By So how long will it be before they are back in business again?:
Mad cow disease hasn’t killed anyone in South Korea, but it killed a Korean police investigation this week.
West Incheon police won’t try to find the end supplier in a black-market ring on U.S. bases because of stubborn suspects and fears of re-igniting the anxiety over U.S. beef imports that gripped South Korea for months, police said Thursday. Earlier, police arrested a Songtan storekeeper — a 41-year-old woman identified only as “A” — along with another woman for violating the South Korean Food Sanitation Act. They arrested their supplier, a 49-year-old identified as “B,” who ran a shop in Seoul’s Namdaemun area.
The three storekeepers would not name the next link, an investigator close to the case told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.
“We’re not really certain if they know who the end supplier is,” the investigator said on the condition of anonymity, which is customary in South Korea.
The suspects earned about $126,000 since March 18, 2005, the investigator said. They allegedly sold beef, pork, over-the-counter medicines and other products stocked at base post exchanges and commissaries.
About half of the products they sold were illegal, although some of them, such as Viagra, did not come from U.S. bases, the investigator said. The investigator says he expects prosecutors to charge the three suspects, but he says they’ll likely be fined and spared prison time. The investigator said government officials criticized the police department for continuing the investigation because it cast attention on U.S. beef making its way to South Korean dinner tables and restaurants. [Stars & Stripes]
If the police want to know where the next link in the blackmarketing chain is then all they have to is just go to the nearest USFK commissary and watch the ajummas who just happen to know when the fresh meat is first put on the shelves and buy it all up before any soldiers has a chance to.
6:29 pm on September 19th, 2008 1
I wonder why the commissary management doesn’t feel that they have any responsibility for what is sold. When you see the amount of meat in a cart(s) before the holiday, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something is going on. Why do we still have rationing when it really appears to be all talk but little action.
It’s like the people filling up gas cans at the AAFES gas station – 3 gas cans ?? come on now …..
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6:44 pm on September 19th, 2008 2
The investigator also stated that the beef was confiscated to save the public from any health hazards. A BBQ will be held at his residence to celebrate another victory over tainted beef. Several US commissary employees will be attending in protest to the US imports of “Mad Cow Beef”.
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7:15 pm on September 19th, 2008 3
I’m still trying to figure out why people worry so much about black marketing.
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7:44 pm on September 19th, 2008 4
I know when I was a soldier, and even to this day, when the weekend hit we would rush down to the commisary to buy ox tails. Every soldier loves them some rokin’ ox tail BBQ on a Saturday afternoon. That’s why the good folks at the commisary ensure there are always plenty of ox tails on hand. Three freezers full – we never run out! They had to keep one shelf to stock steaks and pork chops and stuff. I guess I can understand, some dependents enjoy a steak every once in a while.
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8:00 pm on September 19th, 2008 5
Soldiers love ox tails ? We are talking US soldiers ? I haven’t seen a lot of them bbq’in ox tails.
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8:11 pm on September 19th, 2008 6
Brett Timmermann – “Soldiers love ox tails ? We are talking US soldiers ? I haven’t seen a lot of them bbq’in ox tails.”
YES THEY DO! Why else would the commisary devote so much space to stocking ox tails? American soldiers would eat nothing but ox tails if given the option. I, for one, am glad USFK and the defense commisary agency put the want and needs of the soldiers first and foremost, rather than pandering to the black market crowd.
I think I’m going to have me some BBQ ox tail this afternnon. Mmmm-mmmm good!
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8:26 pm on September 19th, 2008 7
Rob. I don’t think people “worry” so much about black marketing as they resent it. In a country that has the 12th highest GDP in the world, why on earth do they still have black marketing?
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8:40 pm on September 19th, 2008 8
Rob,
I don’t “worry” about black marketing. I worry about its corrupting influence on everyone from the lowest employee at the commissary to the highest general of USFK.
All of them are very aware of the situation. What conclusion can be made when they ignore it?
This isn’t about a few greedy ajumas. This is about corruption and dishonesty in all levels of the United States military.
