Who knows if this video is authentic or not but it has been fairly well documented that Kim Jong-il kept a special detachment of dancing girls for his own private use:

You can read more about Kim Jong-il’s dancing girls over at One Free Korea.

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Via the Marmot’s Hole comes this link to some great photographs of the Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA) during the Korean War.  Here is a sample of some of these great pictures:

American soldiers captured after trying to escape in their Jeep.

Chinese soldiers being entertained by North Korean dancing girls.  Notice how young the Chinese soldiers look.

Chinese and North Korean soldiers celebrate the recapturing of Seoul in 1951.  Does anyone know which building this is that they are celebrating in front of?

Make sure to view the entire collection because the pictures do a really good job of humanizing and giving a different perspective of the Chinese soldiers during the Korean War.

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Some how I missed this from earlier in the week but what a horrible story this is:

A court handed down suspended jail terms to four family members who repeatedly raped a teenage relative who suffered from an intellectual disability.

The Cheongju District Court Thursday sentenced an 87-year-old grandfather and two uncles of a 16-year-old girl to four-year suspended prison terms for sexually assaulting and raping the girl for the last seven years. Another uncle received a three-year suspended jail term.

The court acknowledged that their crime was “sinful” as they used the young girl, who is their family member, to satisfy their sexual desires. But it gave the suspended terms, saying, “The accused have fostered the girl in her parents’ place. Considering her disability, she will also need their care and help in living in the future.”

The court added it took the accused people’s old age and illness into consideration.

Citizens strongly denounced the ruling, saying the punishments were too lenient for the grave crime. Internet users said it is absurd to release them to “take care of her,” as she needs help from others, not from rapists. They also said those committing such a crime do not deserve consideration regarding old age or illnesses.

Some bloggers are collecting signatures to oust the judge who made the ruling. The prosecution also decided to appeal. “One of them even has a previous conviction for rape but was given a suspended term. The ruling is unacceptable,” a prosecutor said.  [Korea Times]

Brian in Jeollanam-do, Robert Koehler, Korea Sparkle and Wizbang has much more on this including information on signing a petition condemning this ruling. 

For those surprised by this ruling don’t be, because this is pretty much standard practice in Korea.  For example a 19 year old USFK private that just arrived at Incheon Airport and took a taxi to Yongsan to inprocess was raped by the cab driver and the charges against the cab driver were dropped because the victim didn’t resist enough:

The Seoul High Court yesterday overturned the conviction by a lower court of a 49-year old taxi driver who had been charged with the rape of a 19-year old U.S. female soldier.
The man had received a 10-month prison term in the original trial after being convicted of luring the newly-arrived servicewoman from Incheon International Airport to a hotel near there where the woman said he raped her.

The woman reported the incident to U.S. military authorities, who asked for assistance from Korean prosecutors. The appeals court ruled that the woman had shown no evidence of having refused the man’s advances, and that he used “not enough violence to constitute rape.”

Another example worth reading is the sexual assualt of a woman by the name of Winter Raymond who was a cast member on the Korean show “Beauties Chatterbox”.  Truly disgusting what happened to her.

However, if a USFK servicemember is implicated in a rape case he is convicted and sent to jail even if he didn’t do it.  Like I said before this is an outrageous ruling but consistent with other rape cases in Korea.  People should not be just upset with this ruling but the Korean justice system as a whole that allows ruling such as this to become possible.

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The story of the Kunsan airman that saved the life a young Korean woman by donating his blood to combat her rare form of lieukemia is one I have profiled before here on the ROK Drop.  It is really a great story that involved a lot of great leadership on Kunsan Airbase to make happen.  Now the woman who’s life was saved had a chance recently to meet the man that saved her life:

A local South Korean woman and the Kunsan Air Base Airman whose blood donation saved her life met for the first time when she visited here Nov. 21.

Airman Tamarias Pope of the 8th Security Forces Squadron met up with 22-year-old You Jin Pak, allowing the 19-year-old Airman to put a face to the person his lifesaving donation reached.

“Meeting her was a really good experience,” Airman Pope said. “Most people that give blood don’t really get to meet the person that they saved. She looked healthy. She looked happy. That made me happy.” (….)

The first meeting between patient and Samaritan took place at the 8th SFS headquarters. Customary greetings and bows were exchanged as well as a more informal hug between two strangers whose lives became intertwined after a simple call for help.

