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This page is graphically intense with long load times due to photos. However, the photos and narratives by the men who served at Osan Air Base makes the wait well worthwhile. The opinions expressed are those of the author and in no way represents any official statement of Osan AB or the USAF. 
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1970s View of Osan AB (USAF Photo) SONGTAN EVENTSJanuary 2009Year of the Ox (Jan 2008) The New Year has finally set in, with much anticipation that it will be a year filled with blessings. The year 2009 is the Year of the Ox, according to Chinese astrology. The ox is the second animal in the zodiac and often associated with honesty, faithfulness, strength and gentleness. But it also sometimes represents stupidity and stubbornness. The animal was an indispensable asset for Korean agriculture, as it was used to plow the soil here day after day. As such, ox people are believed to labor through their daily responsibilities either at work or at home without complaint. The basic character of oxen is success through hard work and sustained effort, finding no benefit in concocting get-rich-quick schemes. Ox as Time, Space and Zodiac Sign According to the National Folk Museum of Korea, the Chinese zodiac marks time and space based on the movement of heavenly bodies and seasonal change. The lunar calendar is structured over a 60-year cycle that consists of two separate interacting cycles -- the ten ``heavenly stems'' and the 12 zodiac animal signs. The ox is the second animal in the zodiac and the five ox years within the 60-year cycle are called ``eulchuk,'' ``jeongchuk,'' ``gichuk,'' ``sinchuk,'' and ``gyechuk'' in that order. The ox year comes every 12 years. The ox also symbolizes north-northeast, as seen by the markings on star maps and sundials. This unique concept of time and space was used extensively for fortune telling and is frequently expressed in charms, divination books, gravestones and guardian god figures. Close Companion As Korea has traditionally been an agricultural society, oxen meant much more to farming families than just livestock. The ox was indispensable for its role in plowing fields and as a means of transportation for its owner. It was also considered a ``walking safe'' that could be sold when its owner was in urgent need a large sum of money, the museum said. The importance of the ox in Korean agricultural communities is reflected well in traditional ancestral rituals. Ox horns, skins and fat were widely used in daily life, not to mention the meat that was regarded as a premium food ingredient. There is an old Korean expression that ``there is nothing to waste from an ox except for the yawns.'' Traits and Symbolism The ox is often described as dependable, patient, hardworking, strong and gentle. These positive attributes became symbolism reflected in religion, philosophy, literature and many other aspects of daily life. The folktale of an ox saving its owner from a tiger is regarded as an example of the Confucian ideal of loyalty. The image of a shepherd boy riding its back is straight out of a Taoist handbook. In Buddhism, the ox symbolizes the essential goodness of human nature. The shape of a lying ox or the shape of its stomach was a feng shui technique to determine ideal housing sites, according to the museum. Honesty and integrity are often the themes in proverbs about oxen, and such symbolism is evident in everyday items.  Oxen in Folk Customs The importance of draft animals is reflected in shamanistic rites of ancient times. The ``sonoreum gut,'' or ox worship rite, is a shamanistic ceremony performed for good harvests, good luck and prosperity for the family and local community. It is performed around the first full moon of the new year of the lunar calendar. Through singing and dancing, the shaman dramatically attempts to tame cattle to make plows, showing the ritual's nature as an agricultural rite. The most distinctive part of the performance comes at the end, when the shaman hops on a swing made of two blades and swings forward to exorcise evil spirits. Although there are different types of ``sonoreum gut'' around the Korean Peninsula, the double-blade swing appears only in Pyeongsan, Hwanghae Province, now part of North Korea. (Source: Korea Times.) The Weather Turns Bitter Cold (13-18 Jan 2009) The weather has been bitter cold in January with the temps falling into the low teens some days during the day. Most days, it is hovering about 35 degrees or so. Though Gangwon province in the north is getting lots of snow, there hasn't been much down here. There were a few times that there was the biting cold and a light dusting of snow -- but the snow melted in a matter of hours. Thus far it has not been a bad January -- except for the cold. In December, there was significant snowfall also at Kunsan, but thus far, there has been no lasting snowfall at Songtan. As it was last year, the weather has become bitter cold requiring the use of both the electric halogen heater and LPG Gas heater in the hagwon where I spend my days. Even with both running at times it is hard to get the temperatures in the room to go above 50 degrees -- even with all the windows taped shut.  Dongbu Apartment (NOTE: They cleared out two planter trees and made it a little brighter in our ground floor apartment) (Jan 2009)  Dongbu Apartment (Jan 2009) Even short walks to the bank will leave your hands frozen if you're not wearing gloves. All this talk of global warming hasn't happened around here. Just like last year, this year has turned down right nasty. What I hate the most is that my nose starts running in cold weather -- and I'm walking down the street with a hand over my nose sniffling all the way. On 13 Jan, the newspapers said it was the coldest day of the year so far. The temperatures in the day were in the mid-teens and I had to run both the gas heater and Halogen heater to warm up my tiny hagwon. On 14 Jan, the temperature in the morning at 10 pm was 17 degrees and there was a light snow that had fallen overnight. It would turn the roads a little slushy, but not a problem until it froze into ice. By 11 pm it was rose to 22 degrees, but the forecast said it felt like 9 degrees. The forecast for the coming days are increasing snowfall -- a good thing in one way. When it snows, the temperatures don't feel so cold. Got the heating bill (gas) and it was 281,000 won. Big jump -- as the heat in the apartment is pretty high. Sealed the windows but the daughter keeps breaking the seals. She doesn't grasp that it affects the heating bill. At the hagwon, the toilet turned to ice -- and the pipes for the toilet were frozen, though the sinks were ok. Took a week to thaw out. Not a biggee as the "women's toilet" next to it works. Solnal (Lunar New Year) Snow (24 Jan 2009) Woke and all the trees were hanging heavy with snow. It was falling gently and no breeze so it wasn't feeling very cold. Drove the daughter to work and got to check out how the Retona 4-wheel drive works on snow. It doesn't. Slips the same as the two wheel if you put on too much gas. You get the old fishtail. I don't have snow chains for this car. Don't worry ... I was only checking on a wide backroad with no traffic. After I got home, took my Sony digital camera, put on the snow shoes (that I wear only twice or three times a year) and went outside to walk around. RATS!!! The battery was dead. Went in and put the battery in the recharger and got out the standby Olympus camera. Went out again and after the shots below, yep... RATS... the batteries died. Thus I came home. Recharged the battery on the Sony and went out again to shoot some shots in the neighborhood. The traffic was running very slow along Route 1 as people were heading to the country. As it was still snowing, there weren't many kids out -- except for one grandfather I saw out with his grandkids playing in the snow at Dongbu Apartments.   (L) Parking lot (Retona straight ahead) (R) Parking lot looking to Apartment entrance (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Dongbu Entrance sign (R) Jinwi Chon advertisment across street at Songbuk Children's Park (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Songbuk Children's Park (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Songbuk Children's Park (R) Church steeple behind trees (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Songbuk Children's Park Summer Water fountain (R) Exercise sets (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Songbuk Children's Park Entrance sign (R) Looking to intersection at Songbuk Elementary School (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Looking through barbed wire surrounding Dongbu Apt (R) Songbuk Elementary School (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Motorbike and bikes buried by snow (R) Shopkeeper cleaning front of store (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Children on street playing with snow (R) Street walking towards Route 1 (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Sashimi shop near intersection (R) Intersection at Route 1 (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Songbuk Underpass at Route 1 (R) Intersection at Route 1 (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Walking north along Route 1 (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L)Walking north along Route 1 (R) Traffic backed up on Route 1 (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)  Street behind apartment (24 Jan 2009)(Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Street area at back of apartment (R) Sidewalk area (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Sidewalk area behind apartment (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Corner on Route 1 with fruit stand setting up for Solnal (R) Sidewalk along Route 1 (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Back side of our building (R) Plaza area leading to street (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Plaza area with spring water leading to street (R) Grandfather watching grandkids play in snow; Man getting water in background (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Bird in tree near spring (R) Spring: water still flowing (24 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Dongbu Apartment (R) Dongbu Apartment (25 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Dongbu Staff clearing parking lot (R) Dongbu Apartment (25 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Front of apartment (R) Plaza area with spring (25 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Songtan Bus Terminal (25 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Taenhyon Rd in snowstorm (25 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) "Juicy Bar Wars" On-again??? (Jan 2009) In the last week of Jan, eight clubs were posted as off-limits at the Main Gate of Osan. What was unusual was the large number of clubs at one time. Normally there are only two-to-four at any given time. The reasons could range from "force protection" (bar fights) or "prostitution" (Juicy-girl violations). Unusual was the lack of a reason for the off-limits that usually accompanies the notice. Because there was no official word on why the "off-limits" sanctions were imposed, there was a great fear amongst the old-timers that the Osan AB Commander was returning to the "moral" viewpoint of zero-tolerance for prostitution. The interest was whether Osan was returning to the "prostitution morality" campaign that the USFK underwent in 2007 -- including "available for duty" status meaning "curfews" even for contractors with its resultant bad press. In the past, this view point resulted in a great deal of friction between civilian personnel/contractors and the base because their actions were lumped in with the military -- and they operated under different regulations. The situation finally resolved itself when the Osan commander stated the "rules" didn't apply to contractors -- and after six-months dropped the old curfew hours altogether. Besides the drunk and disorderly, there has been a recent concern over the excessive use of alcohol by some individuals that has caused the wing commander to be concerned, but this on-base problem doesn't seem to have a bearing on the bars in question. As of 29 Jan, no one knew why the bars were off-limits. There was no reason given on the USFK website Off Limits Areas page which lists the following clubs in Osan off limits:
The website has no information on why they are off limits, just the map pointing them out as being off limits now. The 8th Army, 2nd Infantry Division, and AFN-Korea websites have absolutely nothing on why the Osan clubs are off limits. Stars & Stripes and USFK Forums had nothing either. (Source: GI ROK Drop.) USFK Off Limits (12 Jan 09) gives the reasons for the off-limits of other bars, but Osan isn't even listed. Thus there are questions as to what is happening. Civil Gathering, Osan Air Base (Main Gate)The only reason bar owners protest is when they feel the off-limits sanctions are unjustified. However, what is unusual is that they are protesting BEFORE appealing to the wing commander for a review of their case. The protests usually occur AFTER appeals have failed, but no one seems to have heard about any problems out of the ordinary up till now. Any off-limits places a hardship on the bars with Filipinas as they still have to pay the girls -- and if they try to rip the girls off, the Filipinas have an "informal union" that will immediately report the bars to the ROK authorities. In 2007 during the midst of the last off-limits/curfew troubles, many of the bars were on the verge of closing simply because they couldn't keep up paying the rent on an empty bar. The issue will boil down to the Filipinas that are no longer working and "free-lancing" on the side -- creating the exact problem that any anti-prostitution measure aimed at bars is supposed to prevent. Bar ban brings call to talk (Jan 2009) The business leader who was at the center of a furor between local bar owners and a U.S. military commander in South Korea several years ago says the conflict holds a lesson that could help avert a similar scrape across town: a monthly meeting to head off potential off-limits orders. Kim Ki-ho, president of the Anjung-ri Merchants Association in Pyeongtaek, was referring to the clash that arose in August 2005 after Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr., at the time the commander of Camp Humphreys, put 12 businesses off limits for allegedly allowing underage drinking and, in one case, prostitution or human trafficking. The move triggered protests and weeks of rancor, including banners that merchants put up in the bar district outside Humphreys that read: "Commander Michael J. Taliento Jr., You go back to Afghanistan again." The uproar led to a monthly meeting between the association and the Humphreys commander. "We have to meet each other every month," Kim said. "We can talk about each problem. We can solve without any problem." (SITE NOTE: Camp Humphreys and Osan AB are two distinct areas when dealing with bars -- and this bit about Taliento is mixing apples and oranges.) Across town and more than three years later, in Pyeongtaek’s Songtan section, eight local bars remain off limits after Air Force Col. Thomas H. Deale, commander of Osan’s 51st Fighter Wing, concluded they might have been allowing prostitution. Deale put four clubs off limits Jan. 23 and the others in November and December. On Wednesday (28 Jan), owners met with Osan’s Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board and agreed to take steps to ensure their bars are free of prostitution and human trafficking, and to inform the Air Force of those plans in hopes of being open to servicemembers again. Although a base spokeswoman characterized Wednesday’s meeting as "cooperative," Kim on Thursday (29 Jan) said Osan officials and the Songtan bar owners should consider the arrangement struck between the association and Humphreys. In the wake of their conflict with Taliento, said Kim, the Anjung-ri merchants and the U.S. Army Garrison-Humphreys commander meet monthly to discuss anything that may be of mutual interest. The meetings give the Humphreys commander, currently Col. John E. Dumoulin Jr., a chance to alert the merchants to any reports of illicit activity, and association members tell the bar owner in question to put a stop to it, Kim and Humphreys officials said Thursday. If problems persist, the club would be put off limits "forever" with the association’s full support, Kim explained. "That’s good idea," said Kim. "And then club owners, they have to listen to the base commander" should he provide evidence that a business is allowing anything the U.S. military considers grounds for off-limits status. A Humphreys spokeswoman said garrison officials agree that the monthly meetings have been a helpful step for the Army’s relationship with the local business community. (SITE NOTE: The "underage drinking" was a sting operation by Taliento in Anjung-ni to send a legal age person to order a drink who would then provide the drink to an underage soldier. Then the CID would move in. This was the illegal sting operations that the bar owners protested. Make no bones about it -- the sting operation was actually to shut down prostitution by shutting down the bars. Taliento had gotten embroiled in the mixing up of the moral issue of human trafficking versus the legal issue of prostitution. That prostitution was a local ROK Korean National Police matter involving soldiers made it potentially messy as soldiers could be arrested as "johns" if the USFK stepped on their toes. Supposedly close cooperation was continued between Anjung-ni KNP and the Security forces of Camp Humphreys.) Informed of Kim’s suggestion, Yi Jin-yong, a member of the Korean Special Tourist Association, which represents clubs and hotels in Songtan, said members would weigh the idea over the next week or so. Osan spokeswoman 1st Lt. Malinda C. Singleton said Thursday (29 Jan) that Deale was not immediately available to hear of Kim’s suggestion. In September 2005, after Taliento lifted the ban on seven of the 12 businesses outside Humphreys, the merchants association put up new banners, this time telling Taliento, "We love you." "Still," Kim said Thursday, "we have a good relationship" with Humphreys. (SITE NOTE: However, Kim is forgetting the signs preceding that wishing Taliento would go back to Afghanistan -- and worse.) (Source: Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes.) The following was posted on GI RoK Drop on 31 Jan 2009 by Kalani: The Stars and Stripes article is indeed curious -- Anjung-ni and Shinjang Mall are two different entities. Mr. Kim from Anjung-ni had his problems with Taliento, while the Osan AB folks were remaining open with no problems. Loved that little bit at the bottom of "Love Taliento" -- when I have the photos on my site of the signs that would have wanted him to return to Afghanistan and WORSE!!! Yep, news stories sure get "curious."On 1 Feb 2009, I went to see an old friend and shop owner on the Mall and asked him about the situation. He cryptically said, "12 more to go." He was alluding to the fact that it looked like the base was taking aim at the 12 remaining bars -- but had initially zeroed in on the major clubs like Golden Gate and those that had a high number of Filipinas. The Wing Commander it seems has stepped into the trap of mixing the moral and legal issues together -- and stepped into a mess. The difference he said between the off-limits now versus that in the past is the length of the off-limits. The offenses are bringing six-months suspension. The impact is that bars might as well fold because they simply cannot pay their bills if they operate by renting the space. (NOTE: The workaround for the bars is to simply open a "new" bar -- where a relative (like a wife or son) "buys" the bar including its name -- and operates it as business as usual. In the past in Uijongbu, Dongduchon, Kunsan and Shinjang Mall, this was the standard for bars caught in the long-term off-limits trap the camp/base tried to play. The problem is the base applies it to a BAR and the bar is registered to a SPECIFIC KOREAN OWNER. Change the owner and the off-limits sanctions no longer apply -- even if not one employee, sign over the door or eveb a stick of furniture was moved. This is what happens when the AMERICANS attempt to interfere in the operations of a KOREAN legal system.) But on 1 Feb the Stars and Stripes ran an article that the bars had come to an agreement with the base based upon the Anjung-ni agreement. Basically, the bar owners agreed to snitch on their fellow bar owners if they violate the "rules" set down by the base. Supposedly they become self-policing. Under this agreement, if a fellow bar owner violates the "bar fine" rule, the bar owners warn him and if he doesn't clean up his act, they report him to the base. Seems simple enough that the base makes the bar owners into a bunch of "stool pigeons" who were blackmailed -- yes, this is what you call using the "off-limits" restrictions as a tool to threaten the closure of a bar because they simply cannot afford any closure. It is the same black-mailing technique Col Taliento used in Anjung-ni -- though the bar owners wanted to cut his balls off by the time it reached a head and the relations between the base and Anjung-ni MERCHANTS -- because the acts of Col Taliento affected every shop owner off-base. The following is a 19 Feb Stars and Stripes story: Officials here have lifted a ban on eight local bars after the owners promised to keep them free of prostitution, underage drinking and other unsafe or illegal conditions, the Air Force said Tuesday.But who cares? It worked didn't it? But in reality it is the same "eye-wash" solution that was reached in Anjung-ni. Will it be effective? About as effective as the agreement in Anjung-ni. The problem with this agreement is that the Wing Commander failed to understand how Korea works. Do you really think the bar owners are going to snitch on members of their own organization? In Korea, personal relationships is that basis of families/business contact/associations/etc. It is the Korean way. The Wing Commander is here for a year or two. These people have to live here forever. The only way a bar owner will snitch on a competitor is if he can be assured that the finger will not be pointed back to him. In other words, it will place the base back into a situation of implementing "sting" operations -- a totally bad practice. Oh, well. Who cares? The situation in effect has returned to the status quo. The base THINKS it has a workable agreement -- when in truth it has extra toilet paper for the latrines. The bar owners -- especially those living on the edge of extinction if they rent their bar space -- are back in operation. Everyone is happy again. March 2009U.S. soldier held after knife attack near Osan (Mar 2009) A U.S. soldier was in custody Friday after allegedly stabbing a female bartender near Osan Air Base in a fit of jealousy, authorities said. The woman, 27, was reported in critical condition and on life support Friday with multiple knife wounds. Police said she’s from the Philippines and worked in the Shinjang Mall entertainment district just outside the base. "I can say she is going through a very critical moment right now," said surgeon Ahn Sang-ik, who operated on the woman at Osan Hankook Hospital. "It is too early to tell whether she will be OK."Two others — men who heard the woman’s screams and rushed to her aid — also were injured when trying to subdue the soldier. Both remained hospitalized after surgery, but their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said. One was a South Korean air force captain, the other a civilian. Part of the American soldier’s finger was cut off in the scuffle with the men, police said. The incident occurred shortly after midnight Friday morning in the Songtan section of Pyeongtaek. Police would not disclose the name of the club. The soldier had a romantic interest in the woman, but she was not interested in him, police said. He became upset when he saw her drinking with another man at the bar, where he was a regular customer, police said. She was heading home from work when he allegedly attacked her, stabbing her repeatedly. The woman suffered wounds to several internal organs, Ahn said, and one lung was severely injured and hemorrhaging. The soldier was treated at the same hospital then turned over to the U.S. military. The two men who tried to aid the woman were treated for injuries at Mediwell Hospital in Pyeongtaek. The South Korean air force captain, 36, was treated for facial injuries. Authorities identified him by his last name Cho. The other man, 27, was treated for leg injuries. Authorities said his last name was Lee. "Everyone was injured either critically or seriously enough," said a police official. "As for the Philippines woman, we should wait and see, hoping for the best." The Army’s 2nd Infantry Division issued a news release Friday, quoting division commander Maj. Gen. John W. Morgan III as saying the Army will work closely with the Korean authorities on the case. The Army had not released the name of the accused soldier as of Friday evening. At Osan Air Base, 51st Fighter Wing commander Col. Thomas H. Deale had not placed any bars off limits or changed curfew hours as a result of the incident, said wing spokeswoman 1st Lt. Malinda C. Singleton. "However," she said, "we are continuing to monitor the information as it comes in, and he will take the appropriate action as he deems necessary." (Source: Stars and Stripes.) South Korea wants attempted murder charge for servicemember (Mar 2009) South Korean police will ask local prosecutors to charge a U.S. soldier with attempted murder for a knife attack that injured three people near Osan Air Base earlier this month, they said Thursday. A bar worker, 27, from the Philippines is off life support, out of intensive care and recovering well despite multiple stab wounds that damaged a lung, intestines and other organs in the March 6 incident, police said Thursday. But a South Korean air force captain who rushed to her aid suffered wounds that may handicap him for life, a police official told Stars and Stripes. Capt. Cho Jae-hwi underwent surgery to repair damaged glands and other facial injuries, but only partial repairs were possible because his wounds were too extensive, police said. A second man who went to the woman’s aid, Lee Taek-woon, 27, suffered knife wounds to the leg. He is making a steady recovery but is still unable to walk, he told Stars and Stripes earlier this week. All three are expected to remain hospitalized for about another six weeks, police said. Their alleged assailant is a U.S. soldier assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, General Support Aviation Battalion, part of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade. He remains in pretrial confinement at the Eighth U.S. Army Confinement Facility at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek. The military is not releasing the soldier’s name until formal charges are filed. Police have said he harbored a romantic interest in the bar worker, but she was not interested. As she left work at a club in the Shinjang Mall entertainment district shortly after midnight, the soldier allegedly set upon her, stabbing her repeatedly. Police said they questioned the soldier twice last week, and he told them he was too drunk at the time of the incident to remember what might have occurred. (Source: Stars and Stripes.) Yellow dust covers the peninsula (Mar 2009) An unclear sky was seen throughout the nation yesterday as yellow sand blanketed the peninsula. The Korea Meteorological Administration said yellow dust was discovered in all regions nationwide, with Gangwon Province most severely affected by the storm that originated from the Gobi desert in Mongolia. This was the third yellow dust storm to hit the nation this year and is expected to continue through this morning, according to KMA officials. "This yellow dust storm is exceptional because of the region it originated from. Our country was impacted mostly by yellow sand coming from this area (the Gobi desert) prior to 2002," a KMA forecaster said. As of yesterday afternoon (16 Mar), Sokcho in Gangwon Province recorded the highest minute dust particle level of 539 micrograms per cubic meter, whereas Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province and Seoul had 298 and 150 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively. Yellow sand warnings were issued in all areas of Gangwon Province yesterday afternoon. A warning is issued when state weather authorities projected the hourly average level of minute dust particles to exceed 400 micrograms per cubic meter for more than two hours. The year-on-year average of yellow dust days has seen a sharply increased over the past few years, from three days in 2003 to 11 in 2005 and 13 in 2007, state weather authorities said. To minimize the negative effect of yellow sand, weather authorities advised citizens to avoid any outdoor activities, to wash their hands frequently, drink more water, and wear glasses instead of contact lenses. (Source: Korea Herald.) (SITE NOTE: What makes me mad is that I just washed the car the other day and it is covered in this yellowish dust again just from sitting in the parking lot. The skies of Songtan appeared overcast and none of the negative effects were seen -- besides the monthly air-raid drill that stopped traffic on 16 Mar (Monday). People were backed up at the traffic lights so it was easy to see how many people were out walking around -- mostly old people.) Another thing was the unseasonably warm temps. On 18 Mar, I donned a sweatshirt and cotton hooded jacket to go to work across the street. Once I got outside, it was surprised how HOT it was. Suddenly the temperatures that were very cool the day before was T-shirt weather (sort of). I went back home to change to something lighter. My daughter working in Chonan said it was hot there too. The morning low in the Seoul exceeded 15 degrees Celsius on 19 Mar, breaking the previous record for March morning lows set in 1960. The hottest morning low for March had been 12.8 degrees Celsius in March 29, 1960. However, the average morning low for this month had been 1.7 degrees Celsius for the past 30 years. "This is due to a continuous inflow of warm and humid southwestern waves coming from the Hwanam area in China and the East China Sea, on top of an anticyclone remaining in the southern region of the nation," KMA officials said. However, the temperature is projected to drop starting Sunday afternoon (22 Mar) after a rain shower, they said. June 2009Summer is here??? (Jun 2009) Unlike last year when the temperatures were blazing hot and the kids were left with no where to stay cool except in their air conditioned apartments -- if at all -- and the city did NOT turn on the water fountains at the parks until late July after a month of killer heat.There are two little parks with fountains -- sprinker systems that kids can run in. One is across from our apartment at the Songbuk Children's Park and the other is near the Jisan Park (near the Farmers' bank). On 1 June they turned on the water. Have seen some kids playing in the fountains, but the weather really isn't that hot yet -- only with the highs in the 80s so far. Most days though are still in the high 70s -- not what one would call a heat wave. Anyway, glad they have them on so when the heat does hit, the kids will have somewhere to go.   