Comments on: GI Flashback: The 2002 Taxi Cab Rape Case

By: Korean Taxi Driver Suspected of Being a Serial Killer « Youseok's Blog

Korean Taxi Driver Suspected of Being a Serial Killer « Youseok's Blog — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:37:29 +0000

[...] He wouldn’t have been caught if he didn’t rob, rape and kill kill his 24 year-old passenger last Friday night. Hey, I thought the passenger was to rob the taxi driver. And can he use the I was drunk defense for this, but still be charged for DUI? This case though seems like De Ja Vu to me. [...]

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:39:29 +0000

For two weeks afterwards, the Korean media refused to acknowledge that the alleged Korean victim of sexual harassment was, in fact, the soldier's wife. One of the papers noted that the soldier was not arrested for sexual harassment because the victim had not pressed charges. Some Filipino woman who was a regular contributer to one of the English papers wrote a column condemning the soldier for violating Korean cultural norms by touching his wife's bottom and for covering his face in front of the cameras. The first action is indeed offensive to Koreans, but the second is routine. Only Chaebol CEOs and politicians walk erect into a prosecutor's office. Ordinary Koreans whose full names are not used in the media and whose faces are not easily recognizable usually shield themselves with a jacket or their arms while the cameras are rolling. Methinks some Koreans fed her this mumbo-jumbo about the soldier not showing contrition by hiding his face.

By: GI Korea

GI Korea — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:22:22 +0000

The Chungmuro Incident you are referring to another incident caused by Koreans and was widely sensationalized by the Korean media:

It all began when an American soldier put his hand on a Korean woman’s rump. The version that has captured the local imagination is that a group of drunken American soldiers were rampaging through the subway, molesting Korean women, and that the soldiers then attacked good citizens who dared protest the errant hand. The American understanding of events starts with a fact that the Koreans tend to leave out: The American soldier and the Korean woman whose behind he patted were in fact a married couple. The Americans say the problems arose when some angry young Koreans on the subway accused the American of sexually harassing the Korean woman. When the Korean woman explained that she was the American’s wife, the Korean men allegedly spat at her and slapped her — leading the woman’s husband to punch the man who slapped her. [Click here to read more]

So basically the KATUSA's you are referring to were happy a woman got raped because of a fraudulent incident on the subway.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:53:05 +0000

You forget about the Korean concept of "frontier justice". A bit after the "Chungmuro Incident" in 1995, a taxi driver picked up a young female soldier while he had a passenger in the front seat. The cabbie drove into the woods, and he and the passenger took turns raping her before dumping her naked and bloody in front of the camp (Casey or Hovey). The KATUSAs I was teaching at the time thought it was correct revenge for the Chungmuro Incident. They saw it as somehow appropriate.

By: HanSolo

HanSolo — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:15:00 +0000

I'm not surprised. I would only be surprised if the the guy received a proper prison sentence and the Korean gov't apologized to the U.S Military and the United States. Now THAT would blow my mind!!

By: brett

brett — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:10:36 +0000

What is the Korean law system based on ? Does it need a re-do to bring it into the present time ?

There seems to be a complete lack of respect for the law. People just seem to ignore it, and if caught, whine incessantly about the old military junta. Korea does not seem to be able to move on.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:47:22 +0000

And considering that Korea's judicial system prosecutes crime victims who use "excessive force" against an attacker, you're darned if you do and darned if you don't. Korean women victims are denied justice, too, sadly, even when the perpetrator is a foreigner. At least the prosecutors are appealing to the Supreme Court. Given the fast growing number of women prosecutors, I wouldn't be surprised if there was at least one woman on the team that prosecuted this case.