Ms. Pak, her parents and Dr. Park were then given a quick tour of the base. They were shown around the security forces building before heading to an entry control point where Airman Pope explained some of his daily duties. The next stop on the tour was the 35th Fighter Squadron where Ms. Pak was fitted with a flight suit and jacket. The tour ended with a visit to the flightline where she got to see an F-16 Fighting Falcon up close and got to climb into the aircraft.

“I had a lot of fun,” Ms. Pak said. “It was thrilling experience for me to visit the air base. When I was in the cockpit, I wanted to fly.”  [USFK Website]

Once again great job by Airman Pope and the rest of the people at Kunsan involved with making this life saving story possible.

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Chaplain Burgess P. Riddle conducts Thanksgiving Day Services on Nov. 23, 1950 during the Korean War

Before you eat your turkey dinner this Thanksgiving make sure to give thanks to the soldiers who spent a total of three Thanksgivings between 1950-1953 fighting the Korean War.  Here is a letter home that explains one soldier’s Thanksgiving during the war:

Bill Shepard of Plymouth, US Army, Korea :
“I came back home after the Second World War and then was recalled during the Korean War.  It was a shock — I hadn’t even really told my new wife that I was still in the Reserves…
“I wrote a letter home from Korea on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 1951, that my wife has saved.  You can see by the letter :
Am so full I can hardly move!  We just finished eating a huge turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  I’ll enclose the menu.  Typical Army — feast or famine, but today we had the feast.
We were up on the front lines eating cold K rations and then suddenly we go to the rear for Thanksgiving dinner, and then right back to the front line!”

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Here is another good story of USFK servicemembers and their families helping out in Korea:

Yongsan volunteers wore red rubber gloves, plastic hats and vests as they helped make kimchi for needy Korean families Nov. 17.

Fifteen Army Family Members and Civilian Employees joined hundreds of Korean volunteers to help stuff thousands of cabbages with spicy seasoning at Sudo Girl’s High School, near Camp Coiner.

Garrison volunteers have been actively participating to this annual kimchi-making activity for several years. The Yongsan District of Seoul will provide the final products to elderly and needy families.

“We can’t imagine Korean cuisine without kimchi,” said Han Gi-su, a liaison officer between U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan and the Yongsan District. “This activity grows even stronger because of these volunteers, and we truly appreciate their help.”

Kimchi is made by stuffing cabbage with seasonings made of red pepper, garlic, radish and other various vegetables. Volunteers from local companies and organizations, Republic of Korea Army Soldiers and veterans worked together as a team to make the kimchi.

“What a wonderful way to share cultural experience,” said Tracey Briggs, one of the American volunteers. Three generations of her family, her mother, herself and her daughter, participated in the event. “It was just an overwhelming sense of camaraderie. Koreans were so welcoming and warm, and it was a time to treasure.”

“They were very enthusiastic and bright,” said Lee Kyung-ah, a Korean volunteer who taught how to make Kimchi. “I am from Yongsan Women’s Reserve Army and it is so great to see U.S. Army Families come together and help needy families.” [USFK Website]

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There is plenty of warranted criticism of Korean law enforcement, but when it comes to drugs they appear to quite a good job cracking down on this activity:

A U.S. soldier has been sentenced to five years in a South Korean prison on charges he helped traffic 30 pounds of marijuana into the country and assaulted two investigators during a sting operation in Itaewon, according South Korean court officials and documents.

Army Staff Sgt. Victor C. Aruwah, 28, of the 35th Air Defense Artillery at Osan Air Base, was convicted Nov. 21 on multiple charges, including drug trafficking, assault, and interference with government official duties, according to South Korean court and U.S. Army officials.

Aruwah, with the the artillery’s headquarters and headquarters battery, remains in U.S. custody, according to 8th U.S. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jeff Buczkowski.

Aruwah is appealing the conviction in Incheon District Court, according to his lawyer, Lee Jang-han.

“He remains innocent,” Lee said of his client in a phone interview earlier this week. “He said he happened to be at the wrong place and at the wrong time.”

Court documents, however, paint Aruwah as a member of a three-man team that arranged to bring 30.6 pounds of marijuana into South Korea, a country with an aggressive anti-drug policy.

Last year, the country handled 231 cases involving foreigners accused of drug crimes, according to the Korean National Police Agency’s Web site. An Incheon court spokesman said he couldn’t even estimate the street value of marijuana involved in this bust because of the quantity.