Songbuk Children's Park acroos from Dongbu Apartment  Songbuk Children's Park acroos from Dongbu Apartment July 2009Tension Mounts at Ssangyong (Jul 2009) Tension is again mounting at the Ssangyong Motor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, as police gear up to use force to disperse hundreds of laid-off unionized workers who have occupied the factory for about 50 days. Police removed steel containers and other barricades that blocked four major entrances to the troubled carmaker located 70 kilometers south of Seoul. They were standing guard at the four major gates Sunday, keeping outsiders off the premises.Police said they had secured the gates as a toehold for the possible dispersion of the union members by force. ``We occupied the gates in preparation for the use of police force,’’ an officer said. ``But we will make a final decision after watching the situation further.’’ The union has refused to budge. ``If the police want to make another tragedy, go ahead. All responsibilities will fall on the government and the company,’’ the union said in a statement. ``We will fight to the end. This factory is the last fortress laborers cannot give up.’’ Lee Chang-geun, a union leader added, ``We urge the government to withdraw police and turn up at the negotiation table to normalize the factory.’’ Food and medicine were not allowed to pass through the gates. Employees and executives of the company shelved a plan that would have seen them enter the factory Monday to avoid a clash with the union members. But they demanded that the government use police force to disperse the striking union members as soon as possible. A Ssangyong executive said, ``The factory should come under our control by the end of the month. Given it takes 10 days to normalize assembly lines, the protesters should be dispersed this week. That’s the only way for our survival.’’ On Friday, 4,500 people filed a collective petition for the use of police force with the government Friday, saying ``The prolonged confrontation will lead to a collapse of the company, its hundreds of subcontractors and dealerships.’’ Police have been reluctant to get involved in the management-labor confrontation originated from a massive layoff carried out last month as part of restructuring efforts to keep the company afloat and avoid liquidation. The firm has been under bankruptcy protection since February. (Source: Korea Times.) Ssangyong Union-occupied Plant in Pyeongtaek -- More Economic Woes Ahead (Jul 2009) Ssangyong Motor released yesterday some 20 aerial pictures of the inside of its union-occupied Pyeongtaek plant in Gyeonggi Province. The photos were taken in a helicopter July 1 when leaflets were distributed urging striking unionists to disperse. The union has occupied the plant since May 22 in protest of layoffs. "The union has turned the plant into a fortress and produced weapons to prepare for a police crackdown," Ssangyong management said in a statement. Tires shown stacked on the rooftops of the main buildings will apparently be dropped to the ground if police attempt to enter the buildings, the company said. Boxes near the wheels contain volts, which can be used as bullets for slingshots. Also seen in the photos were two containers of liquefied petroleum gas tied to a pipe. The company warned that if the end of the pipe is lit, the tanks will act as flamethrowers. Tires were stacked in several places inside the plant. When police approach, union workers will hurl Molotov cocktails to set the tires on fire, the company said. Certain tires will explode because butane gas containers are attached to them. Placards reading "We will survive when you die," or "You will die together," were placed on the streets. The union declined comment on these signs. Police in Gyeonggi Province Saturday took control of the four main gates of the plants and posted officers at the gates to control access to the plant. Near the gates, two union members were arrested but no clash occurred because all of the unionized workers on guard left the gates. In addition, police installed yesterday reticulated fences inside the gates and deployed 100 officers to each gate. Police plan to take control of all of the plant's buildings except a car painting facility occupied by union workers. After that, striking union workers will be dispersed. A police source said, "In preparation for the crackdown, we've secured the gates," adding, "We cannot enter the car painting plant immediately, however, due to the massive volume of inflammable materials." The union said in response, "If police want a second Yongsan tragedy (a January civilian-police clash in which six people were killed in Seoul), so be it." "But they must know that the company and the government will take responsibility for all consequences. We will fight to the end." (Source: Donga Ilbo.) (SITE NOTE: On Saturday (11 Jul), took a short detour on the way to Kunsan and drove by the Ssangyong plant in the Songtan Industrial area. The police were out in force with more arriving as we drove by. We drove down the entrance to the plant and were turned back by riot police. The police had cordoned off the plant entrances up the hill and the main entrance. On Saturday night, when we came back from Kunsan, we drove by the plant again just out of curiousity and the police were still stationed at the entrance blocking entry. Other than that, it looked pretty quiet -- the lull before the storm. Supposedly, the police were to clear the plant on Sunday, but no news has been released of police action. Police have been reluctant to get involved in the management-labor confrontation originated from a massive layoff carried out last month as part of restructuring efforts to keep the company afloat and avoid liquidation. The firm has been under bankruptcy protection since February. This dispute actually has been going on for years. About five years back, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and the Chinese offered to buy the company. The unions said don't do it as the Chinese would only rip off the technology and leave the company a shell. The Roh government believed the Chinese that they would invest in the company to get it on its feet. The Chinese ripped off all the technology and left the company a shell. Bottomline, the company is in DEEP trouble and the unions don't want to make concessions on layoffs that the company feels it needs to do to survive. The outlook is that the company will fold because of this confrontation unless some miracle happens. Bad news for the working population of Songtan -- meaning further recession in the community.) Tension Escalates at Ssangyong Plant (Jul 2009) Tension escalated yesterday after a local court approved an eviction of Ssangyong Motor Company's unionized workers, who have occupied a car paint factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, for 60 days demanding their jobs back. At 10:05 a.m., five officials at Suwon District Court's Pyeongtaek branch passed through the main gate leading to the factory occupied by 600 workers. Officials attempted to hand workers the court's eviction order. Workers ignored the order and from the factory roof flung nuts and bolts from slingshots at officials, who backed down at 11: 35 a.m. "We tried to deliver the court's order three times, but left because they resisted," a court official said. With court approval, over 3,000 police officers were dispatched and surrounded four gates of the factory around 10 a.m. In case of a clash, 25 fire trucks, six ambulances, and a helicopter were also on standby.  Striking Ssangyong Motor workers yesterday use a slingshot to launch screw bolts and nuts to block the company's management and police from entering the plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi. Ssangyong Motor, maker of sport-utility vehicles and 51 percent owned by Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp., secured protection under court receivership in February and has called for more than 1,000 workers to be laid off, triggering protests from the labor union. Police attempted to enter the plant yesterday to evict the unionists. [REUTERS] Police warned workers through a loudspeaker that they would be forcibly evicted if they didn't end the strike. Police encroached on the factory by 50 more meters to set up barricades. "Police will pay the price if they attempt to get in," responded a spokesman for the workers. When police tried to get closer, workers responded by rolling flaming tires towards them. They also peppered officers with slingshots and threw Molotov cocktails. Ssangyong Motor Company said it cut off gas and water supplies to the factory at 11:20 a.m. "This is to urge the workers to end the protest and leave the factory as soon as possible," a company official said. The company stopped sending daily food and medical supplies on July 17. A woman surnamed Park, the wife of a senior unionized worker, surnamed Lee, hanged herself at her house yesterday morning. "My wife suffered immense stress after she received a summons sent by police and a document demanding compensation for damages from the company," Lee said. National Police Commissioner General Kang Hee-rak said police will not rush to get into the factory. "[Police] need to act patiently when entering the factory because there are flammable materials such as gasoline and paint thinner stored there," Kang said. "Presently, police only need the factory's main building and research building." Police said they will keep forces stationed at the Pyeongtaek factory to help the company resume work at the two buildings. Ssangyong says the car paint factory contains at least of 240,000 liters of flammables. "Just a spark will completely blow up the factory," Song Seung-ki, a senior worker in Ssangyong's production division, said. "The paint factory is much like a powder keg." Lee Youn-ho, minister of knowledge economy, warned that if Ssangyong Motor continues to halt production at its plant in Pyeongtaek, the automaker will have no other choice but to file for bankruptcy. "At a time like this, when the global vehicle market has contracted, the possibility that Ssangyong Motor - which has seen its market competitiveness fall - can survive is problematic," the minister said in meeting with lawmakers at the National Assembly. Lee said although it is the court's exclusive right to decide whether to keep the company afloat, bankruptcy would be inevitable if the illegal takeover of the plant by workers continues after the end of this month. Lee added that the government will do its best to minimize the loss suffered from Ssangyong Motor's parts suppliers due to the ongoing strike by helping them expand their markets overseas. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.) 1,000 Police Break Ssangyong Strike (Jul 2009) Bailiffs were dispatched on Monday (20 Jul) to Ssangyong Motor's Pyeongtaek plant in Gyeonggi Province to disperse striking workers who had occupied the plant for 60 days. But violent resistance by some unionized workers who occupied the plant's paint shop filled with inflammables thwarted execution of the warrant. At 10 a.m. that day (20 Jul), some 1,000 police officers gathered at the plant, timed with the arrival of 1,100 non-union employees who resumed work at the main office building and the research and development building. A police officer said the officers will remain stationed at the plant to prevent clashes between workers.  Black smoke gushes out from a Ssangyong Motor factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, as striking workers set fire to tires to keep riot police at bay. / Korea Times Photo by Kim Joo-sung Thousands of riot police moved into the Ssangyong Motor factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, under a court order to disperse laid-off unionized workers who have occupied the factory for about two months. But they refrained from forcibly removing the protestors from a building in the plant to avoid possible deadly clashes. Officers succeeded in gaining control of most of the factory, except for a painting building in which about 700 of the fired workers had gathered in a last-ditch protest against the company's layoff plan. The building reportedly contains more than 33,000 liters of inflammable material including paint thinner. National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Hee-rak was cautious about raiding the building. "Police have a duty to put a court order into practice," Kang told reporters. "But I'm not considering pushing police into the building at the moment because it's packed with dangerous material. We succeeded in taking control of the main administrative building and the research building in line with an agreement with Ssangyong management." The operation began around 11 a.m. as five court officials and Ssangyong creditors arrived at the scene with a court-issued letter ordering the protesters to leave the plant. Ssangyong asked the court to order police to remove the striking workers in order to normalize operations. The request was approved early this month. The company cut water and electricity supplies at 11:20 a.m. despite the risk of damaging machinery. Food deliveries have been suspended since last Friday. "This is to get them out as soon as possible," a Ssangyong executive said. Previously, executives had been unable to meet the striking workers due to safety precautions, as some protesters shot steel nuts from rubber guns at the "invaders." The government and Ssangyong hope to disperse the protesters as soon as possible as the strike has already cost the automaker 230 billion won ($183.2 million) in lost production Should the deadlock continue, Knowledge Economy Minister Lee Youn-ho said Ssangyong will have no choice but to file for bankruptcy. "Ssangyong executives and associates believe that if assembly lines fail to resume operating this month, the automaker's bankruptcy will be inevitable," Lee said. "The government will map out a plan to provide support to Ssangyong after a court finally decides whether or not to keep it alive." The minister said the government has no plan to play an active role in reconciling the two parties, saying "government intervention in labor issues has never been successful." Ssangyong has laid off 36 percent of its work force, or 2,646 employees in a bid to survive the global economic turmoil. Meanwhile, creditors of Ssangyong subcontractors told the ailing automaker's joint receivers, Lee Yu-il and Park Young-tae, they are filing for early bankruptcy around Aug. 3 unless the plant is back operation by the end of July. A creditor said, "If the strike continues even after the end of July, Ssangyong Motor must be liquidated and a 'new Ssangyong' founded, just as GM was born again as 'New GM.'" Currently, 250 first-tier subcontractors and 1,900 second- and third-tier subcontractors have receivables of W300 billion (US$1=W1,251) from the automaker. (Source: Korea Times and Chosun Ilbo.) Pyeongtaek Riven by Ssangyong Strike (Jul 2009) "You know your dad's a commie?" "Well, your dad's a government tool." An employee of Pyeongtaek City Hall was shocked by what students were saying outside during a lunch break several days ago. Children were fighting over the two sides their parents were on in the Ssangyong Automotive situation. The employee said, "I was so upset that this kind of thing is happening in schools and on the street." A the 68th day of the dispute, the Ssangyong Automotive siege situation has now split children as well as public organizations into two groups. An apartment building about one kilometer from the Ssangyong factory. Almost half of its 750 households are Ssangyong employees, and after the situation began the atmosphere among them quickly grew cold. 44-year old Ms. Lee, who we met outside the building on the 28th, said, "after the situation began the atmosphere here really changed from what it was before. Nobody is open about it but everything now happens at arm's length." They spent a long time as co-workers and neighbors, and now they are re-arranging based on their opinions. 46-year old Ms. Choi, a real estate agency owner in Chilwon-dong in Pyeongtaek, said, "now people who used to spend time together don't even talk, and if you pretend you don't know anything you can see people splitting apart. It's sad." Family and friends are being divided into those who have been laid off and those who haven't. 43-year old Ms. Ji, who we met at an apartment complex in Chilwon-dong, said, "as the layoffs and strikes and siege go on and on, people's economic situations get worse, so there are a lot of spousal fights and families where the parents aren't getting along." One educator we met at an elementary school some 500 meters from the Ssangyong factory said, "a lot of my friends I've known since I was a kid work at Ssangyong and so do a lot of my close friends, but this thing has split them. They see each other but don't talk, and they're cold to each other and can't listen to the other's opinion. It's terrible." Song Myeong-ho of City Hall said, "as the Ssangyong situation has dragged on the breakdown in civil society has become serious." One teacher at an elementary school in the city said, "Pyeongtaek is in a bad situation where yesterday's friend is today's traitor. I hope that this Ssangyong situation can be resolved quickly and we can go back to the Pyeongtaek we used to have." (Source: Naver and Translation: Korea Beat.) Ssangyong Factory Turning Into "Refugee Camp" (Jul 2009) The fired workers, who have occupied the paint shop of a Ssangyong Motor factory for 68 days, are living in dismal conditions as they have been denied food and water for about a week. Visitors to the building, including doctors and medical staff said the situation will turn worse as dozens are already injured and around 10 occupants are suffering from depression. "It's like a refugee camp," said Baek Nam-joon, a member of a humanitarian doctors' association. "Protesters have been living in a hell-like environment." Baek said a sour, acid smell is lingering inside the building following days of tear-gas spraying by police helicopters. "It was hard to breathe," he said. Many of them are exposed to dehydration as drinking water was drying up. Doctors estimated that 200 were injured. "Six of them need an immediate surgery or medical care. Many have severe injuries, including broken ribs or joints incurred during clashes with riot police." According to Baek, they are given one or two rice balls per day. "Toilets are in dismal condition as the water supply has been cut off." Hundreds of protesters have complained of a lack of sleep, he said. "They sleep just two or three hours a day as police helicopters above the building generate unbearable noise." Lee Chang-geun, spokesman for the unionized protesters, said noise from helicopters and speakers installed nearby the building was adding to the terrible conditions. "We have no food, no water and no sleep." Compensation Suit The workers are also facing damage suits that could deprive them of all their remaining assets. The company said Wednesday it will seek compensation of 5 billion won from the occupants in a damage suit, raising the cumulative amount to 15 billion won. Meanwhile, Ssangyong creditors will submit a petition for early liquidation to the Seoul Central District Court. The court has set Sept. 15 as a deadline for the company's management to submit a self-rescue plan to avoid liquidation. Choi Byeong-hoon, spokesman for the creditors said, "We have reached an accord that liquidating the firm is a better option than waiting until the deadline." The petition will be submitted by Aug. 5. Choi said they will also file a compensation suit against the company, saying the production stoppage inflicted about 89 billion won ($71.7 million) in losses to creditors. Despite the warning, no development has been made in labor-management talks since the first round of negotiations broke down Saturday. The two sides have not moved from their original positions on key issues. The union is demanding the cancellation of the layoffs, while management said it would not begin talks until that demand was dropped. (Source: Korea Times.) Ssangyong Strike Causes Huge Losses (Jul 2009) Ssangyong Motor suffered estimated direct and indirect losses of W600 billion from a strike that has lasted for 61 days, even as a court must decide whether the ailing SUV maker is worth saving from bankruptcy (US$1=W1,249). There have also been casualties. About 110 people have sustained injuries in clashes between striking workers and police, and between unionized workers and non-union employees, four of whom were seriously injured and taken to hospital. There has also been damage to the brand name, and if such intangible losses are calculated, the losses could amount to more than W1 trillion, according to experts. They estimate that Ssangyong suffered a loss of W245.6 billion due to disrupted production caused by the strike, based on the average per-car production cost of W21.31 million multiplied by 11,520 cars that have not been produced since the strike began. The sales network has also collapsed, with the number of its dealerships dropping from 210 to 140 and that of salespeople from 2,500 to 1,500. Before the strike, the court estimated that Ssangyong's survival value was W389 billion more than its liquidation value. But since the strike started, the loss amount has already exceeded W240 billion, making it seem likely that liquidation will soon be the more economical option. The automaker's subcontractors are suffering combined losses of W200 billion from lost sales during the strike, said Choi Byung-hoon, the secretary general of the Ssangyong Motor Subcontractors Association. The city of Pyeongtaek estimated the city's economic loss at W14 billion as a result of reduced consumption by about 40,000 people, or 10 percent of the population -- 4,500 Ssangyong staff, 5,500 employees of the automaker's subcontractors, and their families. (SITE NOTE: Because of the principle of having the supply sources in close proximity to reduce shipping times and storage of parts costs, many of the suppliers relocated their facilities to the industrial zones within the Pyeongtaek area. The impacts of the plant closure only multiplies the impacts to the area as subcontractors layoff workers. We witnessed the impacts in Kunsan in 1997-1998 with many companies going bankrupt -- and saw first hand the suffering it caused amongst the common people. Discussed this problem with some adult students and there is really no good solution. The government has refused to intercede-- ie, a bailout -- as this is an isolated company and it would set a precedent.) Ssangyong staff also lost out. Some 1,670 who applied for early retirement failed to receive a total of W130 billion including bonuses and severance pay. Striking workers themselves also lost money. Some 450 of them stood to receive bonuses of W11.2 billion, an average of W25 million per worker, if they applied for an early retirement package. Some 320 of them, who were entitled to other positions such as sales posts, have also lost out on monthly pay which they could have earned if they had kept working. Choi Jae-hwang, a director at the Korea Employers Federation, said the intangible loss is larger than the tangible loss. "Looking at the violent struggle by the unionized workers, more and more overseas investors will make a low estimate of the value of Korean enterprises," he said. The cost of police resource is also enormous. A total of 53,000 police officers had been mobilized until Tuesday to deal with the Ssangyong incident, the National Police Agency said. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.) (SITE NOTE: Police commandos had begun storming a paint shop at the Ssangyong Motor Co. plant Tuesday that has been occupied by hundreds of fired workers. The commandos raided the building to break up the sit-in as about 4,000 riot police surrounded the building. Firetrucks and police commanders also arrived inside the plant."Today (4 Aug), we will enter the painting shop as far as we can. So it can be said that operations have essentially begun," said a police official. Earlier in the day, police used forklifts to remove barricades and other barriers blocking off the facility where some 550 laid-off workers have remained holed up since May 22, demanding their jobs back.Police sprayed tear gas from helicopters as the protesters fought back by shooting nuts and bolts from large slingshots and rolling out burning tires. (Yonhap News.)) Ssangyong online after 11 weeks (Aug 2009) Ssangyong Motor Co.'s Pyeongtaek plant resumed operations for the first time since the 77-day sit-in strike began on May 22. "First, the company will complete the restructuring process and focus on drawing up revival plans that will be accepted by the court and the creditors by Sept. 15," co-court receivership manager Park Young-tae said before the official start of the working day. He said that the company will also complete the process of securing additional funds within the week and implement measures that will normalize sales and maintenance networks. (SITE NOTE: KDB loaned Ssangyong 1.3 billion won to restructure with the factory accepted as colateral.) Although some window panes in the main building remained broken, there was no glass on the floor and most of the damage caused by the sometimes violent strike appeared to have been repaired, with production facilities back in full working order. Starting with a unit of the luxury sedan Chairman W, the company was to produce 74 vehicles yesterday - 28 sedans and 46 sport utility vehicles. Ssangyong's managing director Choi Sang-jin said that if the company sells about 4,500 units a month for the rest of the year, this will be sufficient to cover operation costs and put some cash back into the company. "The 4,500-unit monthly sales target, 2,000 units on the local market and 2,500 exports, is realistic and sales of 21,000 units is possible during the remainder of the year," Choi said. "Adding that to the 13,000 units sold until July, there is little cause for concern whether the company will be able to meet the 27,000 unit output indicated in Samil's report." In its report, Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers, an accounting firm, indicated that the liquidated value of Ssangyong is less than its continuation value, given that the company's output exceeds 27,000 units this year. However, Ssangyong is not yet home free. Although it has managed to secure 130 billion won ($105 million) from its main creditor Korea Development Bank to cover the costs of restructuring, the company still needs to raise a similar amount to complete developing a new car, codenamed SUV C200. "The C200 is Ssangyong's new hope, so we will try to raise funds through various routes including selling some of our real estate," Park said. "Launching the vehicle within the year will be impossible and a definite schedule can't be given, but we will try to launch the vehicle as soon as possible." In addition, the government is said to be unwilling to lend a helping hand until investors capable of running the company present themselves. Analysts said that finding an investor to take control of the beleaguered company may not be as simple as it sounds, as the intentions of foreign companies that have shown interest in Ssangyong during the strike are now said to be unclear. But Ssangyong's co-court receivership manager Lee Yoo-il expressed confidence in the company's ability to attract new investors. "This is not yet the time to speak of investors, but I am confident that investors will appear," Lee said. "We are not restricting the search to local or foreign operations, and any company capable of normalizing Ssangyong will be considered." The troubled SUV-specialist's suppliers are facing even more dire problems. "Our position is somewhat different from Ssangyong as we are the only ones to have sustained financial damages. All the equipment damaged by the strike belonged to suppliers and Ssangyong's assembly lines have not sustained any damage," said Choi Byung-hoon, who represents some 600 of Ssangyong's suppliers. He added that suppliers have sustained 200 billion won worth of damages due to the strike and that many of the suppliers have halted production and cut their payrolls by up to 40 percent. Others are on the brink of bankruptcy, he said. "The government and the KDB need to realize the seriousness of the suppliers' situation and implement measures or many suppliers could go down in a series of bankruptcies." (Source: Korea Herald.) Monsoon rains flood K-16 Air Base in Korea (Jul 2009) Estimators expected to begin assessing flood damage at K-16 Air Base on Wednesday after two days of heavy rain flooded half a dozen buildings with as much as three feet of water. Ten inches of rain fell Sunday at K-16 by some estimates, flooding two barracks, an administrative facility, a hangar and three other office buildings, said Chuck Markham, Area II director of the Department of Public Works. Eleven soldiers were moved out of their barracks due to flooding, and three non-tactical vehicles also were damaged. The water receded on Monday, but the base flooded again on Tuesday due to more heavy rain. The rain also flooded a South Korean air base adjacent to K-16, Markham said. "They said that was the most water they've had there in that amount of time in the last 16 years," he said. South Korea is in the midst of its monsoon season, when the country receives more than half its annual rainfall. The heavy and often sudden rains can cause flash flooding and mudslides. Nearly 9 inches of rain fell Sunday in Sungnam, where K-16 is located, according to the Korean Meteorological Association. Another 6.3 inches had fallen there by 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Central Seoul had 4.5 inches of rain on Sunday and 3.7 inches by Tuesday evening. KMA spokesman Lee Young-ung said the heavy rains and strong winds were expected to end around midnight Tuesday, with more heavy rainfalls coming on the weekend and on July 22. (Source: Stars and Stripes.) (SITE NOTE: There was the US demand that the land at Pyeongtaek required $500 million in flood control improvements while the ROK claimed that it was impossible due to the land fill issues -- and then the ROK simply refused to talk about it. Later the ROK supposedly agreed. The question that needs to be asked is whether the ROK government actually carried through with their flood control project -- or was that just USFK flim-flam to get the project moving with no real flood control projects ever started? What happened???) Here in Songtan, the rain was constant for three days and the drainage canals were filled, but not overflowing. The streams were over their banks but it was not any dangerous situation as in the past. The Chinwi River was swollen with runoff, but none of the country side was endangered. However, Camp Humphries in Pyeongtaek was flooded by the rain waters. At least 4 dead, 2 missing in torrential rainstorms (Jul 2009) At least four people have been killed and two are missing, following severe storms in southern regions of the country yesterday. A landslip in Masan, South Gyeongsang, killed a 58-year-old male surnamed Kim at 9:20 a.m. yesterday. Another landslip swept a house in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, and killed a 33-year-old man, also surnamed Kim, at 8:30 a.m. A 66-year-old female farmer surnamed Jeon in Hadong County in South Gyeongsang drowned later in the morning and a 54-year-old female surnamed Shin in Yeonsan-dong, Busan, died when she was buried in a landslip at 10:40 a.m. A man surnamed Hwang in Gwangyang, South Jeolla, went missing when he was caught in a sudden landslip, and a man surnamed Lee in Imsil County, North Jeolla, was swept away by an overflowing stream. Meanwhile, over 290 elementary schools in Busan temporarily closed down yesterday. At 8:30 a.m. over 50 residents in a 15-story apartment in Busan had quickly evacuated when a massive landslip hit. Some 36 houses in South Jeolla were flooded, and 81 hectares (200 acres) of farmland, 131 hectares of salt pan, and four salt storehouses in Shinan County, South Jeolla, were swept by flooding, which caused property damage estimated at 300 million won ($237,000). The rain has been exceptionally heavy. Busan has had its highest rainfall since records began in 1908. Over 900 millimeters (35 inches) fell between June 20 and yesterday. Seasonal rain arrived on the Korean Peninsula on June 20. Suncheon in South Jeolla and Masan in South Gyeongsang came under nearly 1,000 millimeters of rain during the same period. Suncheon has had its heaviest rainfall since 1973 and Masan since 1986. Seoul had 635.9 millimeters of rain during the period whereas Gyeonggi and Gangwon areas had over 600 millimeters. One expert said global warming played a crucial role bringing record-breaking precipitation in the southern regions. (SITE NOTE: The Seoul area and Songtan encountered high winds along with the rain that mangled umbrellas and drenched everyone.) "Global warming has caused temperature rises in sea water, leading to greater evaporation," said Ha Kyung-ja, a professor of regional environmental system engineering studies at Pusan National University. Meanwhile, Seoul remained relatively calm yesterday, sunny all day without rainfall. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.) Road in Shinjang Mall along Rail Spur covered in cobblestone (Oct 2009) Another improvement along the Shinjang Mall as the road along the Rail Spur was changed to cobble stone. Looks much nicer but the "Casino" doesn't really make it a great attraction spot. Just tossing this in here as a short note.  Shinjang New Town ConceptThe entire process is still being discussed. According to a business owner friend involved in the discussions, there is a great broughaha over the height of the buildings. The 7th AF commander wants the height to be limited to between 9-14 stories dependent upon the location along the mall due to aircraft height restrictions. The USAF is citing the wartime conditions and Osan AB continuous preparations for the possibility of war with aircraft coming in from all directions.The concerns of the builders on the other hand are that they cannot make any money building any structure lower than 21 stories. They are willing to negotiate the height ONLY if the government (Pyeongtaek, Kyeonggi-do, and Seoul) compensate them for the loss in income. Of course, the governments (local and national) are balking as the cost would be astronomical dealing with the entire project. The government is arguing that it is NOT a wartime condition and the airspace above the Shinjang mall area should be a no-fly zone because of the populations below. They are citing that flight safety regulations should prevail and the military flight path should be restricted to the Yongin-Jinwi corridor to the east and the Chinwi River area to the west is sufficient. The 7th AF commander is adamant that the conditions are NOT peacetime and he needs open flight paths -- most specifically for the helicopters that are landing. These helicopters routinely approach Osan AB over the apartment complexes from the southeast. The government position is that it is NOT wartime conditions. (SITE NOTE: The national government approved a skyscraper construction in Seoul to be one of the highest skyscrapers in the world, but it was done over the objections of the ROKAF. The ROKAF cited the same reasoning about wartime requirements, but that reasoning was rejected. This sounds fatalistic, but the Koreans say that in time of war, the entire Shinjang Mall area will be reduced to rubble from SCUD-C attacks from North Korea. In effect, the wartime flight paths will have no problem flying over the crumbled apartments. This is NOT good reasoning, but it is Korean NEGOTIATING reasoning. At present, the sides are at an impasse. We foresaw this problem in August 2008 when we talked to the Planning Committee dealing with the history of Shinjang Mall. Sure enough, it has become the biggest stumbling block.) Regardless, the Shinjang New Town project is slated to start in the Namsan-teo area in 2011. Projected completion of the entire area will be 2020. Basically they will raze all the buildings and level the land. The new apartment complex with low-lying apartments along the ridgeline of Hill 170 will be left intact. Areas below the complex will become a park. Roads will be widened to accomodate bicycle paths. All telephone, electrical, water and gas lines will be run underground in a central conduit and branch off to apartment units. Everything is still in planning stages.             Map of the Shinjang New Town outside the Shinjang New Town Construction Office Shinjang Mall: Jungang Market The following photos are from 1978:     Jungang Market Place (1978) (Marvin Metzinger) NOTE: Notice the fiberglass panels on the roof in the 1978 photos to allow sunlight in. These are all gone. There was a fire in the 1980s that burned out the fiberglass roof panels and they were replaced with non-flammable transite (concrete and asbestoes) sheets. The area today is very gloomy and has to be lit with lights even during the day. According to the older residents, the alleyway is much narrower than in the 1970s because they eliminated the "road" in the 1980s and allowed shops/stalls to be built along the sides. Thus there is only a narrow path that weaves through the stalls today. This area can be identified only by the metal construction of the roof supports and a few remaining fire warning signs from the 1970s.     Jungang Market Place (Aug 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Shinjang Mall: Back Alley Photos   Near Railroad tracks. Lookingup at the Hanil Church one sees the Buddhist temple tucked on the hill. (Mar 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Near Railroad tracks. Deserted building. Songtan Central Presbyterian Church seen at top of hill. (Mar 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan); (R) New Mokchon Road Expansion for additional parking (Jun 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan) (SITE NOTE: Location of the old Mokchon Railway Crossing and now the pedestrian underpass is located on the site. The area used to be known as Pink Town" from the strings of red lights on both sides of the tracks. It was also known as "Keoji Chon" (Beggar's village) in the 1970s as it was the poorest section of Songtan.)   (L) Near the intersection leading to Main Gate at Shinjang-2 dong (R) Alleyway with Volvo Dealer near the intersection to Main Gate (Mar 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan) 
 (L) Jungang Market Road: "Power Shop" site of former Seoul Glass Shop (Jun 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan) (R) Seoul Glass Shop (1958) (51st FW Archive) (SITE NOTE: The "Seoul Glass Shop" was in the same location from the late 1950s until the 1980s.) Songbuk Farmer's Market (Achim Morning Market)   (L) Songbuk Farmers' Market (R) Garlic for sale (Sep 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Produce and Garlic for sale (R) Chili peppers and produce for sale (Sep 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Cabbage, Turnips and Produce for sale (R) Green onions, leeks, cucumbers and produce for sale (Sep 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Road near what used to be a Bus Depot (R) Road leading up hill to Jwadong Methodist Church (Sep 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Songbuk Market: Old side road cut in 1978 (R) Taxi Parking area leading from Mokchon Pedestrian Underpass (Sep 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) MSR-1 Across from Old Police Station (R) Street across from Police Box (Sep 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Taehyun Road near Songbuk Market (Aug 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Taehyun Road towards Overpass (R) Taehyun Road at Overpass (Aug 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Structures in Shinjang-dong Area   (L) Circa 1960s houses near the Kyongbu railroad tracks in what was "Pink Town" area (R) Circa 1960s house in Shinjang 2-dong next to beginning of railspur. (Aug 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Old Plaza Shopping Center along railspur showing Catholic Church on hill in background (R) Circa late 1960s transite roof with welded steel braces in Jungang Market place. (NOTE: Clear plastic panels in roof added in 1970s.) (Aug 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Shinjang 1-dong alley in Jungang Market area (R) Alleyway end of Jungang Market Road showing circa 1980s multistory concrete structures (Aug 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Hoebak-teo area (in line with Yongchon Alley) looking up hill (R) Hoebak-teo area looking towards Osan AB (May 2008) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Hoebak-teo area (in line with Yongchon Alley) looking toward Yongchon Hotel (R) Hoebak-teo area (in line with Aragon Alley -- one block down) looking toward Osan AB (May 2008) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Hoebak-teo area looking toward Namsan-teo and Mido Apartments (R) Hoebak-teo area (in line with Aragon Alley -- two block down) looking toward base (May 2008) (Kalani O'Sullivan)  Hoebak-teo area (in line with Yongchon Alley) view up Hoebak Hill (Pumpkin Hill) (May 2008) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Shinjang 2-dong alley leading to overpass (R) Alleyway next to overpass with stairs from overpass (Aug 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Scenes from Milwal-dong Perimeter near Mustang Village-Commissary   (L) Milwal-dong New Road over hill near Perimeter Fence; (R) Milwal-dong looking south to Hill 180 Gate and Rhee Family Grave Site with Mustang Village perimeter fence to right   (L) New Road looking down on Commissary; (R) 1960s mudwattle farmer's house with stucco coating and hondol heating. Transite roof and kitchen to left with living quarters on right. Notice chimney flues patched with concrete. Scenes from Milwal-dong - Seomiri - Hill 180 Gate Area   (L) Milwal-dong Looking at Shinjang 2-dong; (R) Milwal-dong looking south to Seojong-ni   (L) Milwal-dong toward Capital Hotel; (R) Seomiri Construction abuts Osan AB Perimeter Wall   (L) Seomiri Looking to Hill 180 Gate (Notice Mudang (Fortune Teller) Bamboo Pole with Red Flag); (R) Seomiri Looking to Hill 180 Gate   (L) Seomiri Looking toward Seojong-ni; (R) Seomiri Looking west to Hill 180 Gate Road   (L) Just Outside Old Hill 180 Gate looking South; (R) Hill 180 Gate now closed and barricaded   (L) Lodge outside Hill 180 Gate (R) Apartment complex outside Hill 180 Gate fallen on hard times (July 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Hill 180 Gate intersection looking south toward Pyeongtaek; (R) Hill 180 Gate intersection looking southeast toward Seojongni   (L) Makumni Looking east toward Hill 180 Gate; (R) Makumni entrance. East Side of Osan AB (Seotan Myeon):  East of Osan AB -- Chinwi River from middle of old bridge going to Seotan (Aug 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan) EMart:  Emart OSAN AB EVENTSCommander, Osan AB: Colonel Thomas H. Deale, October 2008 --January 2009US DoD Schools Suspected of Irregular Admission (Jan 2009) U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) schools are suspected of having admitted Korean students in breach of the country's Education Law that bans Korean nationals from attending them. Korean authorities say no Korean student is allowed to enroll in U.S. schools here. ``It is illegal under the Education Law for Korean nationals to attend American DoD schools. If there are Korean students there, they should be expelled,'' said Lee Ji-sun, an official of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.However, the Korea District Superintendent's office of the DoD Schools said, ``There are four Korean national students enrolled in our schools who are not affiliated with the U. S. military.'' It said that those students have followed the proper DoD and host nation procedures to enroll in the schools as tuition paying, space-permitted students. ``There have been no Korean national students enrolled in our schools without the proper documentation,'' said Terry A. Greene, chief of staff and education of the schools. (SITE NOTE: The point is why are there Korean nationals at all when there is a long waiting list by Americans.) Asked about eligibility for Korean students, DoD schools said the Korean Education Ministry has cleared the way for Korean nationals to attend the schools. ``For a Korean national to attend a DoD-Korea school, the students must obtain a waiver from the Ministry of Education. If a waiver is obtained, the student may be enrolled on a space available, tuition paying status,'' Greene said, adding, ``The most frequent reason for the approval of a waiver request is when a Korean diplomatic family or a Korean family representing a Korean corporation has taken an overseas assignment for multiple years and the student would have difficulty assimilating back into the Korean education system.'' However, education ministry officials said they have never issued ``waiver'' documents and the ministry doesn't provide these for individual students. ``There is no way for us to issue documents for individuals. We only provide authorized documents to government agencies and other education authorities, not to students,'' said Sung Samje, a ministry director. Still, the superintendent office of the U.S. army schools said, ``We do have documents from the Ministry of Education on file.'' (Source: Korea Times.) (SITE NOTE: If these allegations are true, the heads of the DoD Schools in Korea need to be FIRED IMMEDIATELY. Osan retiree and contractors children on space available lists are forced to attend the Pyeongtaek ICS to get an accreditted US-style education. This is a scandal of enormous proportions as these children were admitted KNOWINGLY admitted KOREAN NATIONALS WHILE AMERICANS were waiting on the standby lists. Osan AB children because of overcrowding in the past have actually been transported to Yongsan. There is something VERY, VERY wrong here. An immediate Congressional investigation should be demanded on this situation. In the past, we have known that some Koreans were adopted by relatives married to military and allowed to attend Osan American HS, but that still was this side of the law. We had no problem with that. HOWEVER, this is NOT correct and in violation of the rules. Put another way, the DoDs system OPENLY DISCRIMINATED IN FAVOR OF KOREANS OVER AMERICAN STUDENTS. A class action suit may be headed this way. It doesn't matter if the ROK changed the rules -- they don't pay the taxes which operate the DoDs system.) American Soldiers' Children Crowded Out at DoD School-Korea (Feb 2009) A U.S. Army major has claimed non-command sponsored families are hurt at what they see as unfair practices employed by U.S. Forces Korea in the ongoing Department of Defense (DoD) Dependent school row. Mark Gardner, who tried to enroll his 5-year-old daughter in preschool at the Yongsan Army Garrison in Seoul, saw her put on a waiting list after being denied a spot because he is not command-sponsored. Gardner and his Korean wife wanted to send their daughter to other international schools here, but high tuition fees proved a burden. Their daughter is now attending a Korean school and Gardner is worried that his daughter will not be able to communicate with him in English. The couple was left shocked after learning that Korean nationals who are unaffiliated with the U.S. military are attending the school, as reported by The Korea Times Jan 22. Gardner said non-command sponsored families are ``really hurt by the unfair practices'' by U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), claiming they are being discriminated against. His wife said the school is failing to serve its original purpose. ``I don't understand what DoD schools here are for. I heard some Korean-Americans working in the U.S. Army adopt Korean children to enroll them in DoD schools. What if the adopted children are command-sponsored?'' Mrs. Gardner told The Korea Times in a telephone interview. His wife said her friend, who is also married to an American soldier based in the United States, wants to come to Korea but is hesitant over worries about her children's education. ``While she and her husband are waiting for command-sponsored status, they doubt they can enroll children at a DoD school in Korea even after being command-sponsored as they know about the corruption here.'' Who Is Lying? Earlier, DoD School-Korea announced that Korean students who obtained a ``waiver'' issued by the Korean Ministry of Education can attend the school and the DoD Education Activity (DoDEA), headquarters of the DoD schools in the United States confirmed the possibility of enrollment of Korean nationals. ``It is possible to enroll in our schools as a Korean national with the appropriate documentation. There must be space available for their enrollment, tuition must be paid, and documentation must be provided from the local education officials. This is true for any country in which we operate DoD Schools,'' said Frank O'Gara, educational communication officer of the DoDEA, in an email to the paper. ``The reality is that space is not often available for tuition students because we have large enrollments of space-required children. You asked me if we had turned away any space-required students. No space-required children are ever denied enrollment in our schools,'' he said. However, the Korean education ministry is claiming that attendance of Korean nationals at the school, itself, is illegal under the Education Law and the ministry has never issued ``waiver'' documents. The ministry has already contacted DoD School-Korea to verify the ``waiver" documents and confirm no Korean students are allowed to enroll in the American schools. The school asked the ministry to talk to its headquarters in the United States. ``I think the American schools are lying. How the headquarters in the United States can confirm the authenticity of the documents that the U.S. school here is keeping on file,'' said Lee Ji-sun, an official at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. ``We will definitely confirm it with them.'' In the meantime, the enrollment of Korean nationals at the American school is also against DoDEA regulations. But, according to the regulations, dependents of foreign nationals -- which would include a Korean child adopted by Korean-American soldiers -- are permitted to enroll when there is no objection from the host nation and when such inclusion does not displace or prevent inclusion of U.S. citizen-sponsored minor dependents seeking admission on the same basis at the same time. (Source: Korea Times.) (SITE NOTE: I side with the Major -- and the ROK government. It appears that the DoD Schools officials were bribed -- and need to be prosecuted. The USFK is probably busily trying to sweep this under the table as EVERY non-command sponsored family with children was SCREWED by the corrupt officials. Like Col Moran with his $700,000 of bribes stuffed in his matress from contractors -- these officials need to be swooped down on NOW before they can hide their money and leave the country.) USFK Moving to Allow Koreans at Base School (Feb 2009) The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) will allow Korean students to enroll at schools in its camp. USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp said that Korean students, who are not affiliated with USFK personnel, will be allowed to attend a newly-built school in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, which will house a new centralized U.S. base here. During a meeting with Korean lawmakers of the National Assembly Defense Committee, last Friday, the top American military officer here said not only some 8,000 children of USFK workers, but also ordinary Korean students will be able to enroll in the school, MBC TV reported. Sharp was quoted as saying that its new schools will accept Korean students up to 15-20 percent of the total admission quota. South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to complete the relocation of the U.S. military headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul to an expanded military base in Pyeongtaek by 2014. However, the education ministry said it would be impossible for Korean nationals to enroll in the army schools under the Education Law. ``It is illegal for Korean students to attend American schools here,'' said Sung Sam-je, director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. ``If the USFK wants to enroll Korean students in its schools, we have to revise the law.'' In the meantime, the USFK chief is scheduled to visit Education Minister Ahn Byong-man on Feb 20. According to ministry officials, the USFK Commander is expected to discuss the eligibility of Korean students at the U.S. schools with the top educator. (Source: Korea Times.) (SITE NOTE: WTF??? This is a US funded school that will provide education to KOREAN nationals -- and where will the US students go. The USFK Commander had better review why there are so many AMERICAN kids in the Pyeongtaek ICS school -- a K-12 operation. The reason is that there is not enough room in the existing schools on Osan -- at least according to the DoD School system. There is a Congressional investigation brewing if Gen Sharp really made those remarks.) June 2009Air Force formally announces extended Korea tours (Jun 2009) Airmen can now request two- or three-year accompanied tours to parts of South Korea, the Air Force has announced. Most of accompanied tour billets are at Osan Air Base and Seoul, and some are at Camp Humphreys and U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan, said Kenny Pruitt, a spokesman for the Air Force Personnel Center.The policy is effective June 2, but the Air Force has already notified airmen currently stationed in South Korea and those airmen projected to arrive there after June 2 about the accompanied tours option, Air Force officials said. "We wanted to make sure we caught everybody who was either going or who was already there," said Bill Warner, chief of the assignment programs and procedures section of the Air Force Personnel Center. Warner could not say exactly how many accompanied tour billets are available to airmen, deferring to U.S. Forces Korea. No one at U.S. Forces Korea was available early Tuesday to say how many billets are available. "Current base facilities, such as housing, schools, and support activities, will limit the number of Airmen authorized to serve the accompanied, command sponsored tours initially," an Air Force news release said. "As the base infrastructure grows, the number of available command sponsored positions will increase." Airmen who choose to serve 36-month accompanied tours will be eligible for $300 per month in Assignment Incentive Pay, the news release said. Those airmen already assigned to Osan, Seoul, Camp Humphreys and Yongsan can request a command sponsored position if they want to serve accompanied tours, the news release said. In December, U.S. Forces Korea announced that about half of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea would be able serve with their families. Traditionally, most tours to South Korea have been unaccompanied because of the danger posed by North Korea. About 1,500 airmen are expected to arrive in South Korea between now and 2010, Air Force officials said. (Source: Stars and Stripes.) Contractors try to get jobs back after SOFA visas revoked by USFK (Jun 2009) Dozens of former U.S. Forces Korea contractors who have lost the visas that let them work in South Korea are caught in a bureaucratic nightmare with no clear instructions on how to get their jobs back, many of them say. At least 61 civilian contractors have had their status of forces agreement visas revoked since July, after the U.S. Army Audit Agency found USFK had mistakenly granted visas to people who weren’t eligible for them. The reason: They weren’t living in the U.S. when they were hired. “They’ve been ignoring this clause in the regulation for the last 10 or 15 years, and all of the sudden they decide to enforce it?” said Sam Lacy, a retired Korean linguist with the U.S. Air Force who recently lost his SOFA status and his job at Osan Air Base. For Lacy and nearly all the other affected contractors, losing their SOFA visas — which allow them to work in South Korea under the umbrella of the U.S. military — means losing their jobs. USFK says contractors must be "ordinarily resident" in the U.S. and move to South Korea solely for their job with the military. But it can’t tell the affected contractors how to regain their SOFA status, other than to sever their ties with South Korea. In general, that means leaving their homes, moving their belongings and family back to the U.S., and getting a job there. But there are no concrete guidelines for what to do or how long it takes to become "ordinarily resident" after returning to the U.S., said Col. Daniel Rosso, head of USFK’s Contracting Command Korea. "I can’t tell you how to do it, and that would not be fair to try and do that," he said. "There’s no such formula." Some contractors say CCK has ignored their frequent requests for answers about their case. Among them is Kathy Yum, an Army reservist who has worked as a computer instructor at U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan for 15 years. Her company is trying to help her get a special visa available to some Korean-Americans that would let her remain in the country and keep her job, but if not she’ll have to leave the country by June 25. She wants an apology from CCK for not answering her repeated letters and e-mails. She said CCK is "treating me like this is my fault." "I’m not trying to blame anyone or say bad things about people, but at least answer my e-mails," said Yum. The contractors say they shouldn’t be forced to leave because of the mistakes made by others. But Rosso said CCK has to revoke their visas to uphold the SOFA agreement between the two countries. "We understand the severity of this. These are tough decisions," Rosso said. "These are people’s livelihoods and we understand that and we don’t take it lightly." Many contractors say the definition of "ordinarily resident" is vague and is being interpreted too narrowly by a few people. Sean Hayes, a Seoul-based attorney who has defended U.S. troops in South Korean court, said he doesn’t know why USFK is "putting people through a great deal of strife for something that is seemingly not so major." "The Korean government doesn’t care about this after this length of time," he said. His firm considered defending Yum, but decided against it because it would have meant trying the case in a U.S. court. He thinks the U.S. military is counting on attorneys being reluctant to defend contractors for the same reason. "I think it’s quite sad," he said. "They are really adamant about an issue they shouldn’t be adamant about." Several South Korean government officials said they had not heard about contractors losing their SOFA status, nor had they asked USFK to check the contractors’ visas. Rosso also said that South Korea had not asked for a review. Many contractors said they believe USFK is trying to force them out in order to open up jobs for military spouses moving to South Korea under a new command sponsorship plan, which Rosso said isn’t true. SOFA status lets civilians live in the country without paying South Korean taxes, work for the U.S. military and have access to base facilities including the commissary and post exchange. The "ordinary residence" requirement is meant to keep South Koreans from filling jobs meant for U.S. citizens, according to a September 2008 PowerPoint presentation on SOFA issues. The SOFA agreement between the U.S. and South Korea mentions "ordinarily resident" but does not define it. A USFK