Can someone please tell me why the hell this is a news headline over at Yonhap other than the anti-US slant?:

U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are paying less for electricity than South Korean armed forces, a lawmaker said Monday.

Rep. Im Jong-in said United States Forces Korea (USFK) paid an average 74.61 won per kilowatt hour in 2006, while South Korean troops paid general power prices of 97.91 won per kilowatt hour. General prices cover all power use except industrial facilities and homes.  [Yonhap]

USFK soldiers do not pay a power bill in Korea unless they live off post likewise South Korean troops do not pay a power bill either, which is what makes this article very misleading by claiming US troops are paying less than South Korean troops for electricity.  From what I have been told, someone correct me if I’m wrong, is that the power bills on USFK installations are paid at a fixed rate per an agreement signed by the Korean government with USFK.  This is not news and why Yonhap has this as leading headline just goes to show the bias in the government news agency. 

Let’s take a look at the man making the claims against USFK.  Representative Im Jong-in is a fifth column leftist in the Korean government that was one of the people supposedly fasting in protest against the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement a few months ago. The fast must not have done much to his health considering he was recently out leading protests against the military junta in Burma after the violent crackdown there.  Courtesy of the Marmot’s Hole you can see Representative Im Jong-in the picture below on the far left

What makes Im’s Burma protest so ironic is the fact that he is well known for making excuses for North Korean human rights violations:

During Assembly audits last year, Im adamantly argued that the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has no standing to even investigate or discuss human rights violations in North Korea (as reported in the Pressian News Service via the Marmot’s Hole blog), despite the fact that North Korean territory is constitutionally within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Korean government.

Im went on to give another reason why the commission does not need to worry about the rights of North Koreans; “Do North Koreans get social security? Do they get voting rights? The National Human Rights Commission doesn’t have to do anything regarding North Korean human rights." [Korea Times]

So while Representative Im is willing to do nothing about the gulags and slave labor in North Korea he has decided to launch a campaign against the electricity bills of US servicemembers.  Just goes to show where his and Yonhap’s priorities are.