How come I have the feeling this is just another one of those for show crackdowns you see the Korean police conduct every once and while such as against prostitution?:
Police said Friday they have sought arrest warrants for three dealers in fake sports merchandise.
Since June, 2005, the forgers and dealers have manufactured counterfeits of the U.S. NBA and NHL licensed products after taking orders from American buyers. [Yonhap]
The Korean authorities are living in fantasy land if they can only arrest three dealers of fake NBA and NHL products. Just take a walk through Itaewon where literally dozens of shops are selling forged products. These three dealers will probably get a slap on the wrist from the Korean authorities and they will be back selling fake merchandise again in no time just like the prostitutes that get arrested in these crackdowns from time to time.
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3:27 pm on April 24th, 2008 1
Were these “American buyers” from USFK by any chance?
11:38 pm on April 24th, 2008 2
I remember a year ago there was a pirated DVD dealer on the Shinjang Mall named “Mike” — a really nice young man who spoke English well. Spent some time BSing with him and found out that he had been raided by the customs cops — a real setup as they were watching him from a hotel window and pinpointed his van where his stash was stored. He repeatedly said that it was the competitors that set him up — I won’t mention the name. At the time there were three Mall dealers and three shop dealers on the Mall. He complained that his entire inventory was confiscated and he was in hock as he had the DVDs on consignment — supposedly $10,000 worth. He restarted again and sure enough — he was raided again and I have not seen him since. Poor guy…
First, sometimes the hits are done through the ROK whistleblower program — tips for rewards. Thus these hits are really not a show of the authorities doing their jobs — it is only when they are forced to. The second thing is that sometimes these hits may be a result of the competition ratting on them — giving a new meaning to cut-throat business practices.”
6:56 am on April 25th, 2008 3
Kalani,
I second that. Mike was (basicly) a pretty good guy (at arm’s distance). He did some time in a Korean prison (over stupid stuff) and never wanted to go back… but he was barred from a mainstream lifestyle.
In the end, he was just a guy trying his best to make it… in my observation, kinda one of those guys who got shafted more than he shafted others.
Everybody should read this:
http://p2pnet.net/story/10890
While it is a year old, it is still right on the money… and the comments are most enlightening.
8:58 pm on April 25th, 2008 4
Chickenhead, can you tell your side of this story?
“He ran 2 bars outside of bases in Korea (Osan and Camp Humphries) that sold alcohol to minors, and provided a hiding place for military members who failed to return to base during curfew. As a result his bars were placed off-limits and since no self-respecting Korean would go in his places he had to close them down. He had been warned several times, but refused to meet standards. He has now made it his job to blame the US military for all criminal activity in Korea. When his bars were open and the base leadership was cracking down on prostitution and underage drinking his battle cry was “the US military has no juridiction off base”. Now his battle cry is “the US military won’t enforce laws off base”
6:03 am on April 26th, 2008 5
Ooooo… while I have posted on this type of thing in great detail, I am always happy to kick this dead horse.
>“He ran 2 bars outside of bases in Korea (Osan and Camp Humphries)
Yes.
>sold alcohol to minors
Yes and no… my sales to “minors” were consistent with other clubs (otherwise they just go somewhere else where they WILL get served.). The Ville Standard fluctuated with on-base Enforcement Flavor of the Week panic. All “minors” were not minors by Korean law.
>and provided a hiding place for military members who failed to return to base during curfew.
Not true. By closing time, I was usually ready to go home. Lock-in parties (at least the ones at other clubs I have been to) frequently die an hour or so after curfew… and there is certainly no profit in 5 more hours of babysitting drunks as everyone is winding down for the night.
>As a result his bars were placed off-limits
No, one bar (Osan) was placed off-limits because I wouldn’t pay Lt. Jason Davis of town patrol. This is a long story which I have posted on many times before.
>since no self-respecting Korean would go in his places he had to close them down.
They were not for Koreans… but the statement might still be true.
Songtan was closed due to off-limits. I simply bought another cheap bar in Songtan and nobody was the wiser (something I wanted to publicly snicker about but couldn’t at the time). Anjung-ri was closed when the lease was up and the new rent was 1.5 times higer because “Yougsan is coming” despite the obvious downward business spiral in the city… aviation guys were leaving and heavily-restricted 2ID guys were coming. The writing was all over the wall. I don’t know what it’s like today but as of a year after closing, I was convinced I made the right choice.
I had absolutely no complaints about Camp Humphreys leadership. Colonel Talliento killed business in Anjung-ri (drat) but he made his expectations clear and applied them equally to all clubs. I can work with that.
>He had been warned several times,
Yes and no. I was put off-limits once before because a guy that had been to my bar and had an evil-sounding drink passed out 4 hours later in another bar after slamming an ammo bowl. I threatened to bring attention to some dirty dealings and was back on-limits the next day.
>but refused to meet standards.
True… as the local standard was composed of ripping off GIs, charging barfines to government travel cards, openly supplying human-trafficked prostitutes to married GIs, banana shows, staffing with girls who used and sold drugs to GIs, serving black market base alcohol, reusing beer and ice… all with no repercussions as many of these Followers of Standards played golf with Osan leadership, paid for officers’ wives shopping trips, etc. I was a little too vocally against all this.
>He has now made it his job to blame the US military for all criminal activity in Korea.
Not at all. I have made it my job to expose situations where US military leadership allows (or encourages) GIs to engage in criminal behavior… especially in such a manner where it gives some personal benefit to corrupt members of leadership.
>When his bars were open and the base leadership was cracking down on prostitution and underage drinking his battle cry was “the US military has no juridiction off base”.
More specifically, when low-priced, good-value prostitution was cracked down on, I bitched… as high-priced Ville-centric kickback-paying-to-leadership prostitution was never really cracked down on, except in a paperwork-generating kind of way… and it all still exists to this day.
As for underage drinking, I dutifully followed the ebbs and flows of Osan’s Enforcement Flavors of the Week. I am certainly resentful that Osan Leadership always tried to force responsibility for enforcement of underage drinking policy onto the clubs while taking few active measures to curb it themselves.
Keep in mind, refusing to sell alcohol to someone who is legal to drink in Korea apparently violates Korea’s age discrimination laws.
>Now his battle cry is “the US military won’t enforce laws off base”
Not at all. My battle cry is, “the US military won’t enforce American law/UCMJ/regulations in suspiciously selective situations.”
Osan leadership will quickly use off-limits powers when someone doesn’t cooperate with their enforcement of rather petty rules such as underage drinking and curfew… yet seems unable to find it to stop servicemembers’ support of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, wholesale counterfeiting, etc.
Shattered, feel free to ask follow-up questions.
1:49 pm on April 27th, 2008 6