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8:58 pm on September 19th, 2008 9
JAFO. “I worry about the corrupting influence on everyone from the lowest employee at the commissary to the highest general of USFK”. Blackmarketing in South Korea is not anything more than “tradition”. If you have access, it is expected you will blackmarket. (I was once thrown out of an apartment because my Korean wife refused to blackmarket) No, It doesn’t go up to the generals, however I am sure more than one generals wife has given a gift of Napolian brandy to the local constables wife. The only issue I have is understanding the Korean sense of ethics. While rule by law in the west came about in 1054 with the magna carta, it was unheard of prior to 1912 in korea, when the Japanese came to power. Less than 100 years ago. Prior to that everything was accomplished by favor and gifts. It was the rule of the land.
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9:02 pm on September 19th, 2008 10
Black Marketing in Korea will never be stopped. AAFES and DECA make too much money from it here in Korea. How many times have you seen a Korean at the Yongsan South Post Shoppette with a shopping cart of 3 of a kind items and spend $300 a pop! I see it all the time. How many times have you seen the race trackers at shoppettes crammin the trunks of their cars with items? Have you ever followed the race trackers around base? I have! I have called the Black Marketing Hotline many times and nothing happens. It is all about money. Geeze..remember after 9/11 when Koreans could not get on base. AAFES and DECA lost MILLIONS of $$$$.
BLACK MARKETING will never be stopped in Korea. Corruption at AAFES, DECA, CID, KNP….all the way.
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9:03 pm on September 19th, 2008 11
Ditto!
Corruption runs very deep in the commissary system, but still to this day we wonder why it is tolerated, or at best just ignored by the Brass.
We must ask ourselves…”Just exactly who is the commissary system supporting?”
You can look at the club system in the same light. Was particularly amazed at how the slot machines were controlled/reserved at clubs in Japan.
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10:37 pm on September 19th, 2008 12
The PX Affair
By HP-Time.com Monday, Nov. 09, 1959
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,811357-2,00.html
Where U.S. troops encamp overseas for any length of time, two things often occur: coveted, cut-rate PX goods appear in the local black market, and the American boys find their way into the hearts of the local girls. South Korea, with its 50,000 G.I.s, is no exception: some $90,000 in U.S. goods vanishes monthly into Korea’s flourishing black market, and in Korea no fewer than 575 Korean girls are wives of U.S. servicemen.
The Eighth Army’s General Carter B. (for Bowie) Magruder apparently concluded that there was a connection between these two facts, and so, a fortnight ago in Seoul, he posted “new policies [that] restrict logistical support and various privileges to authorized dependents of personnel who are on a service-directed accompanied tour of 24 months.” This was hard enough to understand even for people brought up in English. But Korean wives, most of whom are married to G.I.s serving standard, 13-month tours, soon got the idea: henceforth they were to be excluded from use of the PX. An Eighth Army spokesman was tactless enough to put the point intelligibly: “Some dependents have been abusing PX privileges through black-marketing”—and with that, the Korean wives were up in arms.
Nagging Wives. “Sure, we sometimes sell PX goods on the black market,” admitted one. “But doesn’t everybody?” Another Korean wife voiced what most of them believed was really behind it all: “The truth is that the American wives dislike us very much. They are race-conscious, and complain they have to stand alongside us for service at PX counters . . . Those who are married to high officers nagged away at their husbands to have something done about us.”
U.S. wives were quick to retort. Said one heatedly: “Some of those Korean marriages are just sordid commercial arrangements. Many G.I.s who marry Korean girls never attempt to have their wives follow them when they leave Korea. The marriage was just a black-market partnership in the first place.” A PX official backed up part of her complaint: “I have seen a Korean wife walk out laden with packages—and be back within an hour to buy more.”
