• Off-Base Issues: Prostitution and A-Town - Wolf Pack to combat prostitution -- an object lesson in futility -- and on-base rapes increase; A-town Off-limits -- the makings of a scandal (Updated: January 2004)
  

• Military Affairs (2003) -- USS Carl Vinson arrives in Pusan; Elmendorf F-15s at Osan; Marine FA-18s arrive at Kunsan in May; Low-key buildup; End of May return to normal. (Updated: 3 June 2003)
• Military Affairs (2004) -- Seoul Courts Rule Against USFK Land Use; Vehicle Registration Policy Change; Crime Reports on USFK Soldiers; Continuing ROK-US Prosecutions; Bonus to Soldiers for Extension (Updated: 14 January 2004)
  
  
• Relocation of USFK Bases (2003) -- In March USF announces it will relocate off the DMZ and south of the Han River; Renegotiations of Restructuring of 50-year old alliance; U.S. to invest $11 billion in Korea defense; Korea forced to increase its Defense spending; Enmeshed and entangled, the ROK drags its feet and attempts to shift the financial burden to the USFK; U.S. playing hardball and negotiations hit major snag in September 2003. 15-17 Jan continuation of meetings on relocation and reduction in forces. The first bases Camp Greaves and Giant to be returned in Nov 2004 under the LPP instead of 2011. (Updated: 31 Dec 2003)
  
  
  • Stryler/LAVIII: Our Opinion -- Details on the Stryker SBCT (3d Bde 2d ID) that will be replacing the 2d ID on the DMZ as part of a global repositioning strategy. Included are short sections on current USFK weapons systems that may augment the Stryker units in Korea after all the smoke has cleared. Stryker headed to Iraq in mid-October; US wants future forces to have a "regional" role; Stryker unit in Iraq in 2003 and blooded in Jan 2004. Stryker with its jerry-rigged LPG protection screens undergo the acid test of combat. Strykers success in Iraq for urban warfare role, but still questions about use in mountainous terrain unanswered. Decision to return the Interim Brigade Combat Team to Korea appears to be still up in the air as of 2004. (Updated: Jan 2004)
  
  
  
• Relocation of USFK Bases (2004) -- 15-17 Jan continuation of meetings on relocation and reduction in forces. The first bases Camp Greaves and Giant to be returned in Nov 2004 under the LPP instead of 2011. (Updated: Weekly)
  
  
  • Proposed ROK FY2005 Military Budget -- Is It the Last Straw??? (OPINION) -- ROK Promised Defense Spending increase of 3.2 percent of GDP in 2004, but delivered a 2.8 percent of GDP. ROK Spending has now passed 1997 levels. The US position is that the ROK has the ability to increase its defense spending, but the ROK has not shown the will to do so. ROK "self-reliant" defense is delusional, but the ROK is maintaining the "free-ride" using the US High-tech warfare umbrella. Cursory look at why the ROK "Self-reliant" Defense is delusional. Though stated as reasons for Budget increase, the truth is that the E-X program will be sent out for bids in Nov 2004 and the SAM-X (Patriot) will NEVER be procured as long as President Roh is in office. The ROK is developing weapons programs that offer technology transfer or benefit industrial growth -- not necessarily what is essential to the defense programs. The ROK continues to be a thorn with its refusal to fund the Yongsan move and disputes over land use with the end result possibly being an explosion that destroys the US-ROK Alliance. (Posted: June 2004)
    
  • Dangerous Game the ROK is Playing (OPINION) -- Indepth look at the US Perspective on the evolving US-ROK alliance. Look into the r reasons for the ROK "Stall-and-Conquer" Negotiation strategy. Look at the growing American anti-Korean opinion; USFK and Department of Defense strategy; Head-on collision resulting in reduction in forces and pull-out of troops (Posted: June 2004)
    
    
• Korea Continues to March to Its Own Drummer -- Korea upgrades its military and seeks technology transfer. However, Korea aims to control its own destiny. Korea now has OFFENSIVE missile capability. Its indigenous-designed fighter-trainer is ready for production and the KDX-II "stealth" destroyer has been launched. German-designed submarines are rolling out of shipyards and KM1A1 Korean Main Battle Tank is being produced in Korea. The next-generation fighter has been selected as the F-15K. Whether unrealistic or not, President Roh is seeking "self-reliance" for South Korea's defense by 2010. (Updated: 4 Sept 2003)
  
  
• Military Affairst: North Korean Crisis: -- Equipment changes; Korea-wide Exercises; Force Positioning; Policy changes; North-South military dialogue. (Updated: Monthly)
  
  
  • Food for Thought: The Military Option in North Korea: -- Short comparison of a views on military parity: Korean versus U.S. view. (Posted: 26 April 2003)
    
  • Food for Thought: The Mythical North Korean Threat: -- An article building a case for U.S. withdrawal from Korea. (Posted: 20 June 2003)
  
  
  
• Spies, Espionage & Infiltrators: -- Personal Opinion on the Spy Situation in Kunsan. Covers the spy organizations and the abuses by Presidents from Syngman Rhee to Roh Moo-hyun. Covers cases of captured infiltrators and deep-cover spies discovered in recent years to back up conclusions. (Sources footnoted) Covers history of communism in Cholla Provinces; list of coastal infiltration with methods of infiltration and vehicles used. (Posted: 24 May 2004)
  

• Reviews of Books on Kunsan AB (Updated: 3 June 2003)
  
• Reference Sources/Links: -- Links to Pro-USFK/Anti-US sites and online Korean newspaper links. General, Military and USFK links. (Updated: 8 August 2003)

• Background
  
  • Subtopics -- Pro-American Demonstrations or really Anti-Sunshine Policy Demonstration? -- Anti-American Protests Waning? NO!!! -- Split in NGO Group Strategies and Shift to Pacifism -- America Responds -- Backlash of Anti-American Demonstrations -- Anti-American and the Generation Gap -- NGO Tactic to Boycott American Goods Backfires -- NGO-Initiated Polls Increasing and USFK Poll in response -- Roh wants to revise SOFA, but U.S. and MOJ Sees No Need -- Danger of Getting What they Want -- Considering the Improbable: What if the U.S. Leaves? -- OUR OPINION (Updated: 3 June 2003)
• Jan-Mar 2003
  
  • Iraq War & Korean Perspective of Iraq War (Mar-Apr 2003) -- Iraq and Korea DAILY events with emphasis on anti-War -- but in reality a continuation of the anti-American protests of 2002. President Roh tells nation that he is forced to send non-combatant troops to Iraq in order to protect the nation -- i.e., U.S. blackmailed him. Roh then rewrites the text of his speech for English publications. Coverage is a day-by-day chronology of events in Baghdad and Seoul. (Updated: 16 April 2003)
    