regulation from 1992 describes an "ordinary resident" of the U.S. as someone who lives there full time, and doesn’t just own a residence there. CCK began reviewing all civilian contractors’ SOFA statuses after a March 2008 audit of a contract that was allegedly being performed improperly. During that audit, which has not been released, the Army Audit Agency found that USFK had wrongly given some contractors SOFA status, Rosso said. "It’s just one of those things, that we had people in the past who did not uphold the way the agreement was," Rosso said. Those employees have since left CCK but were not forced out, he said. None will be punished for mistakenly granting the SOFA visas, he said. CCK said it was unable to comment on individual cases because of privacy regulations. But Rosso said only contractors who clearly had been living in South Korea with the intent to stay there long term had their SOFA status revoked. "I don’t see where the intent to stay here has anything to do with anything," said Lacy, who lived here on a tourist visa before being hired at Osan in 2004. "What should it matter where I was hired from? They needed an employee and I was there. I save the company money, and it saved USFK money from hiring me from here." Contractors said CCK has given them no way to appeal the decision. Around the beginning of February, 14 contractors penned a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Office of Inspector General, U.S. congressional oversight committees, and several media agencies. In it, they wrote: "We, as employees, are left defenseless." (Source: Stars and Stripes.) U.S. to retire three A-10 attack aircraft in S. Korea (Jun 2009) The United States said Thursday (4 Jun) it plans to retire three A-10 attack aircraft based in South Korea this year as part of a global cost-saving project. In a news release, the U.S. Air Component Command said three A-10 "Thunderbolts" based in Osan, 55 kilometers south of Seoul, will be put out of service under the Combat Air Force Restructuring plan. (Source: Yonhap News.) (SITE NOTE: This is an old issue as the A-10s are becoming old and fatigued. They would need extensive rebuilds to extend their service life. Worldwide, A-10s are slated for retirement. However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, there really hasn't been a truly effective replacement for the A-10 as a Close Air Support/tank-killer platform. Tradeoffs are the answer for Korea -- and the aging F-16s, an air-superiority weapon, is trying to take up the slack as a CAS platform. Unfortunately, it was really not designed for this role. But plug in the model that in 2012, the US will NOT have wartime control, then one can see that the US is dumping the problem on the ROK. It is going to be the ROK's problem in the near future.) Black market MRE ring broken in S. Korea (Jun 2009) U.S. troops and South Korean soldiers helped supply a black market ring that illegally sold 20,000 Meals, Ready to Eat across South Korea in the past three years, according to the Gangnam police department. Police on Wednesday charged 51 South Koreans for illegally selling imported food and violating the country’s Food Safety Act, a department spokesman said. No Americans were arrested, and the spokesman said it would be impossible to track them down. According to the spokesman, who spoke on the customary condition of anonymity, the department began tracking the ring after getting a tip in mid-April. Since then, police have confiscated 50 boxes of MREs that were for sale in traditional outdoor markets across the country, including Seoul’s Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, Sincheon and Cheonggyecheon markets, and in the cities of Uijeongbu, Dongducheon, Incheon and Bucheon. Police believe MREs — each packaged in a plastic casing that says "US Government Property Commercial Resale is Unlawful" — are being sold in other cities across the country as well. "Some people said they like the MREs because they taste really good," the spokesman said. USFK officials said Thursday they were unaware of an MRE smuggling ring. The police spokesman said the sellers usually got the MREs from U.S. troops, their wives or South Korean soldiers assigned to work with the U.S. military called KATUSAs, or Korean Augmentees to the U.S. Army. Women who sell food to U.S. troops during exercises also picked up MREs left behind after exercises, and sold them to black marketers, he said. The spokesman said a box of 12 MREs was selling on the black market for between 40,000 and 65,000 won, or about $33 to $54 — roughly twice what each box is worth, the police officer said. He said the MREs were popular among military buffs, South Koreans who fought in the Vietnam War, mountain climbers and fishermen. About 20 percent of the MREs had passed their expiration date. Although police haven’t received complaints about people getting sick from eating them, the spokesman said they were worried that some consumers could get food poisoning from them. When Gangnam police asked U.S. military police and U.S. Forces Korea officials to collect the confiscated MREs, they declined, saying they didn’t care what happened to the meals, the spokesman said. Police said they will ask South Korean prosecutors what they should do with the MREs, but will likely burn them. USFK spokesman Dave Palmer said troops aren’t supposed to sell MREs after receiving them. He said the cost of inspecting the confiscated MREs for freshness and safety probably outweighs the benefits of taking them back. (Source: Stars and Stripes.) Space crunch in Korea could force out some DODDS students Children of non-command-sponsored troops may have to seek alternatives as more families move to South Korea Classifications of students
Children of non-command-sponsored troops might not be able to attend Department of Defense Dependents schools in Seoul next year due to a lack of space, as more servicemembers bring their families to South Korea. The space crunch could affect 60 or more students in Seoul, based on current and projected enrollment figures. Students in DODDS schools in Pyeongtaek, Daegu and Chinhae are not expected to be affected by the overcrowding, acting South Korea superintendent Doug Kelsey said. "We have plenty of capacity in those communities," he said. Under a new policy announced by U.S. Forces Korea in December, about half of the 28,500 billets for U.S. troops in South Korea will eventually be command-sponsored. The first wave of families moving to South Korea under the new policy arrives this summer, and the number of command-sponsored slots is expected to roughly double to 4,320 by the end of fiscal year 2010. The increase in families is expected to swell the number of students in schools. That means the children of non-command-sponsored troops, who are granted slots on a space-available basis, could get bumped out of DODDS schools. Those children would have to return to the States, attend a private international school or be home-schooled. Tuition at international schools in Seoul can cost $14,000 a year or more. Some troops without command sponsorship have paid out of their own pockets to move their families to South Korea during their tours, rather than be separated. U.S. Forces Korea officials say those troops should apply for command sponsorship now to guarantee their children are able to enroll this fall. "We realize the uncertainty of not knowing if your space available student will be enrolled is disconcerting. However, we believe it is preferable to be very clear now than to disappoint you next fall," U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Walter Sharp wrote in a "Sharp Point" message posted on the command’s Web site Monday afternoon. DODDS schools in South Korea had a peak enrollment of 4,174 students in April. DODDS estimates that 4,310 students will enroll for the 2009-10 school year, although Col. Pete Ellis, USFK’s assistant chief of staff for personnel and manpower, called it a "pretty soft" estimate and said DODDS may not have to turn away students. "This really is precautionary," he said. "We want to be better safe than sorry." DODDS students are ranked in four categories, based on whether their parents are active-duty military and what connection, if any, their parents have to the U.S. military and government. Students in categories 1 and 2, which include dependents of command-sponsored active-duty military and DOD civilians, will not be affected by the change and are guaranteed slots. Students in categories 3 and 4, which include the families of non-command-sponsored troops, are considered "space available" and will be placed on a waiting list. Enrollment for those students will be decided in three phases, according to the Sharp Point:
In Seoul, there were 56 Category 3 students and six Category 4 students last year. Peninsula-wide, there were 157 Category 3 students and 24 Category 4 students, Kelsey said. Ellis said USFK is "springloaded to say yes" to requests for command sponsorship. It takes 12 to 20 days to process requests for command sponsorship, which should be made through unit commanders. Denials of command sponsorship are reviewed by an O-6, Ellis said. DODDS-Korea last turned away students because of lack of space in 1999. The district told parents in 2004 that it might have to do so that year, but did not end up turning any students away. Kelsey said overcrowding will be a problem in Seoul for the next year or two, until troops from Area I and Yongsan begin relocating to Camp Humphreys. That relocation is scheduled to take place by 2012, but South Korean and U.S. officials have discussed delaying the move due to budget increases and construction delays at Humphreys. There are no DODDS schools in Area I, where only a handful of servicemembers had been granted command sponsorships. Kelsey said officials have discussed building a school at Camp Red Cloud or Camp Casey, though no decisions have been made or are pending, he said. DODDS pays tuition for command-sponsored students in Area I to attend international schools in Uijeongbu or Dongducheon, and reimburses families there for home-school expenses. Students can also take "virtual school" classes. Six new classrooms are under construction in Seoul, and are expected to open by the beginning of the school year. Six new classrooms also were built the previous year. (Source: Stars and Stripes.) The TACP Problem (Jun 2009) While the Obama Administration attempts back-channel diplomacy to tamp down tensions with North Korea, our military commanders in the region are doing their job: preparing U.S. and allied forces for the worst-case scenario, i.e., a renewed conflict on the peninsula. While most analysts believe the chances of a second Korean War remain remote, that doesn't reduce the requirement--or the urgency--of the training mission, particularly in terms of airpower. In a recent interview with Aviation Week, Brigadier General Mike Keltz, the Vice Commander of 7th Air Force, outlined his priorities: "My first concern is training," said Brigadier General Keltz. "As the U.S. and South Korean air forces start employing advanced weapons, we will need instrumented ranges big enough to accommodate the greater speeds, altitudes and distances they require so that units can become more mission capable. A new world-class training range also should be [capable of hosting] high-intensity, air-to-air training." Another worrisome issue for forces on the peninsula is integrating U.S. and South Korean close air support. Programs are in place to search out Koreans with good English skills to man and train new Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTACs) for a long-term commitment as specialists instead of as one-time, temporary assignments. South Korea F-4 and F-5 pilots are given Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) assignments as a one-year additional duty tour. As a result, air controllers are just getting proficient when they rotate. The shortage of trained JTACs is evident in the current manning level of only two TACP teams per division and none at lower levels. That shortage would be compounded in wartime by broken, mountainous terrain that restricts line-of-sight communications and creates gaps between units. U.S. officials are trying to promote the idea of pushing TACPs down to battalion level at least. Obviously, a high-tech, fully-instrumented range is a futuristic, long-term project. Securing the necessary land and airspace represents a major hurdle. The days when we could fly wherever we wanted in South Korea are long since past. With a booming economy--and rapidly expanding population--the South Korean government isn't anxious to surrender thousands of acres of prime real estate for an advanced training range. On the other hand, General Keltz's worries about joint tactical air controllers are anything but new. During my one-year stint in Korea (Kunsan AB, Class of 1992), I learned first-hand about the controller and language barriers that could hamper an air campaign against North Korean invaders. For our F-16 drivers at "the Kun," a sortie near the DMZ with ROKAF controllers was always an adventure. And, more often than not, they would complain during debrief that the ROKAF TACP provided inaccurate (or conflicting) vectors, or the controllers couldn't speak acceptable English. We passed along our pilot's observations in our mission reports (MISREPs), but the problem continued. Almost two decades later, we've apparently made little progress on the TACP issue. While U.S. controllers are assigned at the battalion level, the ROKs don't have any TACPs below their division headquarters. That's a major problem, since battalions are brigades represent the primary war-fighting organizations within an Army, but those ROK commanders have no way of directly communicating with their air assets. From the cockpit, the picture is equally grim. By most estimates, most of the early air war in Korean would be devoted to close air support (CAS) sorties, aimed at blunting the North Korean offensive. While some CAS missions can be pre-planned, the majority are "on call," with air assets responding to specific requests from individual units, processed through the Air Support Operations Center (ASOC). But aircraft tasked through this system still require a skilled controller to orient them to the engagement, and "talk" the pilots onto the target. And that's where the ROKAF TACP system falls critically short. Not only do most South Korea controllers struggle with English, the majority of them are F-4 and F-5 pilots on a one-year tour. Continuity is virutally non-existent in the limited ranks of ROKAF forward controllers. So, why not just use American TACPs? There are a couple of problems with that scenario. First, with only one U.S. Army division still "in country," the number of American ground controllers is extremely limited. There are three detachments of terminal attack controllers, assigned at an equal number of Army installations in South Korea. With U.S. and South Korea pilots expected to fly more than 1,000 missions on the first day of the war, there's no way that a handful of American controllers could handle most of the CAS sorties, particularly with ROK units shouldering most of the fighting. The Aviation Week piece describes elimination of North Korea's long-range artillery as a primary mission for airpower--and the JTACs. Based on our experience, that's only half-right. As one USAF officer points out, we've been watching the DPRK build artillery emplacements along the DMZ for 60 years. In most cases, we have the coordinates for bunker doors or firing positions "dialed in," meaning that ground controllers won't have to direct our pilots to those targets. However, forward observers would be useful in spotting long-range guns "in the open," when they're easier to destroy. According to intelligence estimates, North Korean tube artillery and multiple-rocket launchers have the ability to fire upwards of 250,000 rounds in the first 24 hours of combat. Many of those shells and rockets would land in the city of Seoul, triggering widespread panic, and complicating allied defensive efforts (imagine trying to get reinforcements through the South Korea capital while millions of civilians stream south, under a relentless rain of enemy fire). Making matters worse, any "new" war in Korea would be won (or lost) in the first week. After that, the influx of U.S. airpower and ground reinforcements would halt the North Koreans in their tracks. But for that strategy to work, existing forces on the peninsula have to hold the line, and that means optimum employment of airpower, with accurate guidance from controllers on the ground. Unfortunately, continuing problems with the ROKAF TACP system will almost certainly mean communications and coordination problems, inevitably leading to missed targets and unsuccessful CAS sorties. General Keltz isn't the first American commander to face this issue, and he won't be the last. Put another way; that state-of-the art training range will be a reality long before the South Korean TCAP system achieves the needed level of proficiency. (Source: In From the Cold.) (SITE NOTE: The problems that have been stated have been around for as long as the USAF has been flying in Korea. Lee Myeong-bak Visits Osan AB (Jul 2009) The president of South Korea Lee Myung-bak poses in front of aircraft for a group photo at Osan Air Base on June 6. During his visit he recieved a tour of the base and briefings from Air Force and Republic of Korea service members. This is the first time the President Lee has visited Osan AIr Force Base.  DPRK Cyber Attack on Korea and US (Jul 2009) The nation's spy agency yesterday (9 Jul) pinpointed North Korea as the mastermind of the latest cyber attack on key administrative websites both here and in the United States. The National Intelligence Service, while briefing lawmakers, said the reclusive communist state seemed to have unleashed the "Distributed Denial of Service" virus. Experts said despite its impoverishment, the North is likely to have attained a crude level of such hacking expertise. "We have heard that North Korea has been training its people over the past several years, and was biding its time before experimenting on the rest of the world," said professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies here. [Korea Herald] Sixteen high-profile Web sites, including those of the National Intelligence Service and antivirus software provider Ahnlab, have been hit by a second round of denial-of-service attacks. An official at the Korea Information Security Agency said Thursday that a second round of cyber attacks began at six p.m. Wednesday (8 Jul) on ten Web sites, including that of Ahnlab, and six Web sites that were subject to the first round of attacks earlier on Tuesday (7 Jul). The official said that out of 26 Web sites that were crippled on Tuesday, six of them, including Web sites of the presidential office and the Chosun Ilbo daily, were disrupted for a second time starting late Wednesday. The Defense Ministry reportedly was able to eliminate dangerous data traffic after installing equipment to counter denial-of-service attacks on Wednesday, but difficulties are still in place in getting access to the ministry's Web site due to an error made in the process of setting up the equipment. Meanwhile, the prosecution and police found three additional "zombie computers" on Wednesday and are currently analyzing a total of four such computers. Zombie computers are computers that come under the control of hackers without the knowledge of their owners. Such "zombies" are activated to run software that automates routine, repetitive tasks. [KBS Global] South Korea's National Intelligence Service said it suspects the rogue state, or its sympathisers, may have orchestrated the attack, which used around 20,000 computers to overwhelm the websites with more traffic than they could handle. South Korea's Foreign and Defence ministries, as well as the presidential office, all had their websites shut down for several hours. There was also speculation in the South Korean media that the attacks may have originated in China. "The attacks appear to have been elaborately prepared and executed at the level of a group or a state. The sites hit included 14 United States sites including government ones," the NIS said in a statement to the news agency Yonhap. However, no classified information was jeopardised during the attacks. Hackers continued to attack some sites on Wednesday but South Korean internet service providers distributed a vaccine program to remove the viruses. South Korea is one of the world's most wired countries with 95 per cent of homes having high-speed broadband access, according to a recent US survey. Among the private Korean sites infiltrated were a newspaper and two major lenders, Shinhan Bank and Korea Exchange Bank, officials said. The Defence Security Command reported last month that South Korea's military computer networks were under ever-growing cyber attack, with 95,000 cases reported daily on average. (Source: Telegraph UK.)  US officials eye North Korea in cyber attack (Jul 2009) U.S. authorities on Wednesday eyed North Korea as the origin of the widespread cyber attack that overwhelmed government Web sites in the United States and South Korea, although they warned it would be difficult to definitively identify the attackers quickly. The powerful attack that targeted dozens of government and private sites underscored how unevenly prepared the U.S. government is to block such multipronged assaults. While Treasury Department and Federal Trade Commission Web sites were shut down by the software attack, which lasted for days over the holiday weekend, others such as the Pentagon and the White House were able to fend it off with little disruption. The North Korea link, described by three officials, more firmly connected the U.S. attacks to another wave of cyber assaults that hit government agencies Tuesday in South Korea. The officials said that while Internet addresses have been traced to North Korea, that does not necessarily mean the attack involved the Pyongyang government. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. South Korea intelligence officials have identified North Korea as a suspect in those attacks and said that the sophistication of the assault suggested it was carried out at a higher level that just rogue or individual hackers. (SITE NOTE: "The attacks appear to have been elaborately prepared and executed at the level of a group or a state. The sites hit included 14 United States sites including government ones," the NIS said in a statement to the news agency Yonhap. However, no classified information was jeopardised during the attacks.) U.S. officials would not go that far and declined to discuss publicly who may have instigated the intrusion or how it was done. In an Associated Press interview, Philip Reitinger, deputy under secretary at the Homeland Security Department, said the far-reaching attacks demonstrate the importance of cybersecurity as a critical national security issue. The fact that a series of computers were involved in an attack, Reitinger said, "doesn't say anything about the ultimate source of the attack." "What it says is that those computers were as much a target of the attack as the eventual Web sites that are targets," said Reitinger, who heads DHS cybersecurity operations. "They're just zombies that are being used by some unseen third party to launch attacks against government and nongovernment Web sites." Targets of the most widespread cyber offensive of recent years also included the National Security Agency, Homeland Security Department and State Department, the Nasdaq stock market and The Washington Post, according to an early analysis of the software used in the attacks. The Associated Press obtained the target list from security experts analyzing the attacks. They provided the list on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. Other experts in cyber assaults said the incident shined a harsh light on the U.S. government's efforts to protect all of its agencies against Web-based attacks. James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the fact that both the White House and Defense Department were attacked but didn't go down points to the need for coordinated government network defenses. "It says that they were ready and the other guys weren't ready," he said. "We are disorganized. In the event of an attack, some places aren't going to be able to defend themselves." The wave of cyber assaults are known as "denial of service" attacks. Such attacks against Web sites are not uncommon and are caused when sites are so deluged with Internet traffic that they are effectively taken off-line. Mounting such an attack can be relatively easy and inexpensive, using widely available hacking programs, and they become far more serious if hackers infect and tie thousands of computers together into "botnets." Joe Stewart, director of malware research for the counterthreat unit of SecureWorks Inc., said there's no indication yet of a claim of responsibility hidden anywhere in the program behind the attacks. Stewart and other researchers are analyzing the code for clues about the attacker's identity. Stewart noted that the attacks on U.S. government sites appeared to expand after the initial assaults over the holiday weekend failed to generate any publicity. He said the "target list" contained in the program's code only had five U.S. government sites on it on July 5, but were broadened the next day to include nongovernment sites inside the U.S. The following day, the South Korean Web sites were added. "It seems to me they thought the first round wasn't successful ... they felt they weren't getting enough attention because nobody was talking about their attacks," Stewart said. The cyber assault on the White House site had "absolutely no effect on the White House's day-to-day operations," said spokesman Nick Shapiro. He said that preventive measures kept whitehouse.gov stable and available to the general public but that Internet visitors from Asia may have experienced problems. All federal Web sites were back up and running, Shapiro said. A State Department spokesman said the agency's site was up but still experiencing problems. A Web site for the U.S. Secret Service had experienced access problems but did not crash, the agency's spokesman said. The cyber attack did not appear, at least at the outset, to target internal or classified files or systems, but instead aimed at agencies' public sites, creating a nuisance both for officials and the Web consumers who use them. Ben Rushlo, director of Internet technologies at Keynote Systems, said problems with the Transportation Department site began Saturday and continued until Monday, while the FTC site was down Sunday and Monday. Keynote Systems is a mobile and Web site monitoring company based in San Mateo, Calif. The company publishes data detailing outages on Web sites, including 40 government sites it watches. According to Rushlo, the Transportation Web site was "100 percent down" for two days, so that no Internet users could get through. The FTC site, meanwhile, started to come back online late Sunday, but even on Tuesday Internet users still were unable to get to the site 70 percent of the time. Dale Meyerrose, former chief information officer for the U.S. intelligence community, said that at least one of the federal agency Web sites got saturated with as many as 1 million hits per second per attack — amounting to 4 billion Internet hits at once. He would not identify the agency, but he said the Web site is generally capable of handling a level of about 25,000 users. Meyerrose, who is now vice president at Harris Corp., said the characteristics of the attack suggest the involvement of between 30,000 to 60,000 computers. The widespread attack was "loud and clumsy," which suggests it was carried out by an unsophisticated organization, said Amit Yoran, chief executive at NetWitness Corp. and the former U.S. government cybersecurity chief. "This is not the elegance we would expect from sophisticated adversaries." Officials agreed, however, that the incident brings to the forefront a key 21st century threat. "It tells you that cyber attacks are real. It's a very serious problem and one of the more serious facing us, along with terrorism, and China and Russia are the main threats," said Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger, D-Md., who was briefed on the incident. (Source: AP.) November 2009U.S. Army headquarters to stay (Nov 2009) The United States has scrapped an idea to relocate its key Army headquarters here to Hawaii, in a move meant to reaffirm its commitment to the defense of South Korea, a military source said yesterday. "I understand that the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. Army have accepted the proposal by U.S. Forces Korea that the 8th Army headquarters should remain in Korea as a symbol of (U.S. military commitment) to the defense of the peninsula," said the source.The United States has been mulling over moving the 8th Army headquarters to Hawaii by 2012, when the wartime operational control of the Korean military is handed over to Seoul. As part of the transformation of its military posture worldwide, Washington has been planning to move the 8th Army headquarters and reshape its body to a new unit named Operation Command Post-Korea. The USFK said in a statement, " The 8th Army never announced a move to Hawaii ... The 8th Army is remaining in the Republic of Korea." (SITE NOTE: You will never know until it is a fait accompli. 