Moral Support. But if, in fact, Korean wives often did take their purchases straight to the side streets of Seoul, Pusan and Taegu, which are lined with black markets whose vendors do not even bother to remove the PX labels from their wares, they were not the only source of supply. As one Korean put it: “Much of the stuff never gets to the PX in the first place. It goes straight to the black market from the warehouse.” Sometimes it never even gets to the warehouse; last week a truckload of 84 cases of U.S. butter valued at $3,200 was hijacked from the Pusan pier, and melted away into other hands before MPs could catch up with it.
The Korean G.I. brides, aroused at losing PX privileges, first scheduled a street demonstration, decided instead to send four of their number to the American embassy. Later they met with Eighth Army officials, all the while getting stout moral support from Syngman Rhee’s government. Last week the Eighth Army beat a retreat, restored PX privileges to Korean wives “pending further study.” “Had General Magruder not revoked the order,” said Syngman Rhee’s Korean Republic, “the naive would have believed, once again, that the Americans were here not as friends and partners, but as masters.”
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11:37 pm on September 19th, 2008 13
your post about Korean wives brings up another question of mine. Why does the Commissary / PX carry so many goods that are obviously there ONLY for the Korean wives ? If the Korean wives want Korean food products, just run on down to the E-Mart and buy it. Why should the Commissary carry all those products for a relative few.
Could it be the buyers are locals ?
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11:48 pm on September 19th, 2008 14
Brett, commissaries are for military personnel “and their families.” Since many servicemembers are married to Koreans it makes perfect sense that they’d stock Korean food items. I’m not quite following you there.
The point of posting the article was to show that black marketing has been around forever and a day, and until demand is curbed it isn’t going to go away anytime soon either.
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2:30 am on September 20th, 2008 15
More proof that no one wants to actually stop the black marketing of US good into Korea thru the DOD. Your Tax dollars at work.
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4:35 am on September 20th, 2008 16
I used to work for DECA in Korea for 9 years. One of the first things I was told by management when I started working was that I was not a policeman and my job was to sell items. Let the MPs deal with this problem. What almost eliminated the blackmarket was the 1997-1998 Korean economy collapse. Also American food companies know what items in Korea are high profile blackmarket items. One time a company that supplied oxtails, beef shortribs, oxfeet made the bar code so it would not scan and the item would not show up in the tracking system as identified. It would only show up as a grocery item. At the time I worked there most of the dependents were Korean, but it is starting to slowly change. When I first started working most of the items in the commissary were black market items. I was also told that a long time ago the only people who could use commisaries in Korea were married command sponsored people.
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5:14 am on September 20th, 2008 17
You don’t need to look at the wives of the lower ranking to see who is into the black market. Wives of Senior NCO and officers are probably the worst.
When I was stationed in Germany most of the German wives of American soliders were obviously purchasing PX/commissary goods in excess of what was needed for their family. In fact on weekends cars would line up to sign individuals onto the base specifically to go to the PX and shop. Inside the PX/commissary IDs were rarely, if ever, checked.
I guess I don’t totally understand why the black market seems to be OK in Germany and less OK in Korea.
mabey the Korean wifes were right in 1959 about the Americans being “race-conscious”.
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5:27 am on September 20th, 2008 18
Yes, they stopped checking id’s at the PX and Commissary in Germany back in 2001 I think. Anybody could go in and look around, but in order to buy something you had to present an id at checkout.
I guess the thing that bothers me the most about black marketing over here is that ordinary patrons out shopping for their families who purchase popular black market items, such as kalbi, are looked down upon for having those items in their cart. Contrary to what a lot of people think, not everybody who buys a pack of beef ribs or oxtail is black marketing.
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7:35 am on September 20th, 2008 19
Gerry,
“No, It doesn’t go up to the generals”
You are suggesting the generals in USFK are ignorant and unaware of what every casual observer finds to be obvious?
Please tell us more.
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9:15 am on September 20th, 2008 20
Heard a funny story recently.
An “insider” of the black market enforcement people at Yongsan was at a quarterly Black Market Suppression meeting (I think that’s what he called it) a while back – this was when the Mad Cow Disease demonstrations were the big thing.