• Apr-Jun 2003
  
• Jul-Sep 2003
  
• Oct-Dec 2003
  
• Jan-Mar 2004
  
• Apr-Jun 2004
  

• North Korean Crisis Background and Reference Materials -- Background on events leading up to Nuclear Crisis; Materials from Selected Sources on Nuclear Crisis; OUR OPINION (Updated: 8 August 2003)
• For Your Information: North Korea-US Meeting: -- Special Report on Upcoming North Korea-China-US meeting and U.S./North Korean options with our comments. (Posted: 8 August 2003)

• Reformist Policy:
• Lack of Coordination within Government:
• Alienates Career Bureaucrats:
• Continuing Education Problems over NEIS:
• Attacks on the "Gangster" Press:
• Environmental Policy and Saemangeum Project:
• Nuclear Waste Dump Protest:
• Farmers Problems, Opening of the Rice Market and Surplus Rice:
• Chaebol and Business Reforms:
• Korea Under Attack for Dumping and Govt Subsidies:
• Korean Outlook Dims as Companies Leave Korea:
• Privatization Plans Put on a Hold:
• Financial Reform Turns into a Quagmire:
• Conciliatory Position to Union Strikes:
• 40-hour Work Week:
• Political Scandals:
• Political Harassment from GNP:
• Split-up of MDP:
• Autonomy: An Old Answer to New Problems -- Pass the Buck!:
• NIS and National Security Law:
• Exiled North Korean supporter, Song Du-yul, Returns:
• Peace and Prosperity Policy:
• Trusted U.S. Supporter during Iraq War?:
• NGO groups anti-Americanism and Opposition demonstrations:
• Roh Questions Removal of USFK:
• ROK-US Summit (May 14) Impacts:
• Can a Leopard Change its Spots?:
• Resurgence of Anti-Americanism:
• Resurgence of Anti-Japanese Protests:
• Radical Students Protest Roh:
• Roh's Falling Popularity starts in Third Month in Office:
• End of 2003: Roh's Leadership Vacuum:
• Roh Impeached: March 2004

Korean Protests:

JANUARY 2004:

According to "Environmental Impacts and Benefits of Regional Power Grid Interconnections for the Republic of Korea: Potential Impacts on Nuclear Power Generation and Nuclear Waste Production" By Jungmin Kang, Nautilus Institute, "Since the first commercial operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1978, the ROK has placed fourteen units of pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and four units of CANDU (Canadian Deuterium Uranium) reactors in operation. These units have a total electricity generation capacity of 15.7 GWe, and supplied about 38.9% of the total electricity generated in the nation as of the end of 2002. Two more PWRs units are under construction, with eight additional PWRs to be deployed by the year 2015. Recently, however, "anti-nuke" movements by local residents and anti-nuclear non-governmental groups have been strengthening in the ROK. As a result, it will arguably be difficult for the ROK government to construct all of the eight additional planned PWRs by the year 2015. Electrical grid interconnections between adjoining countries in Northeast Asia could provide several benefits to the host countries, including environmental and economic benefits. If the ROK could import electricity generated in the Russian Far East (RFE) via a ROK-Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK)-RFE power grid interconnection, it could replace the deployment of two or of the planned NPP units, and as such could provide environmental and economic benefits to ROK by reducing the generation of nuclear wastes such as spent nuclear fuel and Low and Intermediate Level Waste (LILW), as well as decommissioned reactors."

The average adult drank 86.6 liters of alcohol last year, a 7.8 percent increase from 2001's 80.5 liters.

According to NSO statistics, the number of registered emigrants was 11,178 last year, 3.5 percent fewer than the year before, at 11,584. A closer look at the internal factors, however, shows that employment was the top reason for leaving the country, cited by 56.5 percent of emigrants. Joining relatives was 18.4 percent, and business was 14.9 percent. Compared to the 2001 figures, the number of overseas job-seekers increased by 3.9 percent, while other reasons for leaving -- such as marrying a non-Korean -- declined. An official at the NSO said that the change is a reflection of the domestic economic slump; more people are dreaming of establishing a new life in other countries through overseas employment.

The average monthly income for city households was W2.79 million, who spend W1.82 million of their total salary. The householder -- usually the husband -- accounted for 68.2 percent. In 1990, however, the average householder earned 73.3 percent of the total income. The proportion of the wife's income was 9.6 percent, 3.5 percent more than that of 1990. The change is attributed to the increased participation of women in the job market.

In addition, educational expenses recorded 10.9 percent of the total household monthly expenditures, the sixth consecutive year that educational expenses went over 10 percent. An official at the NSO said that despite the economic slump, people consider their children's education a priority. They first cut back on other expenses, the official said. However, as the economic conditions worsened, people were cutting back on these expenses as well by December.

Setting the income level for high school graduates at 100 points, college graduates had an average income of 153.8 last year. In 1999, the ratio between high school graduates and college graduates was 100 to 159.5. The income gap between education levels is getting smaller, a result of early retirement and changing work priorities that value ability over education, the NSO said.

The number of marriages has steadily decreased over the last 10 years: last year, there were 307,000 registered couples, 13,000 fewer than 2001's 320,000 couples. With the drop in the number of married couples and increasing rate of divorce, the birth rate was at it lowest point ever, at 1.17. A birth rate of 2.1 is the minimum required to sustain a population.

Korean films find new lot of bad guys

For a new generation of South Korean filmmakers, it's Americans, not the communists, who are to be feared

By James Brooke

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
Monday, Oct 13, 2003,Page 16

The daughter of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, is pouting in the suite of a luxury hotel in Seoul. She has just learned that Daddy has arranged a marriage for her in Pyongyang to a boring old nuclear scientist. Not for the Dear Leader's teenage princess! Donning a tight white blouse and a hot-red miniskirt, she eludes her amiable North Korean police chaperone, and runs away to a disco, where she shouts in English, "Let's party!"

All goes swimmingly in the movie Whistling Princess until the Americans, dressed in black, arrive at a rock concert. As the princess kisses a hunky Seoul rocker, with a unification ballad reaching a crescendo, the Americans blow up the place with hand grenades and rocket launchers. "I thought I took a creative stance, changing the Americans from good guys to bad guys," said Peter Lee, the filmmaker, in the office of his film company here. "Actually, I like the US. I visit the US two times a year."

Such is the world of South Korean cinema, which has seemingly embraced the government's Sunshine Policy, started in 2000 to extend an open hand to North Korea. No longer are North Koreans portrayed as devils; that role now belongs to the Americans.

These new films are popular among young adults, feeding their anti-American politics. Last December, when Whistling Princess was released, Gallup Korea, a polling firm, found that 75 percent of South Koreans in their 20s had a negative view of the US, compared with only 26 percent of Koreans over 50, the generation that lived through the Korean War.

"From those movies, we can sense that North Korea is no longer a competitor or enemy," said Park Sae-na, a 23-year-old textbook researcher. "When we were young, we got a lot of anti-Communist education. However, we are turning toward reconciliation mood."

