By The Korea Times is now involving the ROK Drop in their sensationalized journalism activities with their recent article about my posting on the increase in USFK crime:
The number of U.S. soldiers found guilty in Korean courts of committing crimes has jumped more than 2.5 times over the past five years, according to an analysis of court results posted on the website of the United States Forces Korea (USFK).
The analysis shows that only 48 U.S. servicemen were convicted in courts here in 2007, but the number soared to 66 in 2008 and 87 in 2009. The number of convictions even rose to 128 in 2010, up 68 percent compared to the previous year.
ROK Drop, a military weblog, which produced the statistics based on official announcements on the USFK website, suggests that the sudden increase in crimes in the past year may be attributed to the elimination of the curfew. [Korea Times]
I guess it is to be expected that the journalist Lee Tae-hoon decided to focus on the increase in crime without mentioning nothing about traffic accidents being the primary cause of the rise in off-post incidents due to the change in driving policy putting more drivers on the road. He should have also mentioned as I specifically stated in the posting that the numbers I compiled from the monthly court martial results posted on the USFK website were not official numbers from USFK since I do not speak for USFK and have nothing to do with USFK. As far as the curfew policy I specifically stated that the court martial results do not show what time a crime occurred so that it is impossible to determine if the curfew change is causing the increase. However, if someone wanted to argue that it is it, with the information available it is a valid theory that cannot be disproved. Personally as I have state on this blog I support the curfew change and even if the increase in incidents could be attributed to the curfew change I would hope USFK leadership does not reimpose the curfew.
To Lee Tae-hoon’s credit at least he got a USFK response to his article:
However, USFK spokesman Kim Yong-kyu claims that the stiff increase may reflect Korean law enforcement authorities’ determination to prosecute misbehaving U.S. troops in local courts.
“You should not jump to a conclusion that U.S. soldiers are committing twice more crimes than before, given that many of the crimes that could have been dealt by USFK court martial have been transferred to Korean authorities,” he said.
I think this is also a very valid theory on why there has been an increase in assaults. The local authorities may be making more of an effort to prosecute USFK servicemembers than in prior years. Whatever the reason for the increase is, I am sure the USFK leadership has the proper information available to them to take make appropriate decisions about it.
Additionally in Lee’s article he couldn’t even keep his statistics straight because I specifically said there were no rapes last year, but an indecent act on a minor in the November court martial results. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Lee didn’t bother to mention how USFK servicemembers despite the increase in incidents still has per capita a lower crime rate than the surrounding Korean population when crime rates are compared. He could have just as easily headlined his article with, “USFK Crime Rate Well Below Korean Levels”, but that wouldn’t be a sensationalist title. This is the reason I compile the GI crime numbers to show people that the stereotype of out of control GI crime in Korea is not true.
Finally let me just say that this article is a perfect example of why the Korea Times, which was once a fine publication has become nothing more than a tabloid in recent years. Seriously quoting an anonymous blog entry as a news source? How does the Korea Times even know my numbers are even accurate to publish in their newspaper with? Why didn’t Lee Tae-hoon just compile the USFK court martial results himself? USFK posts it on their website every month. This is lazy journalism. I also don’t appreciate the selective quoting and sensationalizing of the blog entry by the journalist. Because of this I have took the original posting down because I don’t want it used for the sensationalist agenda of this journalist. If he wants to sensationalize than he can go add up the ROK criminal prosecution results on his own.
2:48 pm on March 24th, 2011 1
Sounds like the editor in chief and this journalist will be getting a nasty little letter in the future. Now only if Korea had a reputable media monitoring agency to go to, this would be a great time. Also, considering this has been picked up by the times, it will no doubt be in the hanki over the next few days, only with extra fudged data and a final paragraph basically saying "f* off American troops"
5:29 pm on March 24th, 2011 2
To be fair, the journalist(?) may have difficulty with English. If Tom would be so kind as to help him with the correct interpretation of your posting, I'm sure that would clear everything up.
6:35 pm on March 24th, 2011 3
The appalling GI crime rate is one bitter pill
but good leadership could change that to good will.
There is really no trick.
Just don't be a diick.
Let them drink and funk on the cheap in the Ville.
7:04 pm on March 24th, 2011 4
USFK is well known for coddling criminals. Take Julies Realty, for example…
8:59 pm on March 24th, 2011 5
"Seriously quoting an anonymous blog entry as a news source?"
What was the editor thinking, quoting a site full of GI common criminals.
9:27 pm on March 24th, 2011 6
…and in today's Oops, I Didn't Quite Think That All The Way Through Department…
"However, USFK spokesman Kim Yong-kyu claims t the stiff increase may reflect Korean law enforcement authorities’ determination to prosecute misbehaving U.S. troops in local courts."
So it IS true that GI criminals were getting off easy when it got swept under the USFK rug.
Tom, did you have anything to add?
9:30 pm on March 24th, 2011 7
Well, the editor err.. journalist is obviously a puppet of the imperialist running dogs who is conspiring to lure innocent Koreans to the criminal aggressor's website to see his false statistics and lies about GI rapes being mere traffic violations. However, the rascal cleverly eliminated the evidence. Which would have come from the propaganda put out by the yankee aggressor's military website.
9:35 pm on March 24th, 2011 8
said journalist in question…what a douche!