8th Army is nothing but an empty shell now with all the units on the west coast closed and returned to the ROK under the LPP (Land Partnership Program) -- but the stall has been on Uijongbu/Dongduchon bases of the 2d ID. The US is digging in its heels on the move to Okinawa that the Japanese want to "renegotiate." What affects Oki affects the ROK -- and the move to Guam is a biggee. The US Army Pacific has been established at Fort Shafter -- so what is the problem? We'll just have to wait and see.) The South Korean Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have asked the U.S. military not to relocate the Army headquarters. "The continuing presence of the 8th Army headquarters in South Korea can mean smooth cooperation between Korea and the United States during wartime. As a result, the troop deployment time in case of contingencies can also be reduced," a military official said. In February, USFK commander Gen. Walter Sharp indicated he intended to scrap the relocation plan. At a meeting with Korean lawmakers, Sharp said he had suggested to U.S. Army staff that they should retain the 8th U.S. Army headquarters and that his proposal is likely to be accepted. Experts say that by having the headquarters remain on the peninsula, the U.S. military can avoid triggering misunderstandings that the relocation of the administrative and supporting unit, consisting of some 150 staffers, could weaken the long-standing military alliance between Seoul and Washington. The 8th Army headquarters is likely to offer administrative support to a new top U.S. military command, called KORCOM, which will replace the current USFK after the operational control turnover in April 2012. KORCOM, which will oversee the 8th Army headquarters and the 2nd Infantry Division, is expected to be created in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, next year. The 8th Army fought for South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. It has been stationed on the peninsula since 1955 as a main deterrent against North Korea. (Source: Korea Herald.) November 2009Philippines takes aim at juicy bar trafficking -- Officials hope tougher immigration rules keep Filipinas from S. Korean prostitution (SITE NOTE: DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATHE. (1) The Philippines is dependent upon the foreign exchange these "workers" send back to the PI to support their families. (2) It is KOREA that controls the E-6 (entertainment) visas that allow these "entertainers" to enter Korea. In other words, it is KOREA that continues to foster the trade. However, there is a move to make the "camp towns" disappear, but it has not been pushed by the USFK. In other words, though the USFK issues strong words about human trafficking and prostitution, they also realize that the "camp towns" exist because the soldiers/airmen love them. For all their drawbacks, the alternatives are far worse: increased sexual assaults on camp/base. This is FACT -- and why the USFK has blacked out information on sexual assaults. The "camp towns" were created for the soldiers by Park Chung-hee that gave special tax breaks to bar owners on the purchase of beer/whiskey. When it started in the 1970s, the government actually praised the prostitutes for the foreign exchange they brought in for the poor Korean economy. However, now the situation is very different. The Miracle of the Han in the 1980s brought prosperity to Korea -- and the Korean prostitutes left the camp towns. The Koreans as a general rule didn't want to work in the low-pay camp towns and moved to the booming Korea bar industry. Without girls, the bar owners in the early 1990s first brought in Russians (actually from the various republics of the former USSR) but it was found that the Russians also brought in the Russian Mafia who set up house throughout Korea. In fact, the old Texas district of Pusan converted to Crylic signs for the new clientelle. Thus in the mid-2000s, the Korean government deported all the Russians -- though many remained in Korea as illegals. This brought about a new dearth of workers for the bar owners so Filipinas were imported to fill the needs. As an "ally" they had none of the problems of getting on base that the former Communist nation girls had. Thus they became more "acceptable" for the USFK, but still we had the touchy issue of prostitution and human trafficking. This is where the USFK got into trouble. It took the moral high ground condemning human trafficking, but the control of the human trafficking was out of its hands (Korean controlled). Instead it could only punish the USFK personnel for prostitution, but again it got personal with bar fines -- and then blanket off-limits for the camp towns. All kinds of problems on base and off-base ensued. Then in about 2009, the USFK backed off slightly on the prosecution of prostitution and the bar owners signed pledges that they would NOT sanction "bar fines." This uneasy truce exists today -- but everyone knows that prostitution continues to thrive in the camp towns.)Amnesty International files reportPhilippine women would no longer be allowed to work in South Korean "juicy bars" — where prostitution is often a byproduct — if Philippine Embassy officials' efforts to tighten up immigration regulations succeed. Embassy labor attache Delmer Cruz said he hopes that by the first quarter of 2010 women from his country will be prohibited from employment as "hospitality workers … at bars in the vicinity of U.S. bases or near the sea ports." He hinted in September that changes could be on the way that might affect the juicy bar industry, but in recent days he revealed that "high-level measures" are being discussed and a further crackdown on Filipinas traveling to South Korea is in the offing. He stressed that a number of agencies and officials still have to reach a consensus before any additional steps are taken in that direction. "Our objective is to send only true entertainers and performing artists who work in decent places and provide wholesome entertainment ... in five-star hotels, classy restaurants, cruise ships, amusement and entertainment centers," he said. "We don't really consider the juicy girls as the kinds of entertainers we'd like to send for employment abroad." In September, Stars and Stripes reported that despite the U.S. military's stated "zero tolerance" policy for human trafficking, prostitution continues to be a problem at many of the juicy bars that cluster by the dozens in seedy entertainment districts near bases across South Korea. The vast majority of those bars employ Filipinas whose primary job is to talk U.S. servicemembers into buying them expensive juice drinks in exchange for their continued company and conversation. The women are brought here by promoters who essentially rent them out to bars, but only after the Filipinas pass a singing audition and secure an entertainer visa. Many come to South Korea thinking they will be performers, only to find out after they arrive that their primary job is to flirt with soldiers and other customers, and to prostitute themselves when they fail to meet juice-sale quotas. Cruz said previously that it is difficult to determine the extent of prostitution that goes on at the juicy bars, but he added that just the "kissing" and "physical contact" between the Filipinas and customers he has witnessed during undercover visits is unacceptable. An embassy investigation revealed that so far this year, more than 500 Filipinas had gone through the proper channels to secure entertainer visas in South Korea, including submitting their proposed employment contracts to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration for review. However, Cruz said, about 1,800 Filipinas have been granted entertainer visas by the Korea Immigration Service during that same period. "What does that imply? That these ladies came here through illegal channels," he said, most likely with the help of illegal recruiters who did not want the Filipinas' contracts reviewed. Cruz said that in about 25 percent of the contracts his office does review, performers are destined for one of the bars on the Philippine Embassy's "watch list" of 100 or so "performance venues" where Filipinas have previously been forced into prostitution or encountered other problems. In those cases, the applicants — or their promoters — are directed to secure contracts with other venues. Prompted by the alarming number of entertainers entering South Korea via illegal means, Philippine Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque issued a warning recently that Filipinos "face abuse in South Korea" if they do not go through proper channels in securing their visas. By sending their proposed employment contracts to Philippine authorities, Roque said, "Filipino entertainers … seeking jobs in Korea may also be apprised of Korean employers/promoters and entertainment venues with derogatory records and not suited to employ Filipino workers." Cruz said the warning has been posted on the embassy's Web site, and will be published in its newsletter, but he conceded it will have little effect until other "policy reforms" now on the drawing board are enacted. He said Roque's warning could be considered the opening salvo in the effort to better regulate where Filipino entertainers end up working in South Korea. "The objective is for the government agencies on our side to have better coordination," Cruz said, "to stop the departure of Filipino entertainers who resort to illegal channels and end up exploited or abused in such places." He pointed out that the Philippines has in recent years barred its people from leaving the country to take jobs in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan and Nigeria, due to concerns about security or working conditions. In the case of Iraq, the Philippines went as far as stamping all passports "Not valid for travel to Iraq." However, according to various news reports, a significant number of Filipinos in search of better pay and benefits than what is available in their home country have still managed to get around the travel bans. They go through third-party countries; use older, unstamped passports; or are recruited by "escort services" that pay off Philippine airport and immigration officials to get them out of the country. Cruz said the responsibility for seeing to it that Filipinas do not fall victim to the juicy bar industry rests primarily with the Philippines, not the governments of South Korea or the United States. "As a sending country, we can actually choose what kind of workers work in what kind of place," he said. "The burden is more on our side." U.S. military officials have said they are vigilant in monitoring potential illegal activities at base-area juicy bars, but will only place off-limits those found in violation of prostitution and human-trafficking regulations. U.S. Forces Korea has placed about 50 such bars on its list of establishments where servicemembers are not allowed, but has stopped short of imposing a blanket off-limits order on all juicy bars. Cruz said Philippine officials are still considering sharing their "watch list" with the U.S. military, in hopes that as many as 20 additional juicy bars will be put off-limits. While the juicy girls' suggestive physical contact may be objectionable to Philippine officials, Cruz said it is not illegal and that he understands why the U.S. military will only bar its servicemembers from establishments caught in the more-serious acts of prostitution or human trafficking. "The U.S. military sees things from its own point of view," he said. (Source: Stars and Stripes.) Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett dies at age 88 (Nov 2009) Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett of Idyllwild died Saturday morning at Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda. He was 88. "He had a brief hospitalization. He came in the day before Veterans Day," said hospital spokeswoman Annie Tuttle. Col. Millett had various health problems over the last three to five years, including diabetes, said Mike Goldware, a family spokesman.  A cause of death was not announced. Funeral arrangements were pending. Col. Millett was a regular at patriotic events locally and across the country. In April, Col. Millett served as grand marshal for the Salute to Veterans Parade in Riverside. Earlier this year, a park in San Jacinto was dedicated in his name. "He was a regular at the (Riverside) National Cemetery," Goldware said. "If he could get on board a military transport, he would go anywhere for the troops." Col. Millett was born in Mechanic Falls, Maine, on Dec. 15, 1920. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940 and served as an air gunner, then joined the Canadian Army when it appeared the United States would not enter World War II. "He joined the Royal Canadian Army after President Roosevelt said in a speech that no American boy would fight on foreign soil," Goldware said. He returned to the U.S. Army in 1942 upon the United States' entrance into World War II and served in the 1st Armored Division. After making sergeant, he was awarded a battlefield commission. According to his Medal of Honor Citation, then-Capt. Millett distinguished himself "above and beyond the call of duty in action" in Korea, after he and his men came under heavy enemy fire on Feb. 7, 1951. He ordered and led a bayonet counterattack up the hill, killing enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand assault during which he was wounded by a grenade blast. But by early afternoon, his company had taken the hill. He was presented the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman in July 1951. He retired as a colonel in 1973 after a 31-year career in which he served in World War II, Korea War and the Vietnam War. (Source: PE.com.)  Obama with Lee Myeong-bak in Seoul (18 Nov 2009) Osan AB Photo Op (Nov 2009) President Barack Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said on Thursday (19 Nov). The news came as the president greeted 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea, just before boarding Air Force One and heading back to Washington after an eight-day Asia trip. Obama arrived on the base 3:19 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time), and received a rousing welcome from 1,500 troops in camouflage uniforms, many holding cameras or pointing cell phones to snap pictures. "You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said. Standing on a riser wearing a blue suit and red tie, with a cluster of troops and a large American flag behind him, Obama expressed "the gratitude of the American public" and said his meetings in four countries over eight days in Asia will help deliver a "safer more prosperous world for all of us." He got a huge cheer when he told them he was increasing military pay. "That's what you call an applause line," he said, before boarding his jet and taking off at 4:11 p.m. (Source: Washinhgton Post.) (SITE NOTE: Sorry I couldn't be there. I'd have loved to at least see in person the individual that I despise so much. Don't get me wrong, I will always respect the office of the President, but I sure don't have to like the man who is occupying the position right now as is my RIGHT as an American.)  Obama at Osan AB (18 Nov 2009) At Osan, Obama talks about deployments (Nov 2009) President Barack Obama drew repeated cheers and applause during a speech to U.S. troops here Thursday — except when he mentioned that some may deploy once again to a war zone. Wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, Obama spoke of service in Iraq and Afghanistan to about 1,500 servicemembers who stood 25-deep in a high-ceilinged warehouse draped with camouflage netting. “You volunteered in a time of war, knowing that you could be sent into harm’s way,” the president said. “Many of you served in Iraq.” The comment brought applause and affirmative shouts of “Hoo-ah!” “Others among you served in Afghanistan.” More applause and hoo-ahs. “… Others among you will deploy yet again,” he said. This time, barely three or four people in the crowd made sounds of approval, then quickly fell silent. Some troops in the audience later said the tepid response probably reflected a weariness with deployments. “Probably because a lot of them have been out there so many times and probably don’t want to go back anytime soon,” said Marine Cpl. Garrett Dunn, 22, of Vincennes, Ind., who served in Iraq last year. Army Staff Sgt. Richard Harris, 23, of Youngstown, Ohio, a paratrooper who served in Iraq and wears the Combat Infantryman Badge, had a similar take. He said the enthusiasm was because people “were proud” of having served downrange. “But,” he added, “once he mentioned going back there, I guess nobody really looks forward to going back to Iraq or Afghanistan. I know that I don’t really look forward to going back, but I will if I have to.” During his 16-minute speech Obama also voiced support for the needs of the armed services and military families. “While you made sacrifices that few Americans will truly understand, I want to assure you — every American appreciates what you do,” he said. “… And just as you’ve fulfilled your responsibilities to your nation, your nation will fulfill its responsibilities to you.” Obama then outlined steps his administration is taking to help servicemembers and their families. Those included a move to increase the defense budget “to keep you the best-trained, best-led, best-equipped military in the world.” The size of the Army and Marine Corps has been increased “ahead of schedule.” “And we’ve halted reduction in the Navy and the Air Force, which will give you more time home between deployments. And it will help us to put an end, once and for all, for stop-loss for those who’ve done their duty,” Obama said. “And I promise you this,” he said. “I will not hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests. But I will also not risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary.” That promise brought applause and cheers. Obama cited efforts to improve care for wounded troops, including those suffering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, and he pointed to funding for the Post-9/11 GI Bill. “We’ve made the biggest commitment to our veterans through the largest percentage increase requested for the VA’s budget in more than 30 years,” he said. Following his speech, Obama spent about five minutes shaking hands with troops. “Pretty amazing to see the most powerful person in the world,” said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jarred Kendall, 26, of Reading, Pa. “He lives up to the hype.” (Source: Stars and Stripes.) AFOC Static Displays   AFOC Gate Static Displays: F-4D and F-5E (Mar 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   AFOC Gate Static Displays: F-86, T-33, UH-1 and Nike-Zeus (Mar 2006) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Base Auto Hobby Shop and A-10 Static Display:   (L) Osan AB Auto Hobby Shop (R) A-10 Static Display (Sep 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Golf Course:   (L) Golf courses fairway looking towards AFOC at top of hill. (R) Osan AB Base Golf Course (west side) (Sep 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Osan AB Base Golf Course (west side) (R) Golf Course with Oriental House in the distance (Sep 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Osan AB Base Golf Course (northwest side) (Note Antenna to right side) (R) Ginko Tree on Golf Course (Sep 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Ginko Tree on Golf Course (Sep 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Golf Course from Ginko Tree (R) Ginko Tree Limb supports (Sep 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Doolittle Gate:   (L) View of Runway with A-10s shooting passes from Doolittle Gate area (overrun area) (NOTE: The blur is a dragonfly -- not a helicopter.) (R) Security Police at Doolittle Gate (31 July 2006) (Tongil News) Osan AB viewed from West Side (Seotan Myeon):  Osan AB (Nov 2002) (Tony Cruz) (SITE NOTE: AMC Ramp (Diamond D) to right and Diamond C to left. Patriot batteries near to Chinwi River. The new BX had not been constructed at the time, but the area had been cleared. Turumi Lodge to the lower right and 51st Wing HQ to lower left.)   (L) View of ricefields to the west of base (R) Patriot Batteries seen from across the Chinwi River (31 July 2006) (Tongil News)   Osan AB West side of base runway, Ammo Bunkers and Diamond area (Aug 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Osan AB West end overrun area (R) West of Osan AB looking northwest (Chinwi River to right) (Aug 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) East end of runway looking at Diamond A area (R) Chinwi River east of Osan AB (Aug 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Miscellaneous Links:
KALANI'S PERSONAL SONGTAN JOURNALKALANI NOTE: I created this "journal" so my internet friends and following that I've built up over the years can stop by periodically and see what kind of trivial goings on I've been up to -- my ups and downs in my struggle to survive in Korea. I created this section just to comment on my life here in Songtan, Korea for those friends who were interested. It was simply intended to be a section where all the other trivia that has no category on my site can be thrown. January 2009Old Sportage bit the dust -- sort of -- and got a 2001 Retona (Jan 2009) In Dec took the car down to the safety center for the biannual safety inspection and it FAILED. No sweat right? Just fix it. Unfortunately, the part is a computerized piece that costs and arm and a leg. Took it to the Kia Center and they said I had to go to Osan to some shop there. I tried to get an estimate and NO ONE would tell me how much -- except one guy who said that even a used one was going to be very expensive. I paid a $100 to a guy to "cheat" the system to just get it past the inspection -- but it didn't work. Some more money down the tube on this Sportage. The car drives ok, but this problem was that it idles too high and the gas emissions failed the safety inspection. I've soaked a lot into repairs on that car and this was the last straw. I wasn't going to soak in some more. I decided to just junk it and get another car.Went to the used car dealer in Pyeongtaek and they had a Retona that they wanted 4 million won for. My brother-in-law thought that was a little high since they don't make the model anymore. He went out and found a 2001 Retona in Seoul for 2.5 million won. They were willing to give me 400,000 won as junk value on the Sportage. The Retona is a two-seater but usually only two of us at a time ride in the car -- plus the dogs. I like to have an off-road 4-wheel drive vehicle because in the summers I like to go to the streams and mountains. For what we use it for, it is ideal. It's mainly a local area car for running errands and going to the commissary.  2001 Retona (Jan 2009)  2001 Retona (Jan 2009)  2001 Retona (Jan 2009)  2001 Retona (Jan 2009) (SITE NOTE: Put in a Kenwood radio/CD -- that I had sent down from Yongsan -- at a car audio shop near E-mart in Pyeongtaek. Added a little four meter job beneath it for 20,000 won. Sounds good. Now I have my Hawaiian music blaring as I drive down the street. On a snowy day playing Hawaiian music seems kind of incongruous.) But getting this car in December was really a bad time. December is a bad time of year because all the inspections, insurance and tax bills all come due at the same time -- and to make matters worse, students drop off as vacation time hits. In addition, my gas heating bills double at both my hagwon and home -- and my electricity bills also goes up when the it gets bitter cold as I start up the auxiliary heaters. Also the Christmas gifts cleaned out the savings. It really wasn't the right time to buy a car. However, I had to junk the Sportage or else face a tax penalty. Had to go down and ask my insurance man to cut me some slack. He gave me the paperwork -- he actually paid for it out his pocket (he's known me for a while) -- so I could get the car registered. I paid him half and promised to pay him the rest on payday in Jan because I pay lump-sum annual premiums. After juggling all the bills, I just barely squeeked by in getting everything balanced. The car is OK for Shelly, the cocker spaniel, who can jump up on the seat, but for poor little Poopie, the shitzu, it's another story. He has a hard time jumping up to the running boards and needs a hand getting in. Put a mat in the rear for the dogs so they wouldn't slide around back there and they are still getting used to the car. In the back, I bought a large doggie cushion to use as a floor seat and I have the two sleeping bags back there to use as cushions as well. Actually it is pretty comfortable back there. The other car junk fits in back of the seats. Used an old fishing container (plastic/zippered) to store all the car junk. Bought a few cheap car storage knicknacks from E-mart over at Osan City and the 1000 won store as this doesn't have the big side pockets of the doors I'm used to. The dogs are still getting used to this car. Shelly still wants to sit on my lap while driving but this Retona is more cramped than the Sportage and I have to break her of this habit. As for Poopie, he takes the shotgun seat and is satisfied to sit there during the rides. The first thing you notice is that it's a lot smaller than the sedan-type cars that we're used to. But thus far, I'm satisfied with it. However, won't find out how it really holds up until we take it on one of the longer trips. The problems with the Sportage only showed up after we drove it down to Pohang and up to Gangwon. I sure hope this one doesn't turn into a lemon as well. The one thing I found out immediately is that this Retona doesn't have the power that the Sportage had in climbing steep inclines. Many times, I have to drop the gear to 1st to get over some of the hills here in Songtan -- so this won't be an off-road mountain car. It has a Samsung telephone something or other still installed, but it doesn't seem to work. Haven't figured it out as yet, but if I can't I'll just remove it. It seems to be some sort of navigation device -- but it is probably outmoded as the standard is now DMB (TV) - GPS Navigation. Don't really need this as I'm not a long-distance driver. Lesson One: The Retona is VERY LIGHT During the snow storm at the end of Jan that dropped a ton of snow on Songtan, I learned that the Retona is not like my past autos in that it is very light. Even with four-wheel drive, this car could not get any traction on the snow that had turned to ice. The wheels simply spun as I tried to back out over the small snow drifts that had formed. Even with rocking the car back and forth, it couldn't get over the small drifts. Even the old trick of putting a mat under the wheels to get traction failed because it simply didn't have the weight like my old Sportage. I literally had to chop out all the ice down to the pavement that had formed from under the wheels to get some traction for the Retona. Lesson learned. Lesson Two: The Retona SMOKES on cold mornings -- like clouds of smoke. Took the Retona to the Kia Shop and had them change the oil, filters and replace some power steering parts for a total cost of 176,000 won. Not bad. Also had the wipers temp fixed -- because the driver's wiper was going off the track...but next time it will be an expensive wiper motor to change. Anyway, the other reason I took it in was that I noticed that this Retona smokes and runs rough on cold mornings until it warms up. It's a big cloud until the motor warms up. Then it's normal. Asked the head mechanic there and he said, no sweat as it is normal. My old Kia Sportage (also desiel) did it a little but not like this Retona. Another lesson learned. (UPDATE: By May the temperatures had warmed up and yes, it no longer smokes when started up.) Xmas Tree still up After New Year's (Jan 2009) The Xmas tree went up two weeks before Xmas -- and was still up after New Year's -- as has become the tradition around our house. Love the Xmas tree lights late at night. But truthfully, the real reason the tree was still up is that I was just too lazy to take it down. Boram and I put it up in the middle of December and the lights have been on ever since. Under the tree we have the ceramic houses and stuffed Xmas dolls. At the top of the tree, is a little crocheted bear from a gift my Aunty Kay -- now long gone but not forgotten -- sent to Boram years ago. Every Christmas it goes at the top. Below that is the ornament that we got the year that Boram was born. We even have an ornament for the year Suil, our nephew, was born. Our tradition is to get a few new ornaments each year and write the year on it and put it on the tree. The tree then has a significance -- a sort of record of our family. It reminds me of when I retired years ago and all I could afford was a cheap two-foot tall plastic Christmas tree -- and the only presents for Boram were a few cheap plastic toys from China. I had a rough time financially back then.  Xmas Tree (Jan 2009)   Xmas Tree (Jan 2009)  Xmas Tree (Jan 2009) This Xmas wasn't much. Yoon got perfumes and cosmetics -- damn that stuff can be expensive. This year there was no "sales" like they usually have on perfumes. As for Boram, she got inexpensive young people stuff -- perfume, jewelry, clothing (Adidas hooded jacket and T-shirts) and the biggee was an electric keyboard that she's wanted for some time. As for me, I got a dart board and Xmas-special "stocking-stuffer" DVDs -- and a Polo sweater from Boram. The dogs got chew-bones and the beta fish got a new aquarium. Cooked a small turkey roast with all the trimmings for Xmas. As usual, the cranberry sauce was a waste -- into the trash as I was the only one who even tasted it. Stuffing??? Not to Korean tastes. The corn, mashed potatoes, baked yams, mushroom gravy, bisquits and pumpkin pie (store bought) were ok for them. The leftover turkey I turned into turkey corn-chowder -- which I must say was delicious on the cold winter days. Was going to bake a ham too, but thought it might be overkill with only the three of use eating the dinner.  