A powerpoint slide indicated that beef products from the commissary were just as popular as ever on the black market.
A Colonel – a bit confused by this – asked, “If they are all up in arms about US beef possibly causing Mad Cow Disease, why in the world is the black marketing of beef from the commissary still going so strong?”
A very valid question………….for the uninitiated.
The explanation: “Koreans have been told that beef sent over for sale in the commissary is the ‘really good – disease free’ beef ~~ not the crappy stuff that the beef exporters in the US send over for domestic Korean consumption. Hence, US beef from the commissary is just as popular as ever.”
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1:22 pm on September 20th, 2008 21
So basically from what I have read when our U.S. soldiers go to Korea they inexplicably become infatuated with eating oxtails? Our we sending over busloads of the Clampits offspring or something?
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2:10 pm on September 20th, 2008 22
The Korean police are saying the “suppliers” (black market stores) won’t give the names of the “end suppliers” (AAFES/DECAS employees or ration card holders)…thus they won’t investigate more. Oh, and I’ll just fine them and not send them to jail because they won’t tell me the “end suppliers.” Oh, and I’ll blame it on not wanting to raise the US beef mad-cow issue again. BULLSHAT…
The bottomline is that the AFOSI/CID just got a free ride to NOT to their jobs to root out the problem originating from the bases. Now the AFOSI/CID can go back and drink coffee saying, “The Incheon Police wouldn’t help us so we can’t do anything.”
I believe the DECAS CARTS system has been effective in spotting abuses of the commissary system by individuals — but I also believe that there are insiders in the commissary who are allowing individuals to bypass the CARTS system and others in the warehouses allowing goods to flow straight from the warehouses to the “suppliers.” I believe the same is true of the BX control system where employees allow black marketing to continue on a LARGE SCALE.
Some of the stuff is arriving at the black market comes direct from the warehouses. I have recently seen boxes of Downy softener (no Korean markings on the box) stacked up the walls in one store (NOT A GROCERY STORE) in Shinjang Mall and overflowing out onto the storefront. This large-scale black marketing is right in the open. Other “foreign sales” markets operate in the Songtan Open Market selling high-end “foreign” foodstuffs/alcohol that are the same items as seen in the shoppette. These places are not hard to find — simply ask a Korean where they are located.
The ox-tail and kalbi sales is IMO really NOT the big thing except around the holidays when most people are pissed simply because they can’t get their share that their in-laws/Korean neighbors/girlfriends are hounding them to buy. What has to be the big concern is the day-to-day “suppliers” and “end suppliers” that move the goods off-base straight from the BX/Commissary warehouses using US govt trucks and then transfer them to civilian autos/trucks for further distribution.
I ask the AFOSI/CID to simply do their jobs — and stop using the Stars and Stripes to cover up their inability or lack of will to do their jobs.
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3:30 pm on September 20th, 2008 23
JAFO. No it was not my intention to suggest the generals were ignorant of the subject. (most generals and high ranking people I have met were not the ignorant type) In fact I’m sure its a topic they are all well versed in. After thinking about it, I would even go further and say a number of bottles of 18 yr old Chevas Regal have changed hands between generals and aquaintenses . But not for profit so much as easing into a better relationship amongst peers.
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6:35 pm on September 20th, 2008 24
Gerry,
I see.
So if they are not ignorant of the fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars and military resources which enrich a few Koreans at the expense of soldiers and airmen, please tell me why they continuously enable it.
We are not speaking of valid Chivas Regal diplomacy. We are speaking of the large-scale black marketing which is forced to our attention even when our career is not based on protecting the assets and interests of the United States.
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7:35 pm on September 20th, 2008 25
The biggest problem is that the U.S. has no jurisdiction outside of the military installations. They cannot pursue even a U.S. Citizen outside of a U.S. base without the Koreans cooporating and participating. The Koreans refuse to help because they are in on it and they don’t wan’t to be investigating the Mayor of Dongducheon or the Yongson-gu Chief of Police.