In fact, for the last three years, South Koreans have seen a number of sympathetic films about the North: Shiri, a romance between a North Korean agent and a South Korean security agent; Double Agent, a love story about two North Korean moles in South Korea; Spy, about a hapless North Korean agent who falls in love with a South Korean art student; and South Korean Man and North Korean Woman, a comedy about a playboy who tries to seduce the daughter of high-ranking North Korean officer.

In the most acclaimed film,

, soldiers from North and South fraternize across the Demilitarized Zone, playing cards and drinking. Six million South Koreans -- or 20 percent of the country's adults -- saw the movie in theaters. And it was shown nationally on TV on July 27, the 50th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

"I wanted to say North Koreans are the same human beings as South Koreans, we should see North Koreans as brothers," said Park Chan-wook, the 43-year-old director of the movie, which has won virtually every South Korean film award. "I didn't have any intention to make a movie which repeated those anti-Communist themes of my school years."

While older South Koreans have denounced the movie as naive and unrealistic, the film has had an enormous impact on current attitudes. Last spring, during joint military maneuvers near the border, several American soldiers complained that their English-speaking South Korean liaison soldiers said they would not fire on their Northern "brothers."

Park's next film is an account of No Gun Ri, a massacre in which American soldiers killed about 250 Korean refugees in July 1950, a few weeks after the Korean War broke out. According to a 2001 Pentagon report, the Americans, largely inexperienced soldiers transferred from occupation duty in Japan, fired on the civilians, believing that North Koreans soldiers had infiltrated the group.

Meanwhile, Shin Sang-ok, a renowned director of the Korean War generation, said he has had no luck finding financing for his project, a dramatization of fighting in North Korea near Heungnam Port that allowed for the evacuation of 100,000 refugees and 105,000 troops to safety in the South. About 5,000 American and South Korean troops were killed.

Unlike the younger filmmakers, Shin knows North Korea. In the late 1970s, he and his wife, Choi Un-hui, say they were kidnapped in Hong Kong on the orders of Kim Jong Il. They had to make movies for Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il. "In each movie, there has to be a minimum of three appearances of praise of Kim Il Sung," said Shin, who made about a dozen movies in the North in the 1980s. "There cannot be love themes in the film, because love is only with Kim Il Sung, not between a man and a woman. Film is considered the ultimate political tool in the North, because behavior and consciousness can be moved by film."

Shin was jailed three times for trying to flee, before he and he wife finally succeeded in escaping in 1986. "I want to make the Schindler's List of North Korea," Shin said. "People there are suffering like the Jews in Auschwitz. The entire country is a gulag. I want to make a hit with such a movie feature. Then the world will know that North Korea is a land without human rights."

No Major Protests Were Expected Till Spring Protests over the FTA by Farmers faltered. Between 29-31 Dec 2003, a large demonstration of farmers protesting the FTA with Chile protested in front of the National Assembly building. Finally the protests were broken up by police using water hoses. The Chile FTA was in hot water over approval. The approval was postponed until after the April elections thus postponing further protests until it again comes up for a vote.

Small protests by NGO activist leaders were still held, but mostly small groups under 25. The cold weather and worsening economic conditions has dampened the turnouts for protest. Instead most protests in the winter months are taking the form of symposiums with panelists of activists.

The government has backed off the Puan site selection so there is relative calm. The Saemangeum project continues but it has been rather low key. No protests expected until conditions warm up.

South Koreans Consider U.S. Bigger Threat than North According to Research and Research Inc. a Jan 5 poll of 800 adults found 39 percent named the United States as the most threatening country to South Korean defense. 33 percent chose North Korea. Of the rest 11.6 percent of the respondents named China and 7.6 percent said Japan.

Unlike the rather "unscientific" newspaper or NGO activist surveys, the Research & Research Inc. is certified under the "ISO 9001" system. Possible reasons for the negative results is the international tension caused by the US-led war in Iraq and the pressure to send troops to Iraq.

According to the Stars & Stripes article on 16 Jan, U.S. soldiers reacted with amazement. However, what is bothersome is that the story was picked up by the BBC and broadcast on the news on 16 Jan with footage from 2002 showing anti-Americanism at its peak. The BBC TV broadcast gave the impression that anti-Americanism was on the rise in Korea.

Tokdo Stamp Controversy The latest protest by the ROK over the issuance of a Tokdo stamp has created a furor in Japan. The Japanese has stated that it would issue a Tokdo stamp as well. The Tokdo issue is a matter of national pride to the Koreans -- but has been recognized by the U.S. since the 1952 Mutual Defense pact with Japan as a disputed claim. The Congress added an "understanding" onto the 1954 Mutual Defense Pact with Korea that says the U.S. will only go to Korea's aid over areas the U.S. recognizes as LAWFULLY Korean domain. The Tokdo (or Takeshima) issue is NOT recognized as either Japan or Korea -- it is disputed. It is referred to as the Liancourt Rocks by the U.S. in mutual defense pacts with both countries.

However, the Korean editorials continue to pour out "facts" that it is Korean territory because they built a station on the island and posted a sentry station. The editorials NEVER mentions that the main issue of what is at stake. It is the rich fishing grounds that surround the islands. This is why both nations claim the island. Some authorities feel the Japanese have a stronger legal claim to the island, but it has never been taken to an international court.

The ROK's foreign minister has rejected a Japanese protest over the planned release here of postage stamps depicting a group of islets at the centre of territorial dispute, officials said. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi urged South Korea to reverse its decision to issue the stamps during a telephone conversation with her ROK counterpart Yoon Young-Kwan on Monday, officials said. "Saying Tokdo (islets) belonged to South Korea in terms of history, geology and international laws, Minister Yoon refused to accept the request to stop issuing stamps featuring the natural beauty of our sovereign soil," Yang Sok-Hwan, an official working for the foreign ministry spokesman. During the 30-minute talks with Kawaguchi, Yoon "expressed regret over various comments on the postage stamps out of Japan" which have angered ROK people, Yang said.

In Tokyo, a Japanese foreign ministry official confirmed Kawaguchi asked Yoon to halt the printing of the stamps, noting that "Takeshima is the proper territory of Japan." But both ministers agreed to make efforts not to let the issue create friction between the two sides. The Japanese kept their side of the bargain while the Korean Foreign Minister Yoon was fired soon thereafter.

As a side note, there is a sinister tinge to this stamp issue. It is a given that the Tokdo issue will arouse a unanimous feeling of nationalism in ALL Koreans. The timing is also significant in that it is also raised when the anti-American issue is also coming to the forefront with Roh's "independent policy" (meaning not being dependent on the U.S.). Roh had fired his Foreign Minister and some heads of sections for voicing comments not in keeping with his "independent policy". In other words, the Tokdo issue may unite the Koreans in the feeling of "them against us" (U.S. vs Korea).

When the stamps were issued, the stamps sold out within three hours. The on 17 Jan 2004 had a photo with the caption, "People line up to buy Tokdo postage stamps early in the morning at the post office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul on Friday. Currently being sold at 2,820 post offices across the nation, all 1,874,000 stamps were sold within three hours." The following is a16 Jan article on CNN:

S. Koreans stick it to Japan

Friday, January 16, 2004 Posted: 0947 GMT ( 5:47 PM HKT)

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- South Koreans have shrugged off official Japanese complaints and queued up at dawn to buy out an entire issue of postage stamps depicting islands at the center of a long territorial dispute between the two Asian neighbors.