10:09 pm on March 24th, 2011 9
Zilchy here! I changes my moniker in temporary fashion. I'm going head to head with the Chickenhead for poetry immortality. His red-faced, comb headed rhetoric is no match for my helmet-shaped, spitting venom. It's all out war folks. Read it and weap!
You dirty GI's, what a surprise
Breaking the rules, set by some fools
The fight can't be won, so let it be done
No integrity present, the words of a peasant
The media sad, so let's just be glad
Till the next time of an overblown crime
10:51 pm on March 24th, 2011 10
Sure Tom, why not? Quotes from Korean criminals are so common that there can be nothing but other peoples trying to emmulate the Korean masters of crime.
11:55 pm on March 24th, 2011 11
The Korea Times is a joke.
2:22 am on March 25th, 2011 12
Why take the original entry down? You're only preventing people who want to look more into it from getting the full story, including all of the caveats The Korea Times left out.
6:53 am on March 25th, 2011 13
GI, you need you elaborate better your arguments.
You are claiming that this reporter is an ignorant because he quoted your numbers on USFK crimes in his article …. Well, what do you mean? That he is stupid because the numbers you have been posting here are fakes or that you have no credibility or authority to write about this issue ????
Please do not get me wrong. I’m sure that your effort to bring to public these numbers is for a good purpose but it seem to me that by trying to slap the face of this guy you are spitting on your own face. Do you understand what I mean???
7:33 am on March 25th, 2011 14
The original posting was taken down? Command influence?
8:45 am on March 25th, 2011 15
His post here covers a lot of question you guys are asking. Why did he take it down? He's pissed off at the reporter for misrepresenting his research. How was his research different from the article the reporter wrote and what were the facts that differed? He has links to articles that pretty much have covered how journalists like Lee will omit facts to sensationalize GI crime and facts that contradict these sensationalized journalism. That's why he's probably not responding to the addtional questions. It's covered.
12:33 pm on March 25th, 2011 16
#13- Blogs are supposed to for opinions and newspaper articles are supposed to be "hard news." For a reporter to quote from a blog is very unprofessional. The least he could have done was try to contact the blogger and get a quote from the poster and then properly attribute the quote to a living, breathing person. If all a reporter has to use for a quote is a post on a blog from "Stinkypits2011", then maybe it's time to get on the phone and call someone who can give a quote that can be properly attributed.
12:39 pm on March 25th, 2011 17
This could have been a "hard news" story with statistics, quotes from the Korean police, US Military officials, and others who can explain the issues and why things happened the way they did. Instead, the Korea Times reporter decided to (mis-?)quote from a blog. Is that the way Korean reporters handle stories like these? It's very unprofessional and it shows that the Korea Times is a JOKE.
4:20 pm on March 25th, 2011 18
Zilchy wrote rhymes of wisdom that's unsaid
and crafted verses that shouldn't go unread.
So the future's young tykes
will study the likes
of Shakespeare, Frost, Poe, and the Dikhead.
11:49 pm on March 25th, 2011 19
For those wondering why I took the posting down it has nothing to do with command influence. I was never contacted by USFK and I have absolutely nothing to do with USFK. As I mentioned in the posting I don't want the posting used by any other journalists who have an agenda like from the Hankyoreh for example.
Let me explain how real journalists work. Over the years I have been contacted quite regularly by various journalists in regards to information I have written. Often they want to get background information on a topic or a quote from me for their article. I don't do quotes due to my active duty status and having to contact Army PAO for such things. I don't need the hassle. Other times I put journalists in contact with other people I know that can provide them on the record information. Most journalists and even the few writers I have interacted with are quite professional and would never use an anonymous blog entry to source an article.
I think archieB in #16 and #17 summed up things quite well. If Lee Tae-hoon would have contacted me I would have let him know where to find the source information for himself to compile and then he should have contacted USFK to confirm his findings and comment on them. A journalist should not use an anonymous blog posting as an authoritative source. I could just be making stats up for all he knows. That is why he should have compiled the numbers himself and asked USFK to verify his findings.
He should have also put into context in the article that yes off post incidents have risen over the past few years but mostly because of traffic incidents due to more USFK drivers on the road. He should have also mentioned that when compared to the Korean crime rate per capita USFK's rate is still quite low. The fact that such important information was left out leads me to believe that he just wanted to further advance the stereotype of out of control GI crime in Korea which is not true.
12:33 am on March 26th, 2011 20
Tom, being a communist Chinese, wants nothing more than to separate US and Korean folks to make Korea easy to conquer.
But we've seen his ilk before. And his bad complexion, thick spectacles, and poor social skills are no match for the strong capitalist thread that binds our two free peoples…
Tom is a liar akin to the serpent in Eden; but we're not going to bite the apple this time.
1:15 pm on March 27th, 2011 21
"I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Lee didn’t bother to mention how USFK servicemembers despite the increase in incidents still has per capita a lower crime rate than the surrounding Korean population when crime rates are compared. "
Just remember that's an argument I made online many years ago about ESL teachers (it's been recycled many times over since by others) next time you want to joke about us all being potheads.
2:32 pm on March 27th, 2011 22
Well I hate to say it, but the beating of an elderly Man and Woman ten days after you have been convicted, in a court of law, for breaking and entering is on the "Out Of Control Side"!