In the United States, a pound of marijuana has an estimated average street value of $4,000, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.  [Stars & Stripes]

Doing a quick Google search on SSG Victor Aruwah shows that he is a native of Lagos, Nigeria and the 2004 US Forces European boxing champion in the 201 pound weight classification.  He is also a heavyweight boxing champion in USFK as well.  So he is a big guy that could easily manhandle two Korean police investigators as claimed and his Nigerian background explains how he probably became linked to the Nigerian drug smuggler in Itaewon.

Prior GI potheads sitting in Korean jail will now have some company with this conviction of Aruwah.

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Who can name who this actor is representing?:

Here are this year’s Korea Finder Leadersboard:

1. Mark - 7
2. Leon Laporte - 5
3. Brian - 3
3. Crackus - 3
4. Shattered -2
4. NC47 - 2
4. Sonagi - 2
5. Rob - 1
5. Ryoske - 1
5. Tony - 1
5. Hamilton - 1
5. Chickenhead - 1
5. Kevin - 1

Note that who ever totals the most points at the end of the year, I will purchase for them a Korea related book or DVD of their choice using the proceeds I have accumulated by readers by purchasing books from Amazon.com on the sidebar. Also if you have an image that you think would make for a great Korea Finder feel free to submit it to me through my e-mail address which you can find on my about page. Thanks.

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I actually attended a firepower demonstration for one of these before and I found the K-9 to be quite an impressive piece of equipment:

The South Korean government on Wednesday signed a 1.5 trillion won (US$1 billion) deal with a local manufacturer to produce hundreds of K-9 self-propelled howitzers, the defense procurement office said.

Samsung Techwin, an arms affiliate of the country’s largest conglomerate Samsung, will also supply hundreds of K-10 armored mobile munition vehicles by 2012 under the contract, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). [Yonhap]

The K9/K10 system is one of the best self propelled artillery system in the world and superior even to the US M109 “Paladin” system and vastly superior if equipped with the K10 package that automatically reloads the main artillery piece. However, before the system was even fielded to the ROK Army it was being sold and exported abroad. The first country the developer of the K9, Samsung Techwin, sold the system to was Turkey who received its first batch of K9s in 2004 and has since bought the license from Samsung Techwin to domestically produce the K9 in Turkey. Turkey is expected to field a force of 300 K9s by 2011. This total deal for Samsung Techwin was worth a reported $1 billion US dollars.

The Turkish Army calls it the T-155 Firtina.  ROK Drop readers may also remember that the Turkish Army also bought the XK-2 tank from Korea. There is also a munitions deal that has been struck between the two nations as well.

Here is a video of the K-9 in action:

Samsung Techwin is continuing to test the system for potential international buyers such as Malaysia, Australia, and Spain to name a few interested countries. The K9 is expected to claim 31% of the world’s self propelled artillery market by 2015 making them the world’s leaders in this field over rivals such as Germany and Japan.

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The SSRT official arrested at the Dallas airport this week for his involvement in a AAFES corruption scandal claims that the accusations against him are all lies!:

Jeong

Jeong’s Dallas attorney, Michael Levine, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday morning.

However, in an Associated Press story datelined Dallas, Levine denied the allegations and said Jeong was a victim of “extortion.”

“This was extortion pure and simple, on the part of the American AAFES employees,” the AP quoted Levine as saying.

“It’s not what it looks like,” said Levine. “He (Jeong) was approached and these funds were demanded of him. Otherwise everything he worked so hard for would have been lost.”  [Stars & Stripes]

The article also comes up with another name involved in this corruption scandal:

The affidavit also contains allegations that Choy “orchestrated” the award of the contract to SSRT, partly with the help of John Patrick Mulligan. Mulligan had worked for a telecommunications firm and had valuable insights into contracts with AAFES in South Korea and Japan, the affidavit said.

He admitted to federal agents that he had hatched a secret deal to help SSRT in exchange for an estimated $3 million over “a term of years,” according to the affidavit.

This is the first time I have heard the name of John Patrick Mulligan come up.  Considering the amount of money this guy was due in this corruption scam, it makes me wonder if this isn’t the big fish the feds are after?

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Could you imagine what the reaction in the US would be if posters like this were ever posted?:

STOP THEM AT THE SHORES, PROTECT [OUR COUNTRY].

PLEASE COOPERATE IN STOPPING ILLEGAL ALIENS AND THEIR ILLEGAL ENTRY.

CONTACT IBARAKI PREFECTURAL POLICE HQ
029-301-0110

You can read more over at JapanProbe.

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