All 2.24 million stamps -- 560,000 strips of four stamps -- showing flora and fauna of the rocky outcrops Seoul calls Tokto and Japan refers to as Takeshima sold out in about two hours, postal workers said. Earlier in Tokyo, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference Japan would repeat a diplomatic protest it had made several times to Seoul to no avail.

"It is truly regrettable that the stamps will be issued despite our repeated requests not to do so," he said.

The islands, which lie between the Korean peninsula and Japan, are inhabited only by a garrison of South Korean soldiers stationed there to assert Seoul's control.

Japan has asked South Korea to reconsider the planned stamps since last year, but Seoul refused, saying it was its sovereign right to issue them.

"From Japan's perspective, they are judging Tokto Island as a disputed territory, but from our perspective and from the foreign ministry's view, we clearly claim that it is not disputed land," said South Korean Director General of Posts Jay Q. Park. The two countries have constantly disputed the ownership of the islets since the end of World War Two. The struggle is felt more acutely in South Korea, which has bitter memories of Japan's often brutal colonial rule over the peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Their first stamp squabble over the islands was in 1954, when South Korea issued three kinds of Tokto stamps and Japan responded by saying it would not accept mail bearing the stamps.

Asked about the controversy this week, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said the neighbors had nothing to gain by fueling the dispute. In any case, Roh added, Seoul already controlled the rocky outcrops.

"Is there a need to constantly emphasize that my wife is my wife?" he asked.

U.S. Diplomat Pleads Guilty over South Korea Visa Charges The Koreans have now been caught up in the immigration scams. In 2003, Korean women were discovered to have been illegally obtaining visas specifically to give birth to children in the U.S. for citizenship. Investigations implicated Korean agencies who submitted falsified documents. There were threats of questioning the citizenship of the children born through this fraudulent scam...but nothing more was heard of it.

But the lingering doubt was that this type of scheme must have had an insider in the embassy to assist in the scam. On 16 Jan 2004 Agence France-Presse reported that a US diplomat pleaded guilty to a charge of making false declarations for visas handed out by the US embassy in the ROK capital, authorities said. Alden Stallings, 56, faces a five-year jail term and a fine of 250,000 dollars when he is sentenced, the State and Justice departments said in separate statements. Stallings was deputy public affairs officer at the US Embassy in Seoul and had the authority to refer non-immigrant visa applications to the consular section. The State Department said he had admitted to one count of submitting visa referrals between April 1999 and February 2001 "in which the applicants had listed fictitious employment." The Justice Department said that count dealt with 54 separate referrals. "On each of the 54 referral forms, Stallings stated that he recommended the issuance of a non-immigrant visa to the applicant because the applicant was an 'important post contact' whom he had 'personally known' since a specified date," it said. "In fact, on each of the 54 occasions, Stallings knew that his statement on the referral form was false, and that he did not personally know the contact," said the department. Stallings, of Arlington, Virginia, resigned from the State Department as part of his plea agreement. He is to be sentenced on March 31.

Stallings has been a spokesman (public affairs) for the U.S. Embassy in Korea AND Thailand, though the outdated Alpha Listing lists him as part of the "OBO" (Office of Overseas Buildings). In a 1997 Embassy Press Release (#160/97 September 8, 1997) from the Embassy in Thailand, "Alden P. Stallings DPAO Hanoi Tel: 84-4-822-5436/9 Fax: 84-4-822-5435 Internet e-mail: apstalling@aol.com" is the releaser.

During the June 2002 World Cup, President Kim Dae-jung decided not to attend the U.S.-ROK game because of possible embarrassing anti-American protests. UPI stated, "U.S. Embassy officials believe there will be no security problems. "We have confidence that the Korean authorities will take necessary steps to prevent possible mishaps" said Alden Stallings, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in South Korea." Only a few "death to Americans" signs were displayed and promptly removed and the anti-American demonstrations were censored out of the international press releases. (See "Protests (2002)" for photos.)

Notice that the news article with Stallings name shows that he was still a spokesman for the Embassy in June 2002. The question is how much more of the visa scams were plea bargained away for cooperation in implicating others within the Embassy and in the Korean populace?

This is evidence of the souring relations between South Korea and the U.S. This type of investigation would have been hushed up in the past to prevent any embarrassment to the ROK -- not to mention the Embassy. This type of public announcement sends a warning to all embassy officials worldwide. However, it should be noted that this was NOT reported in the Korean press or covered in editorials. The warning did NOT go out to those planning future scams.

Saemangeum Project Continue The following is from WBK English on 29 Jan 2004:

Korean court rules that reclamation can continue. According to the South Korean Daum news website and other news agencies, a higher court in Seoul announced earlier today (January 29) that the decision last July to suspend the Saemangeum reclamation project has now been over-ruled, following the appeal of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The South Korean court today ruled that Mr. Choi-Yul, the former General-Secretary of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, and the main plaintiff in the case first heard in July, has no legal basis to participate in the court process - as he is not from the actual area being directly affected by the reclamation - his concerns can therefore not be formally recognised. Lawyers opposed to the reclamation who are contesting the case have vowed that they will appeal the case to a higher court still.

This retrogressive but unsurprising decision (considering the power of money politics domestically) comes at a time when 3 of South Korea's leading spriritual-environmentalists and two respected wetland activists are visiting the United Kingdom, to raise awareness of the issue and to participate in a ritual "samboilbae" (three-steps-and-one-bow) walk at Snettisham RSPB Reserve on January 31st.

FEBRUARY 2004:

"We oppose both the FTA and the additional dispatch of troops because the deployment threatens the Iraqi people's right to live, while the FTA threatens the survival of farmers," said Kim Hye-kyung from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. "We are willing to fight until the end because we have nothing else to hold onto," said Lee Joon-kyung, a member of the Korea Farmers' Solidarity and a local farmer who traveled from Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, to participate in the rally. "The government says it will give us subsidies, but it is far from enough, not to mention how we cannot believe we will get the subsidies they promise."

Economic leaders and chairmen of the four main political parties agreed to deal with the FTA bill in January for the sake of national credibility, which they said would be seriously hurt if the FTA bill was shelved any longer.

The parliamentary Defense Committee endorsed the bill but it remained shelved at the Assembly's plenary session as parties remained at odds on the issue. The Assembly is expected to face another difficult task with a vote on the dispatch of additional troops to Iraq.

Another group of some 1,500 protesters belonging to civic groups opposing an additional dispatch of troops to Iraq joined the farmers in the rally that began early in the morning.