The only time these douchebags get busted is when they fail to pay off the right people or get too greedy.
I posted earlier in this thread about how the U.S. Taxpayer is footing the bill but I guess the stupid filter deleted it. Basically the Koreans are stealing from the U.S. taxpayer yet they don’t think they are doing anything wrong. We need to pull all our forces out of this place and let them do whatever it is they are gonna do. These people don’t deserve our support and it could be better used somewhere else.
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7:41 pm on September 20th, 2008 26
“but I also believe that there are insiders in the commissary who are allowing individuals to bypass the CARTS system”
Yes, 95% of the employees are Korean. Baggers don’t count. Even in the Management they are almost all Korean Amercians… but they are still Korean at heart. I have seen the Manager and her family members (DA Civilian Husband) at Cp. Casey buying loads of items that were just convienintly marked off 50% the previous day.
Anybody ever have stuff on their purchase report that you know you didn’t buy? I have… they said “oh musta been a system error”. Don’t get in line in front of a Korean with a bunch of Kalbi and Ox-Tail… it will end up on your SSN.
The Fox is gaurding the henhouse… don’t worry about your chickens… sleep well.
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7:49 pm on September 20th, 2008 27
Doesn’t everything come down to benefits? Doesn’t a percentage of AAFES profits go to MWR or base projects? If blackmarketing pushes up profits then all soldiers benefit, right? I’m not advocating BM but if, as some of you say, certain police agencies and officers have their hands in the cookie jar, then the problem will never go away. Never mess with someone’s money and all that, right?
Once a year the CID throws the public a bone, the Provost gets a commendation, blah, blah. Business as usual. Actually, I think the PX and commissary have done an excellent job keeping the stocks full so that GI’s AND ajumma can get get their’s. I haven’t heard anyone complaining.
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8:11 pm on September 20th, 2008 28
It’s like that everywhere overseas. Probably the worse is US territories where you can by meat much cheaper in the commissary than downtown. I just talked to someone from Turkey and he said it is much worse than Korea so much in order to get on base you must apply for a gate pass. In Europe when I was there it was cigarettes and booze.
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8:22 pm on September 20th, 2008 29
Gentlemen and Ladies,
this is my first tour in Korea, before getting here, I heard nothing but how easy it was to blackmarket stuff, even with ration cards. It doesn’t matter how much we attempt to stop it, it will happen. The MPs and CID are here to deter the rampant blackmarketing to the point it doesn’t “disturb” my desires to buy a pack of beef ribs (or oxtails-yuck).
You can’t stop a bullet train with a waterfilled barrier. Last two pay periods I noticed each and everytime, Soldiers are buying bulk items, (what single Soldier needs three 20pd bags of rice? Or saw two more Soldiers carrying about 15cans of spam, and another carrying five packs of shortribs?) Out the gate.
I am 100% Asian background, but proudly state I am an American and agree that to do “business” you trade or offer gifts, it has nothing to do with NCO, Officer, or junior Soldiers trying to black market. It is tradition, I would love to give a bottle of whiskey to the friends I have met, but my career is not worth throwing away on a $20 bottle, but I will drink the heck out of some soju.
We’ve fought the War of Drugs, a war that we win battles in, but a war that we will never win. Blackmarket is the same, you will win a few battles, but you will never win the war.
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8:23 pm on September 20th, 2008 30
JAFO. My guess would be of the several hundred or so commanders who have served in various parts of Korea since I was there in 1974 and 80, most have tried in some way or another to curb black marketing. The fact that it is so resiliant is amazing. I don’t know of any commander who has allowed it to thrive, and most have fought hard against it during thier tour. You can’t blame the military for a social problem that seems to have deep roots in a society as an acceptable way of life.
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9:32 pm on September 20th, 2008 31
Gerry,
Are you saying this is an issue of Korean social problems and not an issue of installation commanders being unable or unwilling to control their installation?
