http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/20030…

In a telling anecdote, it is said that Condoleezza Rice, the White House's national security adviser, asked a Korean government official if he knew the names of the two middle school girls killed last year by a U.S. armored vehicle. He answered yes right away. Then she asked if he knew any of the names of the sailors killed in the West Sea battle. The official stuttered, unable to answer the question. This embarrassing incident shows us how ridiculous our country may seem to the world.

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…

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…

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…

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.

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'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.