Top: Anti-Iraq Protest; Bottom: Anti-war leaders (10 Feb 04)

Protest over USFK Withdrawal from Yongsan -- Who should pay? (10 Feb 2004)

Approval of ROK Troop Dispatch to Iraq After months-long delays, protests, double talk and much hesitation, South Korea's parliament finally approved a government proposal (155 for -50 against - 7 abstentions) on 13 Feb to send an additional 3,000 troops to Kirkuk to help rebuild Iraq. Outside the parliament, 800 anti-war activists staged a boisterous protest rally. About two dozen young protesters from the group exchanged kicks and punches with hundreds of riot police who formed human barriers. The much-awaited parliamentary action cleared the way for the government of President Roh Moo-hyun to deploy the additional contingent, which will include 800 combatants, to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk by late April. The new troops will join 460 army engineering and medics already operating in Iraq. The new deployment will make South Korea's military presence in Iraq the third largest after the United States and Britain. The deployment cost is estimated at about 230 billion won (US$197.5 million), they said.

Anti-War No Troops for Iraq (13 Feb 2004)

MARCH 2004:

Activist Groups Protest the new Protest Law According to the Chosun Ilbo on 4 Mar, a coalition of 85 civic organizations including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions declared that they will wage a campaign to boycott a revised law on assembly and demonstration. "Under the revised law on assembly and demonstration, which passed the National Assembly at the end of last year and became effective beginning this month, authorities could ban marches on major Seoul roads for the reason of hampering traffic and prohibit gatherings near foreign diplomatic missions and military facilities," said a member of the coalition. "In addition, as it contains a clause banning possibly violent and noisy rallies, the legislation violates the Constitution by blocking virtually all assemblies and demonstrations." These groups vow that they will wage a campaign to revise the law by boycotting the new law and holding a signature-collecting drive. "We even plan on rallies to protest the law," the member said.

About this, police responded that some civic groups misunderstood or distorted the meaning of the law, which they say was enacted on the basis of a national consensus to reform the culture of assembly and demonstration. "The revised law is to guarantee the freedom of expression as much as possible while preventing possible inconvenience to citizens at the same time," said an official.

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Mass Pro-US rally in Seoul condemns North Korea Mass rally was held in Seoul on the 1 March Independence Day Holiday. According to Channel News, Singapore "South Korean conservatives have called for a tougher line on communist North Korea and closer ties with the United States at a pro-US rally that drew more than 20,000 marchers here. Christian church leaders and decorated war veterans led the rally in downtown Seoul on a national holiday to mark a 1919 uprising against Japanese colonial rule. Marchers burned a North Korean flag and said President Roh Moo-Hyun's policy of reconciliation with Pyongyang endangered national security. North Korean sympathisers had gained too much influence inside Roh's left-leaning administration, according to some activists. ... Banners called for a harder line against the communist state and improved ties with the United States. ... "Block North Korea's nuclear weapons development through strong ties with the United States," read one banner as demonstrators chanted anti-Pyongyang slogans and waved South Korea's national flag.

On the other hand, President Roh vowed to pursue better ties with North Korea despite the 16-month-old nuclear crisis and Washington's tougher line against Pyongyang. In a speech marking the anniversary of the uprising, Roh urged an end to a rift between "left and right-wing" groups in South Korea. "There should be no more conflict between left and right-wing groups," Roh said He stressed South Korea should "embrace North Korea with a warm heart" despite its "eccentric" behavior.

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Resurgence of Anti-Japanese Protests: Roh visited Tokyo between June 6-9, 2003 for a summit with Koizumi in which the North Korea nuclear dispute and bilateral trade topped the agenda. However, he faced a public uproar over his planned meeting with the Japanese emperor June 6. Politicians and citizens voiced opposition to his plan to attend a dinner hosted by Emperor Akihito on the nation's Memorial Day. For many Koreans, the Japanese monarch remains a symbol of the nation's imperialist past and its colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula in 1910-45. Officials said incorporating the emperor meeting into the itinerary was unavoidable because of the conflicting schedules of Roh and Prime Minister Koizumi. They added that rallying voices fail to recognize how times have changed, with a controversy out-dated in the present context of the two nations putting aside their past enmity and seeking a new "future-oriented partnership."

Roh and Koizumi (7 Jun 03)

For those who witnessed the campaigns to erase Japanese structures from Korea in the mid-1990s, the hysterical anti-Japanese fervor sends a chill down one's spine. It was open and blatant hatred. Many areas of Seoul were "rejuvenated" to erase Japanese structures. The Seoul National Museum was torn down because it was once the center of Japanese power -- but denying its historical significance as the largest structure in Asia during the colonial period. The Koreans claimed the Japanese selected sites with the best flow of energy as though they somehow cheated the Koreans of this mystical source of power. They even claimed that the Japanese sank iron rods to destroy these power centers to deny them for Korean use. The arguments were completely irrational.

Everytime Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine to the WWII war dead, furious objections were voiced by the ROK at the Ministry level. Along with China, there is mass hysteria when even the topic of Japanese WWII soldiers is mentioned. To the outside world, Korea demanding that another country's Prime Minister act in accordance with their wishes smacks of naivete.

According to Mainichi newspaper on 28 March 2004, Prime Minister Koizumi said a day earlier in a special report program on a private broadcasting TV station that “he could not understand why foreigners oppose my cherishing the memories of our war dead” in connection with the criticism from Korea and China on his worship at the Yasukuni Shrine worship. On the subject of war criminals enshrined together at the Yasukuni Shrine, he added that “those who tell me not to visit the shrine just because some disagreeable people (an allusion to war criminals) are enshrined there are even stranger to me.” He seemed to refer to the war criminals enshrined there as heroes when he said that “one country’s hero is another country’s villain,” and added that “it is absurd to think about history on the same foot.”

Hatred of the Japanese is taught in the elementary schools using the invasion of Japan in 1592-1598 as a basis for how Japanese have ALWAYS been a cruel people. Every Korean student learns to revile the name of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), Japanese military leader and statesman, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns, but most Koreans condemn him for the invasions of Korea. In truth, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the one who pursued his futile invasions of Korea for seven years starting in 1592 until his death in August 1598. What is disturbing is that any elementary school student will tell you that they hate "Ieyasu" for his invasion of Korea...very twisted history. Koreans revisionist history attempts to paint a patriotic picture of "volunteer soldiers" and soldier monks defending the country. In truth, the Korean army was a shambles and its only successful army general was executed by the king. Only the shining naval triumphs were by Admiral Shin Yi-sun's in 1592-1594 are noteworthy. However, true to Korean politics of the day, in 1597 the King handed over command to Won Kyun, while Shin Yi-sun was taken to Seoul as a prisoner in a cage on an ox cart. This is NOT what revisionist historians teach. Later Won Kyun suffered massive defeats and was beheaded and Shin reassumed his naval command. (See Shin Biography.) Koreans like to believe that this was the key to victory, but in truth what ultimately brought the Japanese to its knees was the cruel Korean winter and lack of supplies from Japan. Japanese atrocities from this invasion-- such as the ears and noses chopped off as proof of the Korean death toll -- are periodically resurfaced in the press to keep the wounds open. The "historical" melodramas on TV also perpetuate this hatred.