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1:54 am on September 21st, 2008 32
Ox tails, one of the good old favorites. Why does CP Casey have 3 freezers dedicated to ox tails? I would force DECA to make the top ten or so host items (items we all know the average soldier and civilian do not consume on a daily basis) into special order items. That would make it a bit more interesting. Also, there would be more room for legitimate items.
Of course, this would curb some of the small scale BM. The big bulk illegal transers happen in-between base between trucks in the wee hours.
Every once in a while a hapless PFC might get busted for buying a couple too many bottles of liquor and cans of spam. AFN celebrates CID’s latest success and we all go back to sleep.
Bottom line: Convert all the management jobs at AAFES and DECA to US citizen GS employees. Service just might improve and they can be held legally accountable. That, my friends, would be a good start. Stuff might fall off the back of trucks less often and when we asked for something we are lees likely to get a “Bu-la.”
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2:36 am on September 21st, 2008 33
I just visited this site. I think all your bitchin about Korean wifes is misplaced. What about the flip wifes? Those lowlifes are also blackmarketing. The stuff their “boyfrenz” buy on base makes their way into the BM stores.
The BM store outside of Osan air base, on the main street as the UN club and between Dukes suits, has on open display Downey, Mountain Dew, candy with AAFES price tags on them, and the like. I took photos and gave them to the osi; they thanked me and that was that; this happened more than 3 yrs ago.
Nope, osi and cid are totally corrupt and unless they actually get orders to work the BM issue, they will turn their head to it.
Funnily, they care about gi’s getting pus-sy but not BM! Now why is that????
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4:24 am on September 21st, 2008 34
I know as FACT that cashiers at the commissary are involved in the black marketing! DECA does not care because it equals $$$$$. The manager at Yongsan Commissary is a jerk and does not care. He is on the take too. FACT!!!!!! Try to file a complaint…he just smiles and says he will look into it. Yeah right…he don’t wanna loose his Beemer and $500 suits!
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4:35 am on September 21st, 2008 35
As a former DECA employee I can tell you a high percent of the management positions are GS US citizen postions. However, quite a few of these US citizens are Koreans who were naturalized or US citizens with Korean wifes. Most of the have been working in Korea in the commissary system for a very long time. Also a lot of GS workers are in the same category. I have been here in Korea for a long time and I see these same people constantly return to Korea or get promoted to a higher position. Also rationing will cause blackmarketing. Ask someone to tell you what it was like in the US during World War II.
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9:10 am on September 21st, 2008 36
JAFO Yes, I think it is a social problem. One of corruption, and a persons ability to make a quick buck. As far as being able to reduce it, the efforts have been made time and time again. It is often only as succesful as the local officials want it to be. Either they are rewarded for looking the other way, or do not wish to upset the local population over a foreigners base in thier couintry. When the locals call for an end to it, it will end. Not before.
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9:26 am on September 21st, 2008 37
Gerry,
So the black marketing will end only when the local Koreans want it to end?
The generals entrusted with safeguarding American interests are powerless to stop a group of middle-aged women openly breaking the rules (or laws) in an area where they have absolute authority?
I am confused.
Could we win a war in which
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10:34 am on September 21st, 2008 38
“a group of middle aged women”? I would guess more than several attempts have been made to “restrict” various groups over the years from black marketing. The problem that is run into time and time again is the discrimination based on social profiling and the uproar it causes. “a group of middle aged women”, single males, ethnic korean wives, non command sponsored etc.etc. Being married to a Korean and having been stationed in Korea twice, it was not a good feeling knowing you were being treated as a known criminal for the misdeeds of others. Especially when the higher ranks were more or less excluded. I have never considered myself less in social status than anyone else, so the idea that I was being profiled as such irritated me.
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10:36 am on September 21st, 2008 39
JAFO “could we win a war with”. The two are not really related, and I doubt any country on earth right now can beat us militarily.
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7:27 am on December 9th, 2008 40
[...] have NOT gotten into the thefts by Koreans who work on base. The following was posted to the blog GI ROK Drop: The Korean police are saying the ?suppliers? (black market stores) won?t give the names of the [...]