are looking into it,” has also been recorded… for several years.
Senior leadership is aware of what is going on and some members may profit from it.
Some day, something may come of it.
J!
4:19 am on March 29th, 2007 4
I am shocked! Shocked I tell you to learn that stale beer was sold on the blackmarket. Back in my day it would have been the fresh beer that went off base (with the old beer left for the soldiers on base).
I’m sad to see that the quality of blackemarketer has fallen so low.
Joking aside, I am surprised to read that ox tail, spam, and baby formula are still a hot items. Those were popular on the blackmarket too 20 years ago.
9:15 am on March 29th, 2007 5
I don’t think baby formula is rationed. I buy a lot of it and nobody at commissary or ration control has ever mentioned anything. Then again, I do have an infant son so maybe just maybe they figure my purchases are legit which they are but its not like where everytime my wife buys her cosmetic stuff and we have to sign 3 or 4 slips of paper for them.
7:28 am on March 30th, 2007 6
As I seen to recall the ration control policy was worded such that buying anything (even unrationed and/or uncontrolled) and selling it on the blackmarket was a violation of Army regulations. There were overall spending limits based on your status (unaccompanied or accompanied)and triggers in the system that would flag you if you were buying lots and lots of any item.
8:59 am on March 30th, 2007 7
Even though he can buy as much baby formula as needed it doesn’t mean he can sell it on the blackmarket. Anything from the PX/commissary cannot be sold on the blackmarket.
9:22 pm on October 21st, 2007 8
9:34 pm on October 21st, 2007 9
Please, it’s the greed of Koreans that is blackmarketing the goods, not AAFES condoning the act of it. Plus, with the SOFA agreement and the personnel policies in place, why does the appeals board continue to bring back the employees back to work when AAFES terminates their employement for blackmarketing? The military will run commercials on blackmarketing, yet the appeals board (made up of a Chairperson, who is a military commander) continue to state that it is only “accusations” and no “evidence”…What? Why won’t they take the final report of a CID report when it states so?
I think everyone needs to understand the process and stop making “assumptions” when the military leadership is actually the ones condoning this act!
1:56 am on October 22nd, 2007 10
Tulay,
I watched first-hand how the military board in charge of putting clubs off-limits profited from not putting CERTAIN clubs off-limits.
I’m going to go waaaay out on a limb here and say that maybe, just maybe, there is some shady business going on with the military leadership in charge of keeping an eye on AAFES… and housing… and contracting… or anyplace else where big money is involved.
I bet some of the big-wigs at AAFES might even be involved. DOH! Never mind. We already saw that scandal a few months back… which quickly and quietly went faaaar away.
So… either everybody on this board is a complete retard… which is actually possible. Or, everyone would rather pretend nothing is happening… or blame only Koreans as if they could get by with the same scams on their own time after time, year after year.
Every time this comes up, most of the military folks who dare comment on it talk waaaaay around direct statements that might indicate there is any involvement, or even blame, on USFK leadership for this… despite that organized, large-scale black marketing really CAN’T be happening without them knowing all about it…
…’cause if it is, it brings up a lot of other questions.
Like… what happened to all the money and manpower used to secure the entire base/post? And if they can’t seem to notice Koreans moving large quantities of goods around, how are they going to notice the North Korean in the chow hall with the vial of dimethylmercury? Or the Central Asian Islamic fundamentalist of Korean origin moving a regular shipment of ox tails with the addition of a great, big, scary AN/FO packed with ball bearings, frozen cow bones and a lump of radioactive strontium from a long-forgotten Soviet lighthouse RTG.
Of course, they couldn’t keep track of a Rack o’ Nukes recently. Hmmm… maybe they ARE all clueless.
Gotta think more about this one.
J!