During the colonial period, the freedom movement for Korea created many uprisings that were put down with massacres. It is ture that Japan sought to reshape Korea into its "rice bowl" and treated Koreans as inferiors. No management or upper-level government positions were allowed to them -- and the Koreans were forced to change their names to Japanese with Korean language study suppressed. The Koreans hate the Japanese for this period. Many Koreans are now classified as "traitors" for their aid to the Japanese. (See Kimsoft: List of 708 traitors.) Periodically new "proof" surfaces of Japanese collaboration against some past hero and his statue is torn down. How they come to pick who is a traitor is completely arbitrary. Even Park Chung-Hee, the iron-fisted dictator of Korea, was a former Japanese officer in WWII trained in the Japanese Military Academy. The annual Japanese pilgrimage of the Japanese Prime Minister to the shrine honoring the Japanese War dead ends up in vocal protests from Korea because the convicted Japanese war criminals are also honored there.

The plight of the Japanese "comfort women" -- sex slaves -- is horrific and used to increase anti-Japanese sentiment. Other "wrongs" such as demands for compensation for forced labor or wrongful death suits dealing with WWII are constantly being waged in Japanese courts. However, most of these legal suits in Japan have been normally dismissed -- citing the normalization treaty between Korea and Japan -- and compensation provided at that time -- as settling this matter. On 22 Jul 2003 the Tokyo High Court rejected a damages suit filed by wartime sex slaves and Korean civilian personnel -- though it ruled that the Japanese government failed to fulfill its obligation to provide security for several plaintiffs. The 35 plaintiffs, including bereaved family members, sought 20 million yen in compensation each from the Japanese government for their wartime sufferings due to the former Japanese Imperial Army.

Some myths also abound. Koreans are taught that the 2 million Koreans currently in Japan are descendants of the 600,000 conscripted "slave" laborers that existed at the end of WWII. Koreans feel outrage that the Japanese should treat these people who were brought to Japan against their will so shabbily. This item is completely NOT true. There were 2 million Koreans in Japan at the end of WWII and 1.4 million were voluntarily returned to Korea by direction of the U.S. Army GHQ-- just as the Japanese in Korea were voluntarily returned to Japan. According to an article at From transient to resident: 600,000 Koreans remained in Japan, "It is often said that those Koreans in Japan today are those who were forcibly brought to Japan as laborers and their descendants. Even though there are some such Koreans, this does not apply to the majority of Koreans in Japan today. The vast majority of Koreans who were forcibly brought to Japan from 1939 to 1945 returned to Korea. The Koreans in Japan today are mainly the descendants of those who came in search of employment before the Imperial Japanese government started forcibly bringing Koreans to Japan." In truth, conscripted labor started in 1944 -- not the myth that it was from days prior to the war." These Korean people who remained in Japan with their families after WWII eventually became the 500,000 "Zainichi Koreans," who have special permanent residency in Japan. The remaining 1.5 million Koreans are NOT granted special residency as they arrived AFTER WWII.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced they were lifting the ban on Japanese Culture according to a system set up by former President Kim Dae-jung in 1998, following the Japanese Prime Minister's formal apology to Korea for its colonization of the peninsula 1910 to 1945. Kim outlined a four-phase plan to gradually allow Japanese products into Korea. Many analysts feared the Japanese imports would create a deficit with trade and cripple Korean industries effect on the domestic market.

But Kim Dae-jung's actions were only symbolic. The truth was that in the 1990s the miracle of the Han had arrived in Korea and with it -- satellite dishes. The ban on Japanese culture was ineffective as the dishes bypassed the ban. Satellite dishes became more and more prevalent -- and soon the cable companies started offering NHK. Though the government mumbled about its ban and in 1998, it bowed to the inevitable. Only within the past ten years has Japanese music been allowed to be publicly broadcast and NHK allowed to be aired on cable television as the anti-Japanese sentiment ran deep. Through "globalization" the Koreans changed their views of their relationship with Japan as business "partners," but on an emotional level the relationship remained stunted.

There were disturbing anti-Japanese undertones with remarks from the government that the Japanese ideas and values contained in music, movies, comic books and cartoons would corrupt the impressionable youth here raised in a conservative society. However, in the 2000s the internet effectively bypassed any ban as the youth simply downloaded their favorite "animie," Japanese animation, and "manga," Japanese comic books off the internet. Again the ban was ineffective. South Korea would lift its ban on the showing of Japanese cable television programs and satellite broadcasting as of 1 Jan 2004 in a bid to further open the domestic market to Japanese cultural products according to the Culture and Tourism Ministery Lee Chang-dong in Dec 2003. Japanese programs broadcast via new media, including cable television and satellites, will be allowed within the fullest possible scope.

The first three phases of Kim Dae-jungs 1998 policy integrated themselves smoothly without any noticeable impact on the economy or mindsets of the local youth. However, the final phase of opening the market to music and movies has failed to materialize. This deals with the business end of the opening dealing with music, TV and movie rights. The reasons for the government delays are complex. For example, local broadcasters copy popular ideas of successful Japanese shows. "Making a Better World," which invites elderly couples to answer questions on a talk show, bears a remarkable resemblance to a Japanese series. This would bear on intellectual property rights issues. The controversial "censorship" system for movie ratings would also come under attack. In addition, home-grown movie and cartoon industries are still in the fledling stages of growth and fighting a losing battle for market share with American and foreign films.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism first squirmed at the question of the status of the ban, then replied they are still in talks about when to schedule the next phase of lifting the ban. "Eventually" was the more precise term they used, instead of "this summer, or this fall" -- putting off the failed promise of opening by 2002. The government has been using the delay in lifting the ban on Japanese pop culture as a symbolic protest against Japan publishing school textbooks that reportedly present a biased view of Japan's occupation of Korea. The debate continues today with people trying to strike deals with Japan and anticipate the ban lifting.

However, anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep in Korea. Japanese hatred is taught in schools based on the historical abuses of Japan dating back to Japan's 1598 invasion continuing through constant Japanese pirate raids up to the 1700s and through the traumatic experiences of the colonial period. The destruction of all things Japanese reached its high point in 1995 when the Seoul National Museum was torn down because the building once was the seat Japanese power in Korea -- regardless that it was a classic example of architecture of the period. Former Japanese-residential areas were targeted for reconstruction throughout the nation. However, on an emotional level, the WWII comfort women issues still is alive. This irrational emotionalism caused the cancellation of the Emporer's and Japanese Prime Minister's visit to Korea during the World Cup 2002.