Xmas Aquarium for the beta fish (NOTE: Those are airplants that it used to have in its bowl that are now stuck into the aquarium because Boram demanded it. It's her fish. The beta is to the top left of the tank in the photo.) (Jan 2009)  Poopie, our Schitzu (Jan 2009)  Shelly, our Cocker Spaniel (Jan 2009) (NOTE: That's Yoon's feet on Shelly.) Finally took the Xmas tree down on 27 Jan 2009 -- during Lunar New Year (Solnal). Yeah, I took it down by myself -- but Boram at least woke up in time to put the boxes away. New Year's a Complete Bust (Dec 2008-Jan 2009) Same as last year, the New Year came and went. It was just too cold to go out -- though I did offer to take everyone to a restaurant for dinner. New Year's fell on a Thursday so it was not really a holiday mood. In fact, with the recession, most people were not in a festive mood. Because of the slow-down in the economy, many companies encouraged their workers to actually take a five-day holiday -- 31 Dec-4 Jan. Many of my students didn't show up because it was a great opportunity to visit their families who lived in the country. For me, it was a boring period. During New Years, disaster struck. My cheap Jwin DVD players -- both at home and at the hagwon -- went out at the same time. Thus I had a bunch of bargain-priced Xmax special DVDs -- that I couldn't watch over New Years. Being so cold, I was not in any mood to go down to Shinjang Mall to walk around. Thus I just stayed at home an played with the computer. Of course, the traditional ox-tail soup substituted for the turkey around here on New Year's -- and it tastes a lot better on cold days. I was going to cook something special, but just got lazy at the last minute and let Yoon boil up the ox-tail soup. I like mine slum-gullin style, where I just dump a bowl of rice in with the soup. Really tastes good. Obsession with Obama (Jan 2009)GO TO Barack Obama Index Page. For the past months, I have have been doing personal research of Barack Obama, a person I am convinced is NOT eligible to be President of the United States. He most certainly a "native citizen" and even a "naturalized citizen" -- but in my opinion, he is most certainly NOT a "natural born citizen" as required by the Constitutition to hold the office of President. In Oct 2009 I was doing voter registrations and I started talking to some of the volunteers. This was when I found that I knew very little about Obama. I just knew that he was too far left for my moderate conservative tastes. I started to do research into the man -- piecing together bits and pieces from various articles to try to sort out fact from fiction. What I found out started to make my hair turn gray. The facts just do NOT add up on the man. I've let the history pages slip but there is so much happening with this man that I just couldn't let it go. The stakes are high because we are dealing with the Constitution of the United States. I and millions of others now believe he is NOT a "natural born citizen" -- the only type of citizen that can be eligible to be President. Then as the months passed, people began to see that the man who campaigned as a moderate centrist was starting to govern from the far-left. He literally flim-flammed the masses. He used the economic crisis as an excuse to push through a massive Stimulus Package WITHOUT THE CONGRESS READING IT. As it turns out, the Stimulus Package wasn't about stimulus at all. It was about sending the tendrils of big government into the states and simply taking over. It was not about IMMEDIATE jobs as Obama was ranting, the major portions of the funds would not be released until 2010. It was setting up the groundwork for the National Health Care Plan. There is much, much more that became evident. OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST ON A GRAND SCALE. What we are battling here is for the definition of what is called the Free Enterprise System and the days of "Big Brother" with the government taking over everything. When I was young, I read George Orwell's 1984 as a novel. Never in my imagination did I ever believe that America would someday become the same with Government becoming "Big Brother." Despite the fancy talk by Obama, he wants to turn America into a Welfare State. This man is dangerous and his words can't be believed. Over and over, he has lied to the American people simply to get his way. He believes that the ends justify the means -- that his ilk's vision is all important. The closest image I have for Obama is a snake-oil salesman. TALK IS CHEAP AND OBAMA TALKS WELL.   Voter Registration at Shinjang Mall: Andy Jackson (plaid shirt), Kurt Mahoy (flag T-shirt) and Kalani O'Sullivan (Kalani O'Sullivan) (20 Sep 2008)   (L) Kalani O'Sullivan at Voter Registration (R) Kalani O'Sullivan with Marine FA-18 pilot next to booth (11 Oct 2008) A Few Webpages Grow into a Section The following is the link to the Index Page to the Barack Obama Section: Barack Obama Index Page. I continue to update the section -- and if someone reads it, be warned. It is VERY large and some pages are extremely graphics intensive. I have used a lot of pictures and blog commentary. What started off as a few pages on Obama's background exploded into a complete section. I started investigating and found it strange that Obama's mother at the time of his birth lived at a DIFFERENT address on Kalanianaole Hwy from his father in Kaimuki. What was stranger was the evidence that his mother left for Washington state shortly after his birth and registered for the 1961 Fall semester at the University of Washington and remained there through the 1962 Spring semester. She returned AFTER Obama's father left Hawai for Harvard. Stranger is that Obama Sr's good friends -- besides Rep Neil Abercrombe (D-Hawaii) -- recall that Obama NEVER mentioned Ann Dunham. The story of Obama goes down hill from there. It is one so full of holes of missing information -- but it is a fact that Obama was an Indonesian citizen and piecing the puzzle together we hypothesize that Obama obtained an Indonesian passport in 1970 and an S-2 Visa to remain in the US UNTIL HE FINISHED HIS EDUCATION. There are so many pieces that don't make sense especially about Obama's scholarships -- as a "B" student in high school and Columbia could receive "scholarships" unless they were for a foreign student. THIS MAN IS NO GENIUS -- HE'S JUST A FAST-TALKING SNAKE-OIL SALESMAN!!!  The tale is so absurd that even I have a hard time believing what I wrote from the facts that were available. Barack Hussein Obama II/Barry Obama/Barry Dunham/Barry Soetoro. Obama is a chameleon who appears to be whatever people want him to be. There is something terribly wrong with this individual who is slated to be the 44th President of the United States. More and more people are starting to question why a PUBLIC OFFICIAL whose claims of government transparency was a campaign promise -- would spend over $800,000 for three law firms to ensure that his birth certificate (vault copy) is NOT revealed -- along with his medical records, school records, and anything else with information about the man.   I have deleted what I wrote here as it turned into a long-rambling tirade. I let what information I have gathered on Obama to speak for itself. He is a LIAR. This is FACT. His lies start with his birth and continue on to the present days. Obama is a hollow shell -- he is not the "genius" that the liberal media tried to make him into. Instead, he continues to embarass America in his foreign jaunts. But even worse, he has tried to appease the Middle-East powers and they have spit in his face. He has alienated Israel our close ally for 60 years. He is in the process of tearing down the national security of our borders. He is a DANGER to the America we love. Go to Index for The Obamanation and find the topic that interests you. Obama again is NOT the brains behind the agenda which is coming from the Center for American Progress headed by John Podesto and funded by George Soros. This is why the battles are on all fronts at once. Obama's approval ratings are tanking and the 2010 elections will be a revolt against the Democrats -- and moderate Republicans (aka RINOs). Things are going to change but WE, THE PEOPLE must stave off the Obama assault until we can boot the rascals out of office in the next elections. The site is rather massive and a starting point for information about Obama. Kalani's English Club (Jan 2009)The operations of the "hagwon" remains the same. BUT REMEMBER THAT THIS IS NOT A "HAGWON" IN THE ACTUAL SENSE. IT IS SIMPLY AN OFFICE WHERE I "TUTOR" A FEW KIDS.Still operating small classes and barely being able to pay the rent. Songtan has so many hagwons that you really can't expect to do well here. In my opinion, they hype their abilities and simply there as a profit-making enterprise. It is a fact that in Korea, the hagwons overcharge the parents, but declare to the government that their fees are lower. How do they do that? Simple, they charge a flat fee -- then charge for tests, materials, special exercises, special anciliary materials, etc. The costs add up to over 65 percent high charges on the cost. It is sad but it is also a reality. I know that I could easily earn W30,000 / hour or more because of my experience level at any hagwon -- and be legal with my F2 visa. I have been offered 50,000 won an hour plus perks but it would be a three-hour commute/six days a week to Seoul (train-bus-walk). For anyone NOT knowing where I came from, I have taught English in Korea for twenty years. I operated Kalani Yongau Hagwon (Kalani's English Academy) in Kunsan City for many years with large classes. It was a 1800 square foot area with a large reception area, two large classrooms and a break area. I am now an old man in semi-retirement and teach only tiny classes. The Kalani English Club is NOT a hagwon (academy) by any stretch of the imagination. It is more like a private tutoring office that is not more than 200 square feet in size. I teach because I love teaching -- and yes, I have a teaching degree with going on twenty years experience teaching in Korea. I'm well-known in Kunsan having taught businessmen, teachers, college English majors and government officials there. I still receive phone calls asking me to come back to Kunsan so I can teach my old students children. Am I a good teacher? Well, you don't survive in one place for over fifteen years teaching English without people figuring out your worth. Unlike Kunsan with a population of 350,000, Songtan is a small town with 150,000 people. However, there are more English hagwons here than in Kunsan. As I look out the window of my small little cubby-hole of an office, there is a big new English hagwon that just opened up a block away. In my four years here in Songtan, I've also seen atleast five of these English hagwons within a block of where I live fold -- not counting the general study hagwons that have gone out of business. Then there are all the illegal AMERICAN DEPENDENT/CONTRACTOR "teachers" who operate under the table teaching their neighbors' kids. But these are bad times and it's getting harder and harder for parents to afford these English classes. But on the other hand, hagwons simply can't afford to hire a foreigner (even the under-the-table illegal American "teachers" that abound in the area) and are forced to increase their rates if they have foreign teachers. Thus I try to keep my rates as low as possible to assist those students who want to learn English. Unlike regular hagwons, I provide all materials -- books, copies, and even the pencils and erasers. I cut my rates down to the lowest I can go to try to ease the financial burdens on the parents. BUT THERE'S A CATCH. I tell the students up front. If you want to learn English, I will teach you. If you don't want to learn English, GO!!! Oh, there's a second catch, if they don't like dogs, then I also have a problem as my dogs ALWAYS stay with me at the office. Actually the kids' love the dogs who are more human than dogs -- and just plain spoiled too boot. Because I'm a small time operation, I don't offer bus service like the regular hagwons -- but then I didn't offer it in Kunsan as well. My hagwon never offered bus service because with my reputation there, the parents made all the arrangements -- some driving completely across town. I didn't need to do it as an incentive. Again I don't advertise -- and I only operate with referrals. But when you're semi-retired, this is the only way to go. Yes, it is hard with the rates that I charge as I pay for EVERYTHING (books, materials, pencils, erasers, etc.). Then there's the cost of the office -- the rent/electricity/gas. But I survive. However, by March I was forced to adjust my rates. I had pro-rated them based upon class size but the books and material costs have continued to rise. For example when I moved here it cost only $10/month for electricity, but now it is $18/month. The cost of a set of books per student can run W31,000 or more -- and that doesn't count all the supplemental materials that I have to copy each week. The cost of toner and paper has also risen. EVERYTHING HAS RISEN IN COST MORE THAN 80 PERCENT IN THE PAST YEARm Though the rent remained the same, the building maintenance fee rose 50 percent. Thus I now have gone to a flat rate for three or more students. However, even considering this, I still have the lowest rates that I can possibly offer. Some people say: "You live in a four-bedroom apartment. Why don't you teach there?" Remember the illegal teachers I mentioned before. When I first moved into that apartment, the illegal teachers upstairs complained. The reason is that I was starting to run a full-time operation from my home because of the parents were starting to send their kids to me after they heard I was a former hagwon owner. Then there is a problem that some of the large hagwon owners also live in the same complex -- and I know from personal experience in Kunsan how cut-throat they are when it comes to competition. The bottomline is I'm semi-retired and I just don't want the hassles. Thus I moved to this small hole-in-the-wall office to keep these people off my back. Unlike my hagwon that I operated for years in Kunsan, my operation in semi-retirement is a small hole-in-the-wall operation. I cannot teach large classes simply because my space is so cramped. The room itself is very non-descript -- a rather blah office with lots of plants around the room. The weather in winter is bitter cold and most of my plants were dying. Even with heaters going, the office will only heat up to around 60 degrees. The dogs' bed during winter is where Poopie, my shitzu, burrows under the blankets and stays there until it's time to go home. Shelly, the cocker spaniel, simply parks herself on the blankets that she has "dug up" to form a mound to stay warm. During the spring and fall, it's not a problem with the temperatures as I face a parking lot and there is a cool breeze most of the time. I use fans when its warm to circulate the air, but I have to keep the doors closed as Shelly wants to greet everyone in the hall -- and not everyone one likes dogs. When it gets hot, I have an air conditioner that keeps the place very cool. During the winter, I bring most of the plants inside the room, but it still gets very cold over the weekends. The loss of plants are to be expected and I lost the majority of my plants before winter was over. During the warmer months, I have plants on a table in the hall as you came up the stairs --- as well as along the entrance of my little office. In winter, only the hardy plants are left in the hall -- and even some of them died. In the spring I bought new plants to replace the ones that the winter had killed.  Kalani's English Club: Moving the Plants inside (Jan 2009) (SITE NOTE: Two of these plants died from the cold even inside the room.)  Kalani's English Club: Moving the Plants inside (Jan 2009) (SITE NOTE: Even inside the plants died in Jan's freezing weather.)  Hall Entrance (Aug 2007) (Jun 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (top) Computer desk and bookshelves (bottom) View from kitchenette towards hallway side (Mar 2008) (Kalani O'Sullivan) (SITE NOTE: A lot of the furnishings are throw-away stuff I hauled up to reuse. The sofa was a discard that I hauled up to the office.)   (top) Entrance side wall looking towards kitchenette (bottom) Entrance looking towards Shelly's bed (Mar 2008) (Kalani O'Sullivan) This past winter turned bitter cold -- much colder than last winter. The Korean winters can be brutal even without snows because of the high humidity and winds. Even with the electric heater and gas heater going, I could only get the temperatures up to about 60 degrees. I taped all the windows shut but there were still drafts. It simply came with the room. Even with both the electric and gas heaters going, I could only make the room "livable." A trick I used to help make it feel warmer is to keep the coffee pot brewing in order to keep the humidity up in the room. When the windows started to steam up, the kids could study without jackets.  Kalani's English Club: Electric Halogen heater (Jan 2009)  Kalani's English Club: LPG Gas heater (Jan 2009) In the spring, I open the windows and a great cross-ventilation keeps this office cool. It looks out over a parking lot and the breeze is always blowing over the hill and down into the office. However, summer gets blistering hot -- but with the airconditioner, the office stays very cool. Surprisingly, the electricity costs from last summer were very reasonable seeing as I was living in this place for the better part of the day. It was a lot cheaper to cool this small space than to go home and try to cool a four-bedroom apartment. The office is actually a rather small livable area. It has a small sink and I have a microwave over, small portable gas stove and convection oven plus small rice cooker there. There is a small refrigerator -- but I bring filtered drinking water from home. It also has a TV, VCR and DVD player -- along with my rather large DVD collection. It has a sofa in addition to the small twin bed (the dogs' bed). One could actually live there -- though taking a shower might be a problem. In Apr 2009, I got a new computer for the house and brought my old computer to the hagwon. The computer is on the desk is for my teaching materials that I write for the classes and other uses. The computer is connected to the internet. The second computer that used to be at the hagwon, I took home. In Jul 2009, I finally got around to putting new signs up on the doors. It just so happens that my brother-in-law does mirrors and signs for apartment complexes. He made two adhesive signs to be posted on the front doors -- where people walk by. He also made two signs to post on the stairs to show that the hagwon is on the 2nd floor -- and one at the top of the stairs. Of course, it was free. After a year and a half here, it's about time that I got these signs installed. The only signs were on the BACK door and on the windows that can't be seen from the road. In effect, no one knew I was here. My reputation is only spread by word of mouth. However, now that Korea is slowly slipping into a recession, I figured I'd better advertise a little -- though I don't do the flyers and ads like all the other hagwons. I'm only a small time operation. In Sept 2009, after being here for a year and half, my nephew finally got the light in the bathroom to work. I had to repair all the urinals (caulking and sealing) when I moved in. I changed out the lights and starter, but it didn't fix it so I left it. My nephew tried to fix it and by playing with the starter got it to work...bah humbug. For a year and half, no one would go into that bathroom at night because it was too scary. Oh well, grateful for my nephew.  Kalani's English Club: Lucy Kim and Sarah Shin (Apr 2009) Starting English (Mar 2009) In Mar 2009, one of my students stated that her sister and a friend wanted to start a class. After an interview, it was apparent that they had been to another hagwon to learn English, but were still at a low level -- though past the Phonics stage. This class I agreed to teach for three days a week (Mon-Tue-Thurs). The students are Sarah Shin and Lucy Kim. Have to treat this class differently as they will NOT have a test day per se, but be tested periodically to see how they are progressing. They also will not have any "game day" as a reward for passing their tests. Started the class in Apr 2009 on Let's Go 2 / Let's Chant 2 with Dialogues for Children along with Easy Grammar. The Let's Go series are fairly easy for these two students -- but the Easy Grammar simply went over their heads. Try to explain that this is a new method to teaching grammar -- by teaching the parts of grammar starting with prepositions. I warned them that they needed to memorize 50 prepositions -- and their failure was "their problem." I am NOT willing to compromise -- and they will test on it until they do have some grasp of prepositions. Sarah seems to be better at it, but Lucy is completely lost. In truth, she doesn't have a clue as to what is a preposition because she has not even started to memorize the prepositions. Without this she has a major problem identifying the "subject" and "verb" in the sentence. But again there is no penalty for failing to pass one of the tests. I can only imagine how frustrating it is. They have good pronunciation but speak so softly that I find it hard to hear their pronunciation at times. There are no problems and they are picking up the rhythm patterns very easily. Besides the typical "bad -- bed" problem, there is no difficulty. By May 2009, Sarah had perfected her ability to identify prepositions and has a good foundation for expanding her knowledge of structure. Unfortunately, Lucy still has not taken the time to memorize her prepositions and still is just guessing as to the structure. SIGH... Gave up on trying to teach them Easy Grammar and am simply concentrating on speech. It appears that this is why the parents sent them to me anyway. Added Mason Cho to the group in August 2009, but it was a very bad mismatch. The girls hated him from the start and there was massive friction in the class. In the end, Mason simply stopped learning. In October 2009, moved Mason to a class by himself. Starting English (Oct 2009) Teaching Mason Cho by himself, but this is really a pain. Still using Let's Go 3, but Mason has not remembered anything. Starting again with the basics of simple questions: "Can you...?/Do you...?/Have you...?" ... Yes, I can/do/have..." responses and other common question/answer. Mason has done this before, but he has become accustomed to others giving him a hint or answer. As I said, htis is a very hard class. Unlike other classes, Mason does not reach for the electronic dictionary to look up words he doesn't know. He doesn't open the book to find the answer if he gets stuck on his workbook. He simply waits for me to give him a hint until I yell at him to look at the book on the page we just studied. Very frustrating.  Kalani's English Club: Yancy Cho, Minnie Woo and Ken Choi (Mar 2009) Beginning English Class -- UPGRADE TO Intermediate Level 1 in October 2009 During the beginning of the year, the beginners class was Yancy Cho, a fifth grader, and Shawn Bang, a sixth grader, at Songbuk Elementary School. Shawn was a little better than Yancy, but they are both stumbling on pronunciation. I'd fixed Yancy's speech problems with "s" and "th" sounds -- but he still hasn't mastered the rhythm patterns of American English though is getting there. Yancy is one of those rare students with a "spade-shaped" tongue. This means that the normal curling of the sides is difficult but I've taught him how to compensate and make the "s/z" sounds. In Mar, Shawn went on to Middle School and had to quit. In his place, two other students entered. Minnie Woo, is a fifth grader at Songbuk and Ken Choi is a sixth grader like Yancy at Songbuk. Both had studied elsewhere for a time, but they are approximate matches for Yancy despite their years of English study. They are starting to study the grammar in putting a sentence together. In Mar, they were memorizing the prepositions -- and using that to show them once they eliminate prepositional phrases, they can pick out subject and verb. Next comes helping verbs, adjectives and adverbs. This is tough to get the concepts into their heads, but we'll see how this works out. Both of my beginner classes are on the same book, but there is a vast difference between the two simply from the enthusiasm standpoint. The first class jumps up and down and makes games on their own in learning English. The second class looks at learning English as a grueling task -- and are only mastering things simply to pass tests. The speaking patterns that comes naturally to the first class, the second class has a hard time with. However, the second class -- simply because they are older -- understand the importance and want to learn English. They are a special group. After a slow start on "Easy Grammar" to start them on sentence structure, they all seem to have mastered the basics and have had no problems. By May 2009, I would say that they are all either at the "Excellent" or "Great" stage of progress -- meaning that they only make minor errors. I also use supplemental materials to expand on grammar exercises of "Let's Go" to embed their understanding of English grammar. Thus far, it has been very successful. As far as speaking, by May 2009, Minnie and Ken are excellent, but Yancy still falters. You have to jog his memory sometimes to get the right response. All these students listening abilities are greatly improved and they have no problems for this level. They are reading at the Second Grade (AMERICAN) level though the vocabulary is a little hard for them, but they have learned to grab the electronic dictionaries whenever they have a question of meaning. In October 2009, the class finished Book 6 of the Let's Go series along with Easy Grammar exercises. All the students now can diagram a sentence and identify key elements of the sentence. Though they hated the exercise, they did learn. HOWEVER, Ken dropped out in October and Minnie may drop out as well. We'll see if this happens. Seems a shame as they were ready to go to the next level. I'll continue on with only one student if need be and see what happens.  Kalani's English Club: Harold Lee and Jackie Hwang (Nov 2008) Lower Intermediate Class (STOPPED) (Jan-Mar 2009) In Jan 2009, it was winter vacation so I had lost some students and gained others -- but only for a month. In my lower intermediate class, Jackie Hwang was the mainstay -- and John Han had rejoined just for winter vacation. Jackie, a fifth grader, is the top in his class in English -- and it didn't hurt that he's also on the Student Council. John though increased my stress levels because a year ago I fixed his "lisp" problem. Guess what -- he returned and he has the same "lisp" problem. A month is not enough time to change it -- but I have to try. Harold Lee returned after conflicts with another academy caused him to drop out for a time. Though he is headed for high school next year, he is much lower than Jackie in grammar. Started them on TOEIC grammar tests. The impacts of my teaching Jackie grammar compared to what they've been learning in hagwons/schools was readily apparent when they started taking "real" TOEIC tests. Jackie could get a "C" consistently, but John and Harold get an "F" for their tests. I used actual TOEIC tests to try to teach them English. They completed "TOEIC Step One" -- but I wasn't happy with the results. How do I go back and start teaching grammar again from the beginning? In Feb 2009, Jackie's brother returned for the vacation, but later decided to stay on along with Jessica Han. In Mar 2009, I decided that I would kill Jackie's class and allow him to join his brother. Though he was lower than his brother, he was actually above Jessica who had studied English in Suwon for a few years.  Kalani's English Club: Isaac Hwang and Jessica Shin (Jan 2009) Intermediate Class Starts (Jan 2009) An intermediate class using free talk and TOEIC, but this class was supposed to be only for the vacation period. Then it was supposed to be back to school for them. My old student, Isaac Hwang, found a partner from his class in middle school. Her name is Jessica Shin and she's been studying in Suwon for the past four years -- but her abilities are a little lower than Isaac. Isaac was with me for almost three years and I had to cut his class -- simply because he just got to be too good for anyone around Songtan. His listening and grammar levels are high, but his vocabulary has always been his weak point. I was quite proud when he won a trip to British Columbia --along with a group of the top students from Seoul and Kyonggi-do. The English contest was sponsored by Lotte and the ROK Education Ministry. TOEIC reading comprehension is really a challenge because it's hard teaching speed and accuracy -- and the techniques of how to "guess" the right answer for TOEIC. There is a technique if you know what to look for. This works on TOEIC, but won't on TOEFL which is much too hard for me to teach. It's not hard because of the grammar, but hard because TOEFL is a very boring test -- college level words that have no use outside of academia. That's why I've opted not to teach it in all my years of teaching in Korea. Don't get me wrong. Many of my former students went on to attain very high scores in TOEFL and went on to earn their Masters overseas, but I can't take credit for that.  