By Sonagi over the Marmot’s Hole has translated an article in the Chosun Ilbo on former 2nd Infantry Division commander Russel Honore’s new book, Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family from Disasters
I’m too tired to translate line by line, so I’ll briefly convey some of his thoughts:
The 2002 accident on a narrow road happened at the worst possible time and under the worst circumstances with the world’s eyes focused on the opening of the World Cup in Korea. and with young politicians using the accident to push their anti-American and North Korea appeasement agendas.
The major who was responsible for issuing public statements gave explanatory details rather than showing an apologetic attitude. This was a mistake, and by the time we realized it, it was too late. The demonstrations were in full force.
I was distressed and disappointed to depart Korea while demonstrators outside Camp Casey in Dongducheon were calling me a murderer and demanding that the US military leave Korea.
It would be interesting to read what General Honore actually wrote in English in the book. [Sonagi at the Marmot's Hole]
I just downloaded General Honore’s book on to my Kindle so I will read through it this weekend hopefully and provide some feedback. The book is currently getting some mixed reviews over at Amazon but still ranks pretty well with four stars.
In the mean time you can read what I wrote about the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident along with the Top 5 Lessons Learned from the accident. You can also see pictures of the Highway 56 Memorial site here as well.
7:09 pm on May 7th, 2009 1
The biggest mistake made by the US was putting the two NCOs on trial before the Korea Presidential election. If the trial had been postponed a few months the election results may have been different.
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7:36 pm on May 7th, 2009 2
You stuck on stupid, boy?
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9:27 am on May 8th, 2009 3
I’m really curious how accurate this translation is.
The Major to whom this makes reference was the 2ID Public Affairs Officer MAJ Ono. Kind of ironic that his name was Ono – as Apollo Anton Ono (the Olympic skater) was despised nationwide at the time because of speed skating competitions in which he beat Korean skaters.
Getting back to MAJ Ono…I talked with him at length about the situation. Very few people know this, but here is the truth of the matter:
In spite of how bad things were – MAJ Ono made a huge difference. He was at the homes of the two deceased girls on a daily basis for weeks and his sincerity, personal dedication and daily interaction with the families helped out a great deal. He convinced the parents that the US military really was sorry and in spite of every radical NGO leader in the country trying hard to co-opt the parents – MAJ Ono’s perseverance and dedication won them over. The parents appeared at a few demonstrations and spoke out a few times – but for the most part – they weren’t part of the circus that ensued after the death of their daughters.
If the parents had allowed themselves to be sucked in by the radicals – the situation could have been even worse as it would have convinced even more Koreans to jump on the anti-American bandwagon.
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May 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
@guitard:
My translation was a concise recounting of key remarks. I won’t bother providing the relevant text in Korean here, but GI’s blog hates Hangeul. I will give a Romanized transliteration of key words and their English equivalents:
…i-janggyo-neun sajuihaneun taedo-ga anira haemyeonghaneun jase-reul boyeoneun-de…
literal word-for-word translation:
…this officer apologetic attitude not explaining details showed…
Remember that I was translating from a Korean translation of Honore’s remarks. I hope GI Korea will share with us what the retired general actually wrote in his book.
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May 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
but = because
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May 8th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Sonagi I will read what Honore said in the book this weekend and post it here. By the way I will also try to figure out how to get this Wordpress theme to accept Hangeul as well as an added homework assignment this weekend.
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4:12 pm on May 8th, 2009 4
The line about the whole thing being a simple matter of misunderstanding – like not being apologetic enough or not telling the right details early enough or cooperating early enough — came about as a clear break from the main Korean narrative once people in the Korean press realized Korea stood a good chance of having their international image tarnished as more and more outside news agencies took notice of what was going on.
At the time, it was one of the more aggravating things to watch, at least for me.
It was also part of a Korean cultural thing that goes beyond dealings with the US — where apologies are never “sincere” enough – as long as Korean society feels like venting rage…
I wrote this up at the time: http://usinkorea.org/issues/righteous_anger/index.html
The Korea Herald archives no cost money to view, but the Herald editor at the time was masterful at playing all these bogus cards. At times, I could really picture myself giving her a good slap across the face if I could ever run into her…
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4:23 pm on May 8th, 2009 5
I couldn’t find the article, but there was one from early 2003, when Donald Rumsfeld had started saying the US would remove our troops if Korea wanted and that – in fact – he thought we should downsize a third anyway – and 60 Minutes and the American media were piling on the story – with 60 Minutes showing the USFK commander breaking down in tears…
the article was about a meeting between Rice and Korean officials. It described the Korean officials of going through these same lines: how it was all just a tragic misunderstanding – if only USFK had done this or that early on, it would have all been avoided…
Rice is said to have pointed out that in each case, the US Embassy and/or USFK or Washington had, in fact, done exactly what the Korean official was suggesting should have been done.
Then she is said to have asked the Korean officials if they knew the names of the two girls who were tragically crushed by the US armored vehicle. “Of course” they said they knew them and told her.
Then she asked if they knew the names of the ROK sailors who had been gunned down by North Korean patrol boats a month or so the two girls were killed……and they didn’t…..
Until Rice helped lead the charge in moving toward AF 2.0 — this story and her background made me like her a good bit…
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4:32 pm on May 8th, 2009 6
Here is the article – from the Chosun Daily
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200306/200306180021.html
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