A Korea Herald editorial on 2 June 2003 stated, "Japan has persistently refused to compensate its Asian victims for its crimes before and during World War II. The question of its extremely slow moral atonement aside, Tokyo has cited the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 and the 1965 agreement with Seoul for normalization of relations, as well as domestic statutes, as the legal bases for its position. Both international accords are clearly flawed, however, because they failed to reflect the voices of the victims of imperial Japan's brutal aggression and exploitation of its neighbors." In June 2003 a Superior court overturned a 2001 Kyoto District Court's ruling to compensate the loss of family members being repatriated after WWII when a ship carrying the members was sunk between Japan and Korea. A family member stated that he would "never forgive the Japanese and would pass this hatred on to his progeny through the millenia." Two earlier rulings in favor of Korean compensation - the first in 1998 for a group of South Korean "comfort women" - were turned down by higher courts.

The anti-Japanese furor runs the gamut of topics from the Tok-do Island territorial issue; to territorial fishing boundaries: to Comfort Women of WWII; to confiscation of wages in WWII; to the controversy of the "Sea of Japan" versus "East Sea"; to the changing of "Korea" to "Corea" because the Japanese supposedly named it with a "K" (which is historically invalid and ludicrous). The intensity can get very heated. In the mid-1990s, the anti-Japanese hysteria peaked and resulted in the destruction of the National Museum in Seoul along with whole areas throughout Korea because of the Japanese construction. At its height, there were claims that Japanese had sunk iron rods into the ground to disrupt the energy flow of geomancy -- and some other very dubious claims. Pick a topic and it will turn anti-Japanese.

Military Buildup of SDF Causes Irrational Korean Fear -- Due to Position of Weakness The Koreans also have an irrational fear of the Japanese SDF military buildup The Japanese have just amended their constitution for war-powers contingencies because of the North Korean threat in May 2003 -- a preliminary step to amending the "peace" constitution altogether. This is as a direct result of the North Korean missile threat. On the opposite side of the coin, the Japanese have an irrational fear of a missile attack from North Korea -- while the South continues its head-in-the-ground disbelief that their "brother" in the North would ever send missiles and WMD against their brethen while accepting that Japan is a target.

The Japan Times reported on 20 May 2003 that the House of Councilors began debate on a set of war contingency bills. Prime Minister Koizumi explained the amended bills, containing a new definition of situations in which Japan would be considered under armed attack. He said the bills "will not change the nation's exclusively self-defensive security policy, and we will continue efforts to generate understanding abroad about the significance and the roles" of the bills. The coalition divided possible military strikes into two categories -- "military attack situations" and "predictable military attack situations." The first is defined as situations in which Japan faces "actual military strikes or apparent dangers," which would allow mobilization of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), and the second is described as situations in which military strikes can be expected, which would allow the SDF to go on standby.

Officials have said the package provides a procedural framework for Japan's national defense that has not existed since World War II, but Korean lawmakers reacted with alarm and outrage. Some said the bills would allow Japan to escape tight restrictions on the use of its military forces. The laws provide procedural guidelines for Japan's defense in the event that it is attacked. The first law ? the act on response to a military threat ? allows the government to identify the threat and put into operation a war council headed by the prime minister. Citizens and local governments then would be subject to decrees of the central government. The second law facilitates the taking of private property and the conversion of public facilities for military purposes. The third establishes a wartime national security council. Together, the laws will be the basis for further legislation on Japan's national defense, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said.

Prime Minister Koizumi indicated Japan could possibly attack foreign missile bases if the Japanese government determines that another country intends to attack Japan from them and is indeed preparing to do so. "If we determine that a foreign country has a clear intention to invade Japan...we could not just let the Japanese people be harmed by doing nothing," Koizumi told a parliamentary debate.

In conjunction with the changes to the Peace Constitution, the Japanese are shifting in their attitudes about their forces being engaged in peace-keeping operations. The controversial bill to send forces to Iraq into possible hostile territory is hotly debated. But the point is that the Japanese are now openly discussing such actions where as before this would have been unthinkable. The North Korean crisis has started to change the way the Japanese are viewing their safety. The American "umbrella" is now being seen as impotent in stopping missile threats from hostile neighbors.

In June 2003, it was reported by the Yomiuri Shimbun that the Security Council of Japan and the cabinet would adopt a plan to allocate funds for two types of missile systems -- Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) -- in late July 2003. The SM-3 is to be mounted on Aegis-equipped destroyers to intercept ballistic missiles in outer space. Japan's Defense Agency currently has Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) systems mounted on four Aegis-equipped Maritime Self-Defense Force ships, as well as Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missiles for 27 launchers, including 24 antiaircraft batteries operated by the Air Self-Defense Force. All the missiles, however, are designed to be antiaircraft and are incapable of intercepting ballistic missiles, which travel at a much greater speed. The plan came after the government unofficially learned that the DPRK had 160 to 170 medium-range Rodong missile units targeting Japan and that the DPRK might have acquired technology to reduce the size of nuclear weapons so they can be mounted on ballistic missiles, the report said. The government intends to begin the 200-billion-yen (1.7-billion-dollar) defense program as early as April 2007. (SITE NOTE: The Japanese Defence Agency decided to seek US permission for a Japanese contractor to build the PAC-3. The PAC-2 is currently assembled under a licensing agreement in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., the top Japanese defence contractor. Mitsubishi Heavy is the front runner for the contract if approved by the U.S.)

The Japanese plan to create an integrated missile defense force consisting of a Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis-equipped destroyer and Patriot missile batteries under the Air Self-Defense Force by integrating battle management, command, control, communications and intelligence of the two missile defense systems. The Japanese Defense agency hopes to create the integrated missile defense force as early as 2006 when Japan introduces two U.S. missile defense systems to cope with missile attacks. This would be the first inter-service combat unit in the Self-Defense Forces. The integrated missile defense force would have six Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) batteries and one Aegis destroyer. Deployment of the integrated missile defense force would cost more than 1 trillion yen. The missile defense system based on Aegis destroyers is designed to intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles at midcourse. The PAC-3 ground-to-air antimissile system, which will upgrade the Air Self-Defense Force's PAC-2 system, is designed to knock out missiles missed by Aegis destroyers.

In March 2004, the Japanese Defense Research Center asserted that Japan should be equipped with the ability to start an assault in order to prepare for missile launches from the DPRK. In a report titled "2004 East Asia Military Strategies" issued by the research center on March 24, it said that "North Korea will get ready to manufacture more than two uranium enriched nuclear bombs next year," suggesting the logic of a preemptive strike. This was the first time a Japanese governmental agency dealt with the subject of a preemptive strike, OFFICIALLY. As this assertion is directly opposite to the principle of the Japanese constitution, which was designed in accordance with the self-defense rule, heated conflict was expected to emerge.

Prior to his Japan-ROK summit, President Roh Moo-hyun voiced concerns on 4 June 2003 on the recent Japanese move to pass a set of security bills stipulating ways to respond to outside attacks and other emergencies. "Japan should manage its public consensus to ensure that neighboring countries are not uneasy over the bills," Roh said on 5 Jun 2003. On 6 Jun 2003 both the GNP and MDP lashed out at Japan for passing a set of security bills on the first day of Roh's four-day state visit to Japan.

The Japanese are seriously moving towards a different perspective on the use of the SDF. Japanese Air SDF pilots and maintainers arrived in Alaska for Cooperative Cope Thunder on 27 May 2003. The June 5-20, 2003 exercise represents the first time the JASDAF has deployed fighter aircraft to any exercise outside of Japan. Cope Thunder is a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored, air combat training exercise held up to four times a year. SDF Forces have practiced air refueling operations at the helm of a borrowed KC-135 -- something that SDF would not need for strictly Japanese use. Japanese SDF ships were used to refuel allied ships headed to the Persian Gulf during the Iraq War.

While Korea sees nothing wrong in its headlong pursuit of strengthening its military forces -- even with the proposed building of a carrier in 2010 -- it objects to the Japanese building up of its SDF forces. The Japanese have the edge both technologically over the Koreans. The Japanese have had long experience as a blue water navy, while the Koreans are just starting to hone their skills now. While the Koreans built the KF-16 under contract, the Japanese F-16 has a Mitsubishi carbon wing that is far superior to the original. The Japanese have launched spy satellites over North Korea, while the Koreans have only recently started their programs. However, in 2004 the aborted launches of its spy satellite over the North was a major set back to the program. (See Marching to Its Own Drum for the Korean military buildup.)

On 24 May 2003, President Bush and Prime Minister Koizumi issued a statement after their summit in Texas showing their unity in dealing with North Korea. The South has mouthed the words, but their are still differences in approach. The U.S. and Japan reiterated that if the North continues with escalating the crisis increased "measures" would be taken. The threat of economic sanctions and potential of blockades to stop its shipments of drugs and missiles to close off its last remaining source of income was implied. There were no specifics as to what "economic sanctions" meant.

Even the slightest hint of a Japanese force capable of becoming a "threat of invasion" sends Koreans into a frenzy. Though this hysteria is illogical from a common-sense standpoint, it is logical if you consider that Roh wishes for a military "independent of the the U.S." Korea's forces are superior in manning, but the Japanese are vastly superior in hardware. Because the ROK systematically cut their investment in defense from 8 percent in 1980 to 2.8 percent in 2000, the equipment that the ROK has not kept pace with what Japan has. The point is that for years, Japan has played a semantical word game with its SDF units and equipment. New names were invented for Japanese destroyers and cruisers to circumvent the Constitution, but the fact remains that Japan has been a "blue water navy" since the 1960s. The Japanese only need a carrier to complete a carrier group. Korea on the other hand is still in "wishing" phase of becoming such a force -- just recently sending units to RIMPAC exercises in Hawaii. (NOTE: Korea has visions of having a Short Take-Off "carrier" called the Admiral Shin by 2010.)

Japan's weaponry is far superior to the ROK as they have spent heavy amounts to systematically upgrade their forces over the years. Though the Japanese initially balked on joining the US-initiative for a Missile Defense system. They have AEGIS destroyers already deployed and PAC-2 defense systems that will be upgraded to PAC-3 systems. Korea still has nothing with its AEGIS destroyers still under construction...and PAC-3 on-order, but not funded.

The ROK has visions of being self-sufficient from the defense umbrella of the U.S. by 2010 -- but there are some realities that get in the way. However, the ROK has a technology disadvantage and the massive amount of funds required is more than the ROK economy can bear. The ROK has tried to go about using its homegrown technology, but it is not up to the par with the Japanese or American or other established technology centers. It tried technology transfer, but there is more than the technology itself that creates a technology-based society. For example, the ROK sought to enter the aircraft fighter market with its Golden Eagle Advanced Trainer/Fighter -- but even here it had to draw heavily on U.S. manufacturer design support. The Japanese on the other hand, took the JF-16 and turned into a fighter far superior to the original with Mitsubishi carbon-composite wings. The reason was that the U.S. shared its technology with the Japanese starting in the 1950s. Only the constraints of its Constitution prohibits the Japanese from joining the Arms Bazaar race of weapons sales. The ROK is still stumbling in this area attempting to come up with its own versions of cruise missiles, unmanned air vehicles (UAV), and long-range missiles. (See Korea Marches to Its Own Drummer for details on ROK armament efforts.) Its ability to surpass the Japanese in the development of military technology is suspect.

However, in the future what will raise the hackles of Korea is the statements of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who hinted in Mar 2004 that he would seek to change the country's outdated constitution to allow for Japan's Self-Defence Forces to be called an army. "Under the Japanese constitution we are not allowed to call the Self-Defence Forces (SDF) an army, but to the eyes of anyone outside the country, they are an army," Koizumi said in an interview with London's Times newspaper. "Several points in the constitution are not quite logical in the light of commonsense," he said. "In the future, when the amendment of the constitution comes up, this question of the naming of the Self-Defence Forces will also become part of the debate," he said. Japan has sent peace keeper forces to UN Peacekeeper missions and now has sent some 550 ground troops to the southern Iraqi city of Samawa as part of the US-led coalition's humanitarian work.

Korea to Hunt Japanese Collaborators ... AGAIN The Koreans are now on a witch hunt for Japanese collaborators. In the face of this anti-Japanese furor this is getting boring. In the past, it has had tragic results when this hate campaign was released. In the hysteria of the 1990s, Japanese buildings, pagodas, and statues were demolished throughout the country. Some of the statues were dedicated to those who had done honorable works for Korea, but who were tainted as being "collaborators" by the accusations of anti-Japanese activist groups. The end was when the National Museum was torn down because it was a former Japanese government building. The same can be expected in the latest rage.

In the intervening years, the Comfort Women issue, territorial rights, fishing zones, etc. kept the issue in the forefront. In 2004, it started up again. First it started with the Tokdo stamp fiasco along with some rehashed Comfort Women fury and then the protests over the Japanese Prime Minister's visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for Japanese Soldiers killed in WWII -- that also houses the tribute to Class A War Crime criminals. Prime Minister Koizumi refuses to change his stance on his visits to the shrine which he considers a personal obligation.

Starting in 2002, the national budget allotted funds for a five-year project by the National Institute of Korean History, an organization under the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, to produce a who's who encyclopedia of people who actively collaborated with Japanese authorities during colonial rule by Imperial Japan. W200 million was spent on the project in 2002, and another W200 million was spent in 2003. As much as W500 million was proposed for 2004, the third year of the very same project, but it was eliminated in a budget subcommittee. This in turn caused a public outcry from fanatical Japanese witch-hunters who took their fight to the media. OhMy News bragged, "The campaign began on January 8, 2004, and 11 days later, by 10:30 on January 19, some 22,587 netizens had donated W511,364,684. The initial plan had been to raise W100 million by the anniversary of the March First Movement, a national holiday, and then raise the rest of the W500 million by Liberation Day, August 15."

A group of activist groups protested that the law had been watered down and wanted more stringent punishment for those who collaborated with the Japanese. The Korea Herald ran a small blurp on 29 Mar:

A group of civic organizations yesterday demanded revision of a bill passed earlier this month to punish pro-Japanese activities by Koreans in the early 20th century, complaini