Kalani's English Club: Diana Choi, Isaac Hwang, Jackie Hwang and Jessica Shin (Mar 2009) Combine Intermediate Classes (Feb 2009) Then in February when school started, Isaac and Jessica decided to stay on -- to learn writing skills at least to the TOEIC essay-writing level. Over a year ago, when Isaac stopped, I had him up to the start of expository writing. He, unfortunately, never continued on with his English and has remained at the same level. Jessica, despite her four years in Suwon, has problems constructing a correct sentence simply because she has a weak grasp of prepositions. Jackie, on the other hand, has improved over the past year and now he is just a little bit lower than Isaac in listening comprehension, colloquial speech and reading comprehension. For example, on a TOEIC part II test, Issac got an A and Jackie got a C. However, Harold, Jessica and John got F. On a listening TOEIC part II, Isaac and Jackie got A, but the rest got between D and F. There was a mismatch of skill levels. Thus when Harold and John said they were departing at the end of winter vacation, I decided to combine Jackie's class and Isaac's class. The course will be different for Isaac and Jessica, but for Jackie it will be the same as before only at a higher level. I will teach them Exploring English 4 and supplement it was actual TOEIC tests along with Hooked on English for grammar work. Worked on TOEIC writing in March. Isaac and Jackie have mastered writing Writing Part 1, but Jessica is still struggling. Have glossed over American 6th grade diagramming and will start work on "structure" (S+V+O/C+M). I need to start looking up all the Korean translations for the words in Exploring English to teach it correctly. That's a lot of work on my part, but I only have to do it one time. The book is primarily used for "free talk" questions-answers with some work on grammar -- but Jackie and Issac are already at this level. Jessica is another story. She's still struggling with the "modifiers" (adverbial phrases). In March, a new student will be joining this class. Dianna is in the second grade of Songtan Middle School -- one year older than Issac and Jessica. Though she has been attending an English hagwon for two years (along with private tutoring from an American GI) , she is below all of the other three students in speaking skills. Actually when I combine the classes, I will actually lose money (more students in the class, rates drop and I have to provide all the books) -- and now that I have lost two students (John and Harold), I'll be operating by the skin of my teeth -- even with the addition of the two students because I combined the intermediate class. The massive task of teaching these students how to write begins. This is a painful process -- lots of hair-pulling on my part. However, writing can only be learned by writing. I'm basing my teaching on TOEIC Writing/Speaking tests that have just been just introduced in Korea. What makes this rough is that they don't teach writing skills until high school -- -- and only at a very rudimentary level. I'm teaching these kids how to write essays using the USAF methods of "Keep it simple stupid (KISS)" which over the years I have found was effective when applied to Korean middle-school students. Koreans develop ideas completely opposite from the way that Americans do. In essence, Koreans are trained to write English by translating from their Korean style. This creates problems and is the main reason why I balk at teaching writing to adults. Teaching youngsters is a lot easier -- and past successes in Kunsan with my kids winning regional essay contests seems to say that my style works -- at least for kids. Still trying to beat it into their heads the concept of Introduction, Body and Conclusion. In other words, tell 'em what you're going to tell them, Tell 'em, Tell 'em what you told them. Very basic stuff before we move on to Expository writing. Jessica is simply NOT wanting to learn -- and only wants to talk. (However, her mother wants her to learn writing and this is my problem.) In March, Issac decided to take a one month break from the class for the upcoming tests -- but I suspect that it was because he was so far ahead of the others that he was just spinning his wheels as the others covered material he already knew. In April, Jessica also decided to take off for a month because of her tests -- but I suspect it had more to do with her simply NOT making headway on her writing. Her mother wants her to learn to write, but to be truthful, Jessica really is not that interested. This left me in April with only two students in the class, Diana Choi and Jackie Hwang. It allows me to concentrate on the problems that they have in constructing a correct sentence -- subject-verb agreement and sentence construction. This is essential if they are going to write a good paragraph. Will use supplemental materials from "English Made Simple" to assist -- and continue with "Middle School Transition" materials that have writing exercises. Started back down with writing a sentence. Found that they did not understand English structure well so made the decision that they would use "Easy Grammar" right along with the beginner classes. They don't have a firm grasp of prepositions and will learn along the way. I do not expect any problems as this is sort of a "brush up" exercise that actually supplements the grammar in "Exploring English." In May started at the very basics of writing a paragraph and have moved on to writing short pieces. Taught them the basics of writing informative paragraphs and short pieces -- Topic, organizating, proofing, margin/indentation, etc. Next step is to write expository sentences. In May, it looks like Jessica will not be returning. She came and wanted to study three days a week, but I couldn't mix and match her schedule into a five-day a week class. As for Issac, he won't be coming back because as I suspected, he is too far ahead of the stage Jackie and Diana are at. I have already taught him how to write expository paragraphs and essays. On top of that, Issac will be going to Russia for two weeks in July to study in Moscow. He won a competition for Kyonggi Province dealing with math/science. Thus the class size remains at two. In June, Dianna Choi left because of her tests, but never returned. This left me with only Jackie alone. He progressed through the writing exercises and by July was writing a fairly legible paragraph -- though at times his writing is very "childish." The problems we are experiencing are in the areas of "creative thinking." Koreans do not engage in this at his age -- being mostly rote memory work. Thus when I ask him to write about something in a reading exercise -- his own opinion, he falters. However, I am quite pleased with his progress. In July, John Lee rejoined the class -- only for one month during summer vacation. He was in Jackie's class before he went to Middle School. He has progressed some in his English ability through his continuing studies, but Jackie is well ahead of him in grammar and speaking skills. Actually, Jackie does free talk (meaning he can freely conduct a conversation on everyday matters) easily and his pronunciation is excellent. His weakness is his vocabulary, but that is something that we constantly work on. As for John, his writing ability is not at Jackie's level and he often has to look up words in the electronic dictionary to communicate his ideas. We will stumble through for one month and I hope he learns something from the short time with me. He still has a slight lisp that I worked for a year to correct, but it is now under control and barely noticable. In August Jackie was joined by a high-school senior, Suzi Choi, who wanted to learn to write. It is kind of sad that her level was lower than Jackies. Jackie can write -- but has a bad habit of going to final without organizing his material. Using American Grade 5 writing textbook started teaching again along with "Hooked on English" section on Composition. Jackie continued to improve and he has surpassed his brother's level. In October Jackie took a break for unknown reasons -- and Suzi simply couldn't handle the class by herself. We'll see if this class survives. First Adult Free Class (One day/week): Still have a free adult class for intermediate levels at the hagwon. In Mar, I changed the day to Thursday by request of one of the students. Currently there are only a few regulars: Yumi -- an English major who landed a job on base. Yumi was one of the first when I first offered the free classes and now has gotten a job on Osan AB. The third is Lily from Jinwi, a businesswoman. Michelle, an at-home English tutor joined the class in March -- but I think she is "fibbing" about that job and really works for a English teaching company. We use REAL TALK as a basis for conversation/pronunciation/dictation/etc. -- but I still have trouble getting them to discuss topics. They can all talk the "fluff" topics -- i.e., "what's your favorite food" garbage -- but when it comes to voicing their opinions on more complex topics, it is much harder. Finally I decided to kill REAL TALK because it wasn't working. I changed the text in April to an old Korean tape-text that I picked up in the Thrift Shop. This text is useful for adults and similar to the old ACE-PHONE series I used to teach back in Kunsan when I started almost twenty years ago. Though old, the text is surprising well written in Korean and English -- with the big plus of a Korean on the tape to explain the grammar (though his English pronunciation is horrible). As the tapes were still usable, I will teach it as it has the elements of dialogue, pattern drills (formula training), and pronunciation correction. We will continue to try to find conversational topics to spend time during each class -- or using materials to develop their English conversational skills (i.e., giving directions). In May, I am considering terminating this class. There are always absences, but in the middle of May there were all missing. If this is a permanent condition, I wanted to terminate it at the end of May, but one woman, Lily, started attending regularly. Thus I didn't have an empty class. Have retained the class. Yumi's speech patterns are now American. Michelle is still working on trying to get those patterns -- even though I found out that she did live in the States for a year to learn English. Lily struggles along, but her enthusiasm in learning the language will stand her in good stead. I can work with her because she wants to learn which makes the job so much easier. In the few months I have taught her she has shown an improvement -- not only in speech patterns, but also in vocabulary and ability to communicate (though still at a lower level). Sally who had been teaching at an academy started attending again. We'll see how this works out. In October started using an old book that I wrote years ago as a multi-purpose textbook for TOEIC/TOEFL/Idioms/Expressions/Vocabulary that actually a multi-volume set. Anyway, started on the lessons and they seem to enjoy it better as they are above the basic level students. Second Adult Class (Two-days/week): In June, I started a two-day a week class for a group of women who attend the same church and were in an English self-study group. One is a business woman who uses English in drafting emails to her Taiwanese clients. The second is a housewife that loves to travel -- and intends to use her English during her trips. The third is a woman that just recently switched her job as a hagwon teacher from Korean and math to English and math. Each had a different need and were at different levels. Started out with Speaking English in Everyday Conversations for grammar and structure. Used Caroline Grahm's classic, Small Talk, for speech correction. It is a little hard at first trying to embed the "middle-speech" American patterns, but it'll come with time. I've used Small Talk for almost 15 years and it is an excellent book for training in speech patterns (rhythm and modulation). The first day we do Speaking English and Small Talk. On the second day, we do Small Talk dictation and then spend the next half hour in "free talk" -- any subject. These women have the ideas but they just don't have the vocabulary to go with it. That is what we are practicing -- expanding their vocabulary on common conversational topics chosen from the English-language Korean newspapers (Chosun Ilbo, Joongang Ilbo, etc.). I don't like to give them the sheets in advance, because they end up translating the English instead of thinking about what they can contribute to the conversation. It is an interesting class for me...and hopefully for the women as well. In October switched to two books. (1) Speaking -- Everyday Conversational Expressions (2) Conversational English (Out of Print -- but obtained through internet). This seems to meet the basic needs of these students. The "free talk" proved to be too much for the students -- who could not pick topics because of limited English vocabulary. However, general topics were ok.  Plants outside the door (Oct 2009)  Plants inside (Oct 2009)  Plants inside (Oct 2009)  Masks and paintings along the walls (Oct 2009) Solnal: Lunar New Year (26 - 27 Jan 2009) -- Was going to make a trip down to Kunsan during Solnal to check out the car on a long trip and let my daughter see her old friends. Everything was arranged so that we would make the trip on Sunday and return on Sunday evening or Monday morning. The idea was to miss the Solnal rush to the country during this time period which makes it a mess. Boram's childhood friends, Jean, Uri and Haemi, all said they were free so it was set. Then it started to snow. On Saturday night, got calls from Kunsan that said DON'T COME. The snows had made the roads down there a mess and the already slow traffic was stalled in places. Kunsan gets a lot heavier snowfall than up here. Thus we decided to go to Inchon to my brother-in-law's place for Solnal at the last minute. Turned out it was a mess. Went to the bus terminal and stopped by the ATM to get some cash. SLAM!!! My card was rejected -- what??? It was snowing outside so I walked up the street to the bank and -- WHAT??? -- the bank doors for the ATMs were locked. Hey, this is screwed up. The wife had enough for the tickets so we left and left the bank problem until later. When we got to my brother-in-law's house we found out the problem. The ATM system crashed for ALL the banks and they were still working on it. The only one NOT up was the Nong Hyeop bank where I bank. Just my luck!!! The reason you need money is that you have to give money to the kids during Solnal -- they "seibei" (bow) in respect and they get their cash. It's a big thing for the kids. So I just borrowed from my brother-in-law. Taenhyon Rd in snowstorm (25 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) At Songtan, it was snowing and the weather was a bit nasty with the wind chill dropping the temperature. Dressed in my old snow suit and rubber snow shoes. Worked great walking through all the slush. However, when we got to the Inchon bus terminal, the weather there was different. It looked like it hadn't really snowed up there. Transferred to the subway for the short jog to my brother-in-law's apartment in Jaekchon (near Bupyeong). I looked out of place up there with most of the kids wearing sneakers and light jackets. It looked like the snow up there was only a light dusting -- nothing to bother with. The surprise for us was the new dog in the house. Before my sister-in-law refused to have a dog, but this one her son got. A cute Maltese -- but as kid's pets go, it got dumped in the lap of the parents. Sujin by the way is not a kid as he's out of the ROK Marines now and works with his Dad. But anyway, it's his Dad that does all the dirty work (poop trips outside, etc.). The dog's name is "Atom" -- but it sounds like "Antoni" (Anthony) when they call her. He's a female Maltese -- smart but a whiner. If she wants something, she whines.   (L) Atom (R) Kiltong walking Atom (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) The next morning woke up late and everyone was busy cooking. Things were just about done. My other sister-in-law and my nephew Suil had gotten there from Mokpo in Seoul. Suil was having a great time with Atom. Anyway, the standard setting up of the table for the honoring of Grandpa and Grandma, now deceased, and the arranging of the foods. Then the bowing of the children of the Yoon clan. Then the eating starts -- and never really finishes. It is always picking at stuff all day. Walked around the block after the meal and then loaded into the car for the trip to my sister-in-law's parents house down in Anjung.   (L) Suil and Atom (R) Suil, Atom and Suwon (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Suwon helping Kiltong with the paper (R) Sisters-in-law cooking in the kitchen (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Getting the food for the table (R) Getting the stuff set up on the table (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Suil getting his fingers onto the candies (R) Getting set up on the table (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Getting set up on the table (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Getting set up on the table (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Getting set up on the table (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Yoon family bowing (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Boram pouring soju three times into cup (R) Boram circling the soju above incense (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Bowing individually (R) Ceremony all complete (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Boram with Suil in background being punished (hands up) (R) Boram and Suil on swing (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   No Pets sign in Park (but people were walking their dogs anyway) (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Not much snow in Inchon (R) Park area near Kiltong's Apartment -- no snow (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) As we were leaving Seoul, my brother-in-law had his navigation unit on and the reports showed that all the major arteries were clogged leaving the city. He then tried to get on the secondary routes out of the city, but they were moving very slowly as well. Just on the outskirts of Seoul, he cut off and decided to take the backroads. At points the route took you under the main route and you could see all the cars backed up -- IN BOTH DIRECTIONS!!! Trip pretty non-descript all the way down until Baran when the roads started getting very slushy. By the time, we reached Anjung, the four-lane road had narrowed to two-lanes because of the unmelted snow on the ground.  Kalani in Anjung (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Old country building with functional "water closet" in center (one holer) (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Leeks covered in snow (R) Vegetable garden covered (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Rice fields covered in snow (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Rice fields covered in snow (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Small stream through fields (R) Vegetable fields covered in snow (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Vegetable field (R) Tractor implement in snow (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Anjung country road (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Vegetable field under snow (R) Sunset in Anjung (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   Country home in winter (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Nephew Suwon (R) Wife and brother-in-law's kids (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Kalani (R) Brother-in-law (26 Jan 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Lesson Learned: DO NOT GO TO THE MEDU-HEE HOSPITAL (SEOJONG-NI) (Feb 2009) On Friday (5 Feb), got off work and went home -- took my medications before I got something to eat. This is where things went wrong. For me, it is an extremely embarassing tale of swallowing something while gulping down a mass of my heart and high blood pressure pills. The object went down the throat and lodged at the top of the gastric tract right above the lungs. I'm NOT going to tell you the object because I'll face derision and calls of "dumb-ass" for the rest of my life. Let it suffice to say that it was about two inches long and normally resides in my mouth. At first I thought some pills had stuck in my throat and drank some more water to get it to go down. Then I realized what the item was!!! After the item got lodged, I could feel it sitting there and I got real worried that it could do some damage and perhaps block the air passage. At that time I had no problems breathing so I hopped in the car and took off for a hospital emergency room. Anyway, I started out going to Good Morning Hospital in Pyeongtaek, but instead I went to the Medu-hee Hospital in Seojong-ni as it was the closest. At the emergency room, they took x-rays and confirmed that the object was lodged above the gastric tract just above the lungs. We thought the "doctor" was kind of strange. He seemed different from other doctors we'd known -- and I've taught a few. What struck me as very strange was that he didn't speak English and his speech in Korean seemed rather crude -- instead of the educated speech of a doctor. He also seemed to be not as knowledgable of my condition as I would expect. Instead, he called SUWON for advice. Then when I asked if I should drive to Suwon, he said "no" -- and that I should stay in the hospital overnight. I didn't question it and said "ok". The next morning a REAL doctor came in and said that I should go to Good Morning Hospital because they couldn't help me there. I just about lost it for a second!!! Why didn't they tell me that the night before instead of wasting my time -- and endangering my life in the first place. Cost: 90,000 won for tests and ward bed (after insurance) for NOTHING -- but what torqued me off the most was that I was in discomfort the whole time. It turned out that the "doctor" from the night before was NOT a doctor at all -- but a medical technician. Learned something -- there are medics working the night shift who are passing themselves off as doctors. Anyway, I drove to Good Morning Hospital and within an hour of seeing the General Practioner doctor, they had me strapped down and sedated -- and took out the obstruction. Cost: 100,000 won (after insurance) -- and procedure was no big deal. In three hours -- to let the medication wear off -- I was back home. But now my advice to all in Songtan who read this: DO NOT GO TO MEDU-HEE HOSPITAL IN SEOJONG-NI. It is the hospital that is to the left of the main Seojong-ni intersection -- where you turn left to go to I-40 -- or right to go to the Seojeong-ni Train Station. You'll see it from the intersection on the right-hand side of the road going to I-40. The thing that will give you a tip that this may not be a good hospital is that it is almost empty -- and even the wards are only half full. This is the same place in 2007 that cost me 300,000 won for nothing when I was having chest pains (angina) because of my blocked arteries. They kept stalling me and running tests -- and finally admitted that they couldn't help me. They called an ambulance and sent me to Good Morning Hospital in Pyeongtaek. At Good Morning Hospital, I was immediately admitted, diagnosed of the blockages with xrays and within two hours, I was treated with a rotor-rooter operation and input of 5 stints to open the arteries. Haven't got anything but praise for Dr. Shin -- who still gives me my prescription for my medication every two months. Next time, I will go directly to Good Morning Hospital. Forget about any of the local hospitals or clinics!!! And for God's sake, do NOT go to Medu-hee Hospital. Spring is here...sort of (Mar 2009) According to the papers, the flowers are starting to bloom because of the early warm weather. Around Songtan, I haven't seen it yet. It's still chilly here in Songtan. However, the plant sales have started and I bought a few plants for the hagwon to replenish those that have died. To be truthful, only about 10 percent of the plants survived this winter. But it's spring so Poopie and Shelly got their spring haircuts. They were starting to shed in the house and it was getting bad even with the constant brushing. Though I didn't want to get them their haircuts too early as there might be an unseasonable snow, I couldn't put it off any longer. The cost was 25,000 won for Poopie and 30,000 for Shelly which is reasonable considering how much hair they had put on over the winter. But the shock of having no blankets on their backs was startling to them...shiver, shiver, shiver. Temps are still in the 40s-50s in the day. Even now, Poopie will go to the hagwon and immediately climb under the covers. He stays there all day only coming out to grab a drink of water or to gobble a bit of the Kibbles n bits. The temperature over there is about 60 degrees even with the heaters -- and to Poopie with his spring cut, it is shivering weather. For Shelly, it is not too bad, but she too will bury herself in the blankets over there.  Shelly (15 Mar 2009)  Poopie (15 Mar 2009) Started Back on History of Songtan (Mar 2009) The weather is getting warmer and decided to go check out some areas. Thus on 29 Mar, I loaded up my two dogs and went down to the Hill 180 gate area to nose around. One of the old-time servicemen back in 1964 had written me and sent some photos of his time at Osan AB. As the weather was warming up and the sun was shining, it seemed like an ideal day to waste a few hours playing with my hobby.  Boys Town 4-H Club outside Hill 180 Gate (1964) (Bob Jones)  Gate 4 (Hill 180 Gate) (1964) (Bob Jones)  Hill 180 Gate Closed (29 Mar 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Bob Jones of Brainerd, Minnesota had provided some photos of Osan AB and Chicol Village (Shinjang Mall) back in 1964 while stationed here as a Security Policeman. There were more photos than what is shown here with some interesting shots from the old bomb dump hill sections that were given back to the ROK in the 1990s and even signs showing how Osan AB used to provide vehicular speed control on the Jinwi portions of the MSR-1 (Route 1 between Songtan and what is now Osan City). Bob also worked at the now closed Hill 180 gate (then called Gate 4) and had a photo of a 4-H Club near the gate with a sign saying it was "Boys Town". Bob noted that there were always boys hanging around the building and he assumed it was an orphanage, however the Hangul (Korean) on the sign did not indicate it was so. However, the mention of the 4-H flagged a memory of about 2 years back when I ran across a old 4-H sign down in that area that seemed out of place at the time -- but I couldn't remember just exactly where down there. I went back down there with my dogs in tow, but could not find the old 4-H sign. Stopped at the closed Hill 180 gate to try to figure out where the old structures in the photos could have been, but didn't have much luck because there are no identifying features in the photos.  A-Frame Corner at Rail Spur (1964) (Bob Jones)  Shinjang Mall Rail Spur (29 Mar 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Then dropped the dogs off back at the house and I went to the Shinjang Mall area to take a few photos of the locations that Bob had identified in his photos. The photo of the A-frame (choge) corner was easy to find as the rail spur that used to run to the Bravo Gate area still exists. The exact spot was easy to pinpoint from the tracks. However, people were looking at me really strange as I'm taking photos of the railspur ground.  Main Gate (1964) (Bob Jones)  Shinjang Mall from Main Gate (29 Mar 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) The photo of the Main Gate of course is very different from back in 1964, At that time, the road leading to Namsan-teo and the Bravo Gate did not exist. It was not cut until the 1980s. Got a few comparison shots that I'll send to Bob by backing up next to the Riot Policemen shack,  Aragon Alley (1964) (Bob Jones)   Aragon Alley and Bobos (29 Mar 2009) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Then I went down to Aragon Alley. There is only ONE building that I've looked at down there that is from the mid-1960s -- Bobos in Paradise. The photo from Bob Jones proves that it was built AFTER 1964 as there is an empty lot where it stands today. In the 1970s, poured concrete forms became more popular in the Shinjang area construction as concrete (remocon) became available in the areas outside of Seoul and a Remocon plant was established in the area in 1974. Thus cinderblock construction gives one a fair idea that the building was constructed in the mid-1960s. At that time, cinderblock construction was used in the area to build the newer GI off-base housing in the Shinjang area on Hobak Hill. This building had the same construction materials. All the rest of Aragon Alley structures have been replaced with concrete form structures. As far as I know, there are no other structures on Aragon Alley from mid-1960s that exist today. The roof was original ceramic tile, but replaced in the 1990s with a sheet of simulated roofing (one sheet of exterior plastic that looks like roof tiles). When I had looked at this building before it still had its old wiring exposed which was circa 1960s installation. Since I last looked at the building last summer, a new false front has been installed covering the stucco-covered cinderblock construction. The building was built on the level of the Aragon Alley by cutting into the hillside that is to the rear. The original hill ran from where the base Thrift Shop is -- down outside the Main gate where there was a dance hall on the hill at the same level as the thrift shop (where the Phoenix Hotel is now). The hill then sloped down to Aragon Alley. Aragon Alley back in the 1960s was the only path to get to Namsan-teo along the rice paddies that are now all housing. The building for "Bobo's in Paradise" was made level with Aragon Alley by cutting into the hillside. Thus the hill rise is actually at the rooftop level in the rear of this building giving one the idea of the angle of slope of the original hill. The Aragon Alley road has changed over the years from dirt to concrete to asphalt to the new cobblestone brick. The old yongwan (inn) has been replaced by the Korea Hotel and the only original businesses are the Pharmacy and Jewelry shop up at the entrance of Aragon Alley. My Come-uppance Asked the female bartender at Bobos in Paradise about the age of the building and she had no idea. Instead, she referred me to a place across the street where there might be someone who had been in Aragon Alley a while who could give me a clue. Stopped in there and I got the chilliest reception that I've received in a long time. At first they thought I was Korean. Then they thought I was selling old photos. Then when I said I was doing history, they thought I wanted to sell advertising. Talk about some suspicious people. They couldn't understand that I write history as a hobby. If one understands, "nunchi" ("reading one's eyes") or reading the body-language of the Korean people there, there was complete disdain. They were offended by my intrusion -- and for Koreans, very rude. In fact, I myself was very offended at first by their crude behavior -- as this kind of treatment is something I'm NOT used to as a teacher in Korea for going on twenty years. The type of scorn these Koreans exhibited is usually reserved for beggars or very low-class people. The reason they were treating me this way was because they thought I was A KOREAN OF AN INFERIOR CLASS!!! I was treated as though I was a leperous beggar. After being accustomed to the respect a teacher gets after twenty years of teaching Koreans, this was quite a come-uppance. I've lived in Korea for a long, long time and I can read Koreans VERY well. However, I am not saying all bar folks are like this since bar owners in Kunsan have been my close friends for over two decades -- with mandatory attendance at weddings, births of grandchildren, etc. Bar owners are just plain folks -- though some perhaps are a little rough around the edges. However, the people in this particular bar were NOT normal as they assumed from the beginning that I was an inferior KOREAN -- NOT an American. From that point on, it deteriorated. They thought I was selling something (like old photos) But such is life as I was intruding on their space and asking questions. Bar folks, as a group, who operate on the seamier side of life don't like nosy people who ask questions. I simply left. Well, I did meet one friendly gentleman, a civilian, in the aforementioned bar who said he had lived in Songtan a LONG, LONG time and he'd never heard of my Osan historical website. Well, that took me down a few notches. SIGH... This gentleman definitely put me in my place. I thought just about everyone at Osan AB had at one time or another stopped in to see the Osan AB historical site. I guess my self-importance was misplaced. I don't think this gentleman understood that I was walking the streets of Shinjang when the streets were dirt and it was a real rat-hole forty years ago -- long before he set foot in Korea. And I know the Koreans in that bar didn't have a clue about where I was coming from -- but neither did I try to tell them. However, in retrospect, perhaps his condescending remarks were simply a way to diffuse the hostility from the Koreans. He was playing "Go-stop" (Hatori) at the bar with the aforementioned Koreans and my questions were interrupting the game. Hope he stopped by to learn a little about the place where he spends so much of his time. It's the only one real history of the base on the internet -- NOT the abbreviated version that John Okonski, 51st FW historian, has on the Osan AB site. The difference between the official history and mine is that I present the history as it really was -- as it was seen through the eyes of those who lived and worked here. It is not the "censored" version of the USAF. Why I Document Shinjang Mall Truthfully I have NO interest in the "entertainment" side of the Shinjang Mall. Others have websites that cover the bars and "whore-running" scene which have no interest for me. I wrote a long article years ago on Shinjang Mall in Songtan and A-town in Kunsan covering the REAL story of prostitution history around the USAF bases and how they operated and were developed. My article has been referenced in many other articles and used as source material in a few books, but other than that, I really do NOT want to get involved in the "trade" news. Instead, my history of Shinjang Mall has focused on its growth (physical structures and streets) along with identifying the older merchants of the mall -- and the next generation of merchants from these families. This is the reason I don't concentrate on the bars of the Shinjang Mall -- which come and go with variations of the same names you see in every bar row around the world. People would say, "Why are you interested in this kind of historical trivia?" First, I find it like a mystery puzzle of finding out when the buildings were built and how they've changed over the years. To me it's fascinating to know how the physical surroundings have changed over the years. I'm really NOT tracking people and events per se but rather tracking the growth of the area. My latest project is to document the area -- not in detail, but in rough overview of the buildings and streets. But why? The reason is that the whole area is like "dead-men walking." In 5 years or so the entire area will be razed as the Shinjang new town takes effect. In Aug 2008, I had the privilege of being asked to talk about the history of Songtan to the Planning Committee for the Shinjang New Town Project. As such I got information about what they were planning and the scope of their Shinjang New Town project. (GO TO THE "SONGTAN EVENTS" SECTION OF THIS PAGE. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SECTION THERE IS THE CONCEPT DRAWINGS FOR THE SHINJANG NEW TOWN PROJECT.) The bottomline is that Shinjang as it is known today will be completely erased. It will only be a memory -- and I seem to be the only one who is trying to record it before its gone. The Planning Committee is still negotiating with the tenants -- and trying to work out the design. It is still in the planning stages but the fact is that Shinjang Mall as people know it today will be HISTORY in the not too distant future. The Future of GI Bars AFTER Shinjang New Town Built In truth, after the new Shinjang New Town is built, the GI bar row will cease to exist. No one wants to talk about it, but it's coming. The special tax dispensation, that the Shinjang Bar Owners Association enjoy for pandering to the GI trade, will disappear. You cannot mix residential highrises with low-class bar rows. No one wants to talk about this -- but stop by the Shinjang New Town builder's office and see what they envision. It has been set up at the railroad tracks near the Mokchon vehicle underpass in anticipation of the construction planning starting soon. Also expect the tax benefits to shift to the merchants in the identified Songtan Special Tourism area -- if the designation itself doesn't disappear -- as Yongsan will be closing and shifting Itaewon merchants to another central tourist shopping site by 2012. As we said before, the whole area will be leveled to the ground and from the ashes the new Shinjang area will evolve. Envision the expansion up into the Jisan-dong area and the areas near the train station have already been cleared. The projects for Songbuk-dong still remain rather vague besides the immediate clearing of the houses near the Songbuk Farmers Market. Of course, the expansion of the Ichong-dong area and upgrading of Seojong-ni continue along with the expansion apartment projects spreading out towards Pyeongtaek. I've talked with a few community leaders and some envision in the long-term the return of Songtan City, the designation it lost in 1992 when Pyeongtaek City absorbed the area. As I said before, my history project now is to document the history of the Shinjang area before it all disappears under the treads of a bulldozer. SPRING IS HERE!!! (Apr 2009) The weather finally turned warm and the blooms jumped out on all the trees around the apartment. The pink cherry blossoms and the large white Monghyun blossoms. The weather turned warm with temperatures running in the 70s. It was perfect T-shirt weather.    However, within a week the blossoms were starting to fall off the trees. The reason the flowers lasted for only a short while was that the weather turned cold again for a short period and the weather forecasts were even predicting snow again -- though none ever came. Oh well, for just a short while it certainly looked beautiful. SPRING CAMPING CHECK (Apr 2009) In April I decided to check out the gear for camping in preparation for the warmer months ahead. Went up to my favorite spot up in Jinwi and set up the tent and sleeping bag. Took along the telescope to view the stars as well. During the day it was pretty nice, but at night it got a little chilly, though not bad. I had to get the cotton jacket from the car to keep warm. Built a little fire using the briquettes for the initial fire and then throwing wood from a construction project onto the flames. Nice fire, but it sure made my clothes smell like smoke. Set up the little tent and turned on my camp radio. Set up the little gas camp stove for coffee. Dogs got their dogfood and water bowls and it was all set up.  Then tried to set up the telescope for viewing the stars. It was ok, but soon I noticed that it was getting "foggy" and overcast about ten o'clock. After that the skies were completely overcast so that shot that activity. Took along my portable hand-held TV but reception was really poor. Brought along a book, but the light from my flashlight/camp lantern was too poor. Even brought along my portable DVD player, but the charger I bought was the wrong voltage and the batteries died. Thus my evening's entertainment was shot. Only thing left was simply go to sleep. Settled down and this was the first time I had BOTH dogs with me. Shelly has camped with me before. This time it was a BIG problem. Shelly, the cocker spaniel, is jealous of Poopie, the shitzu. When I tried to sleep -- with a large cushion as a pillow -- Poopie climbed into the sleeping bag with me to keep warm -- and then Shelly started to bother him. Also Shelly didn't want to stay in the tent as she wanted to be outside where she could prowl around so I had to leave the flap open. Thus all night, Shelly would intermittently come into the tent and bother Poopie who went to the bottom of the sleeping bag -- and of course, Shelly woke me up. Not a good night's rest on this trip. Yes, I tried to both dogs into the car, but Shelly wanted out and started scratching the tinted plastic on the windows. Thus I just put up with her.    Favorite Relaxing Spot with white egrets in distance (Sep 2008) (Kalani O'Sullivan) However, I did find that I have all the materials for camping could be stored easily in the car. Didn't use the foam mattress in the back. Need to get another flashlight as my small pocket one died and all I had was the camp lantern. Also need to load the small LPG camp lantern into the kit so I can read a book. During summer, I'll bring out my other camp gear. Next trip will bring along the fishing gear -- even though I don't really like to fish and just like to sit next to the edge of a lake. However, now the rainy season is starting so the next camping trip will wait for a while.       Camping (13 Jun 2009) Nothing else to do, so went up to Jinwi and camped overnight at the little stream at Jinwi. Went up in the late afternoon and set up the little tent. We had gone out the week before looking for good camping sites down near Asan, but this area just doesn't seem to have much to offer. Thus we went back to our favorite spot. It's good there because it is away from people early in the summer and the dogs can run free without nosing around other people's tents. It's peaceful and just a nice spot to relax. (NOTE: We have a full-size "Buffalo" tent for sleeping four with cooking shade area on tent, but just too lazy to haul that bulky tent around.) Took along an old casting rod with a little weighted red fish at the end and played around casting at the rocks in the stream. There is fish in the stream that the egrets catch but they are fingerlings and too small to catch. Anyway, I'm casting out there and enjoying myself, while the wife thinks I'm crazy. She couldn't understand that it's fun practicing to place your lure exactly where you think fish might be hiding. Takes me back to the good old days with my first spinning rod -- a Garcia brown -- fishing for trout in New Mexico. I do have my other fishing gear in the car now -- though I'd have to get some bait next time. Have two Korean-style rods and another spin casting rod. But as I said before, I'm really not a fisherman. It's only an excuse to be next to the water and out in nature.   Across the stream the farmers were clearing the fields getting ready for planting. They had erected a large shade-net shelter for planting vegetables and the field was ready for rice planting. They were burning the winter grass and weeds to make way for planting. Very peaceful out there. Set up the camp chairs and read a book while the egrets and plovers waded in the water searching for fish to eat. When it got dark lit up the fire and started burning wood that they used on the irrigation gate. However, at dusk some folks came up from Asan and the kids were having a great time making a big bonfire out of the wood leftover from the Irrigation gate project. It was pretty obvious that the wood was going to run out soon as they kids made a really big bonfire with the wood on hand. They were having a great time -- and I don't fault them at all. It was good to see them enjoying themselves. Long story short, they burned up all the wood so there is none left except for the pallets. That's when they packed up and went home at about 10 o'clock. Made sure we had enough wood to last the night. The wife liked playing with the fire over the small campfire pit next to the tent -- mainly because there was nothing else to do and though she won't admit it, she likes playing with fire like a little kid. Next time, I'll have to take along a crowbar and hammer to break down the pallets for wood.   After the other folks left around ten o'clock, I broke out my Walkman CD player and stuck in "Ricky Nelson Greatest Hits" -- yep, I'm that old -- and was having a great time walking around singing along to the music in the dark. It was fun singing off-key with no one around -- well, the wife thought I was nuts. When we got back, she blabbed to everyone that I was singing off-key in the dark. No problem...I was having fun. Anyway, who cares? Intermittently during the night people would drive up to the stream, get out and wade into the stream with flashlights. Wasn't sure what they were trying to catch. Wasn't frogs because I've never heard any up there and I've never seen crayfish in the stream. Can't figure out what they were looking for. Got sleepy around eleven and crashed -- with Poopie sleeping in my bag. But this time, the wife was along. She's a nightowl. She stayed up burning the last of the wood and when it was done, finally went to sleep. When I'm camping, I get up early the next morning and head home. As advertised, I was up at 5:30 a.m. and ready to head home, but the wife was still sawing z's. Made some coffee and ate leftovers for breakfast. Practiced my casting and waited for her to get up. She finally rolled out of the sleeping bag at about 9:30 and I was able to get everything back in the car and headed home. VERY UNEXCITING, but what do expect for OLD people!!!   In July 2009, they closed off the site by blocking the road going down to the stream with dirt. Thus my favorite spot to go on the weekends disappeared. However, the model airplane enthusiasts still use the area and just park their cars all along the road above, making it a very tight squeeze to get past because it is a one lane concrete road to access. You have to pull over on the shoulder to let another car pass -- and in places the shoulder is only two feet wide. Searched the area again for good areas to camp at, but alas there is none in the local area where I can let my dogs run free. Started going back down to Osan City as their river park has been finished and it is quite nice. In September the road to my favorite site was still blocked off, but I noticed cars were down near the banks and I saw how they got there. There is a new way down. You go up to the next bridge and cross over the stream and come down the other side. Then you ford the shallow stream by car. They built a new pedestrian walkway across the stream at the place where I camped and it looks like they are going to develop it even more later on.   Bicycling for exercise in Summer (Jul-Sep 2009) In the warmer months started bicycling for exercise at night after classes. Poopie goes into the basket and is a good boy and doesn't jump out. Sometimes I take Shelly with a retractable leash. It's ok, but Shelly has a tendency to poop at the most inconvenient times. In other words, she just stops and -- bam -- you get your handle bars yanked in the opposite direction. Also by the time we get back, Shelly has her tongue hanging out and is all dehydrated. Thus I don't normally take her on the bike rides. The bike is one that I've had for about two years. It is an "apartment" bike in that it folds in half for easy storage. It is like a kid's bike, but it suits me just fine. Of course, it has flashing blinkers for night riding -- and no, I don't wear a riding helmet like the more fashionable mountain bike crowd do. On the weekends, I sometimes ride it down to Shinjang Mall and back to get a little exercise if I'm going to buy some DVDs. I remember when I first rode it to Shinjang Mall two years ago, it seemed like such a long way because I was so out of shape -- but now it's only a short ride. Normally I just go riding up the street leading towards the Songtan Interchange until I get tired. Then I turn around and coast back downhill for the return trip. Sometimes I go behind the Switzen Apartments and cycle up the road towards where the Buraksan Mountain trail meets the road. Then on the return trip, I cut behind the Switzen Apartments and across the Songbuk Elementary School down the block to McDonald's and return back to the Dongbu Apartments.  Apartment bike that folds in half for easy storage. The wife, however, walks with the neighbor lady (4th floor) -- and she's trying to walk around the Songbuk Elementary school yard ten times when she goes. But like me, she's not a great exercise nut. Tried riding around the school grounds on the bike 20 times, but it's really boring. Prefer the scenic route for exercising with the bike. In September, my nephew Suwan who is looking for a job came down to live with us -- and learn English from me. He thought this was Boram's bike because of the small wheels and started riding it around for exercise. Actually, I gave Boram's bike away months ago to a student because it was simply taking up space in the house and never used. As for myself, I stopped using the bike after I got a treadmill in the backroom. In the colder months, you really have to be an addict to go outside to walk. I have a CD player and listen to music while walk -- no running -- on the treadmill. WEEKENDS IN THE LOCAL AREA Trip to Nogori The weather started getting nice in May and started to go out into the local area on the weekends. The Nogori area is just above the Idong Reservoir in Yong-in, but is actually in Anseong-shi. Decided to check it out after my neighbor mentioned it. The area was easy to get to -- coming up the back roads past Jinwi -- drive around Idong -- turn left and then turn right heading North. The signs on the freeway are well marked. Turn off and then go around the traffic circle (that is the confusing area). The other roads lead to the Country Club golf course and the other to the farm areas. Anyway, go up the road past the reservoir and you'll come to the Shrine of Mirinae -- the Catholic martyrs. The Pyeongtaek area prides itself on being one of the first areas to promote Catholicism -- and its martyrs. There is an old folks home at the top of the hill and past it a large parking lot. If you're not a Catholic, it probably would not be of interest. However, the area is very rustic and looks to be an upscale area with horses.       Went back down to the reservoir to find a spot to eat our picnic lunch. Unfortunately, the horses got to the open areas first -- horse dung everywhere. We could have gone down to the banks of the reservoir, but the horse dung episode turned off my appetite. Regardless, it is a nice spot to pay a visit, but the Idong reservoir or other picnic spots I've talked about here are a lot better. This is strictly for the religious.     Drove to the Idong Reservoir on 3 May to check it out and the picnicking crowds are already there. The water is way up because the rains have filled it -- and the waters have not been released yet for the farms down stream. Saw a dead fish -- a real big one -- along the shores so the winter has been good in fattening them up. The people fishing were out in droves, but from what I could see, no one was catching anything. We had our lunch on the banks, but the smells of garbage (miso smell) left by previous picnickers were just too much after a while. Besides, with the people around my dogs couldn't be let loose. I prefer to go to my little spot at Jinwi Stream where my dogs can run free.   Weekend Trips to Jinwi We've started going up to the Jinwi Stream spot on the weekends -- when it doesn't rain -- now that weather is getting much nicer. Still a little chilly, but it gets us out of the house. The wife was picking wildflowers that she now has in a pot on the veranda. There are a lot of people at the beginning of May out picking up "Sutt" -- a variety of dandelion that is used in making green mochi and kimchi.     Found a new flower place to buy our plants -- Hwang's Nursery. It is along the route to my favorite Jinwi Stream spot just below the Idong Reservoir. It's just past the underpass of the highway. When we go up to the Jinwi Stream we stop by here. I usually buy the plants off the street corner, but this is a wholesaler and the plants are cheaper here. Also the variety is much larger and more choices in the types of plants. Picked up some cacti varieties and other small plants for the hagwon and the wife got some veranda plants, including an small apple tree and some vines in a basket. The cost was much cheaper than from the street corner vendors and flower shops (retailers).          Trip to Sapgyoho -- Jinwi On 23 May, nephew Sujin, his girlfriend, wife and I went to Sapgyoho Resort just to kill time. Was going to the Hwaseong flower festival, but changed our mind. Sapgyoho is a tourist trap for Koreans with a military museum with various tanks and armored vehicles. There is a naval ship that is up on concrete blocks -- but the tide is in so it looks like its afloat. Really nice view of the harbor and the bridge spanning Pyeongtaek harbor. There are bunches of restaurants there specializing in seafood. There is a little seafood market along the street where Sujin bought some shellfish assortment to cook later.     Went back to our favorite spot at Jinwi to cook the shellfish that Sujin bought on 23 May. Thus my favorite spot to go on the weekends disappeared.)     Trip to Asan area At Asan River Park, Asan City, Chuncheong-do on 6 Jun. Korean Memorial Day holiday -- and like the states, people went fishing. We went down to the Asan area to look for nice spots for summer camping. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything even close to promising. Most of the lakes in this area are "fishing ponds" -- meaning the sides are all shoreline fishing or they have boat houses on the shoreline. Drove under the bridge near the Asan River park and folks were all along the shore line -- and even under the bridge's spillway. In the shot of the park looking towards the bridge, there are people along the shoreline fishing. Didn't break out my fishing stuff even though it was in the car because I didn't have bait. The Asan River Park has bicycling/skating areas; a soccer field and a baseball field. People were out teaching their kids how to ride and nice family area for a small town. We stopped here to cook some food because we didn't find any promising picnic spots. Had to park up on the sidewalk as it was only a one lane vehicle area. Just cooked a few hot dogs -- and then ate boiled peanuts while reading a book along the shoreline. Yoon cooked her rice and Korean stuff, ate, and then grabbed the blanket and cushion from the car and crashed on the sidewalk for a snooze. Revisit Local Area Tourist sites On 28 Jun had nothing to do so just decided to go out to some of the local sites to see if things had changed any since I was last there. The dogs wanted to stick their heads out the window so just drove around with the windows open. Drove around the back roads and noticed that some changes along the way that they had improved the road by putting up short yellow posts along the open drainage ditches in one section. Won't stop you from plunging in but at least you were warned. Hadn't been over to Gen Won Kyun's tomb for quite a while. Gen. Won was a contemporary of Admiral Yi Su-Shin. This is what I wrote two years ago: Some say that his reputation was denigrated in order to elevate Yi Su-shin's. But the history lesson is another topic. To get there, simply head straight from Osan AB towards Route 1. Cross Route 1 and past Songbuk Elementary School and keep on going. The road twists and turns, but after driving in the country for about five minutes you'll come to a 4-way stop light. Turn right (to Dongmakji) and keep going straight until you pass the National Handicap College with its stoplight. Continue on until the next four-way stop. Turn left. After a minute, you'll see the Kum Gang Roo Restaurant on your right. At the stoplight turn left and go up a small road that veers right. You'll see the tomb in the distance. You can park at the Won Kyun Library parking lot and walk in -- or drive up to the base of the tomb.Nothing much had changed there. People were fishing along the banks of the pond -- and not catching anything from what I saw. The area remained nicely trimmed and a family was picnicking under the trees. What had changed since we were there was that they built a golf driving range right above the Won Kyun Library. It really was an eyesore as a backdrop to the Library. I didn't take my camera along so I've just reposted the old photos here. Nothing had changed from these photos.   (L) Gen Won Kyun's Library (R) Won Kyun's tomb at top of hill overlooking the pond (Naeri-jeosuji) (Jul 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan)   (L) Path Leading up to Tomb (Jul 2007) (R) Statues around Tomb (Sep 2005) (Kalani O'Sullivan)  Kum Gang Roo Restaurant (Jul 2007) (Kalani O'Sullivan) Then I drove over to Moobong Mountain. In driving out to Jinwi streama few months ago, I had noticed that they had put up a new concrete sign pointing to Moobong Mountain Camp. There is a youth camp up there along with a Buddhist Temple, Mangi-sa. The youth camp was not changed -- atleast on the exterior from what I saw. However, the Mangi-sa Temple had changed quite a bit. Before there was a large dirt parking lot and then it sloped down towards the entrance. In the large parking lot below the temple is the bell tower. Since I was last there, they had landscaped it into terraces with concrete pads and stones tiers for the two levels before the parking lot. The disadvantage was that there used to be trees where the terraces now are that made a good picnic area. Now it was all open. At the entrance, I noticed they added a spigot for spring water that used to be up at the parking lot. They had groomed the area near the entrance so that one could picnic under the trees there -- though it was relatively small compared to before. It was a bit muggy as the trees blocked the breeze, though the shade was nice. The Temple itself remains very pretty and the Buddha images inside are very beautiful. The construction of the facilities are now complete. The hills surrounding the temple are filled with hiking trails amidst tall trees -- though the underbrush can be thick in summer. Wear long pants for hiking if you scratch easily. Many Koreans go there to hike in the hills on the weekends. Again I didn't take my camera, so I've reposted the old pictures here.   Mangi-sa Temple   (L) Mangisa Cholji Iron Buddha (Treasure #567) (R) Gilded statue outside the Temple Hall Trip to Kunsan On 11 Jul 2009, I had my heart set on camping at the beach over at Changhang across from Kunsan. The daughter went along for the ride -- and even was willing to put up with the camping (which she is not too keen on). Many pleasant summers spent out there in Changhang camping -- the last time I camped there was two years ago. Thus loaded up the car with the camping gear; threw in the two dogs; and got the daughter to finally move out of the house. I even loaded up my fishing gear as I was planning to fish off the point at Changhang. Headed off -- despite the warnings that there was going to be rain from the wife. In the past, whenever they forecast rain in Kyeonggi-do where I live, it is sunny down at Kunsan -- and vice versa. There is a mountain range inbetween the two. So hard-headed me went down there anyway -- knowing that there would be a traffic jam leaving the Kyeonggi area. (NOTE: It wasn't on the news when I left, but as I was driving down to Kunsan, the heavens opened up over the Kyonggi area. Campers were left stranded in the mountains and had to be rescued by the fire department to get across swollen streams -- and one child was swept away. The Han River in Seoul started to overflow the banks. There were numerous mud slides along the roads in the mountains. However, in my defense, there were only drizzling showers in the Cholla province where Kunsan is.)   Left around noon and fought through the slow traffic around the Pyeongtaek Seohae Bridge but once past there it was smooth going. It was open roads heading to Kunsan with only a moderate amount of traffice. The intent was to check out the Retona on a long trip also -- and now I'm fairly certain that the tachometer is NOT the type that belongs in this Retona. The car was running very smoothiy, but the tachometer was showing that it was getting close to redline conditions at 110 kmph. When I get some money, I'll take it into the garage to see what can be done to replace it. Well, as we got into Kunsan, it started to rain. SIGH...thus shot the idea of camping. It started as slight drizzle at Seochon, but was raining hard by the time we got to the E.Kunsan exit. The signs are still just as confusing as the last time I was down there. After about twenty minutes, the heavy rain passed and it was simply a drizzling shower for the rest of the day. Kunsan hasn't changed much and the daughter called it a country town -- but to me it was a big city compared to Songtan and Pyeongtaek. Yes, I really like Kunsan and the environs after spending 15 years there. Truthfully, I really love Kunsan and its people. Anyway, the second reason for going to Kunsan was to check out the old location of our past hagwon (academy) as we are thinking of relocating to another area in Korea -- not necessarily Kunsan. Unfortunately, the building where we had our old academy is now under renovation -- the owner wanting to make the entire building into offices. The old store on the corner relocated across the street and the Taekwondo Academy relocated also. Met a few of the old shop owners who remembered me -- and how time flies. Their kids are now in high school. Took a look around the old neighborhood and there were only small offices available -- not big enough for a academy. I would end up doing the same type of operation and I do in Songtan. Didn't spend much time on this looking at buildings as it was only a thinking item. Drove through Naun-dong and the offices all seemed to be very small. Cruised around the old area where we used to live and drove around Eunpa Lake. Noticed they are building the hotel that had so many people up in arms when we were living there. Typical of Korea -- delay construction until the furor dies down -- then slip it in. Say, that sounds like the US Congress... Anyway, the improvements to Eunpa are very nice. Twenty years ago I remember when most of the Eunpa area was dirt roads. Was much younger then and liked to hike over the trails in the area on weekends. The walking path around the lake has been improved -- and the bridge spanning the lake completed. It looks really nice. I remember walking that hiking path around the lake when they were still building it up over five years ago.   Eunpa Lake Park: The apartment buildings in the background are where we used to own an apartment years ago.         Had lunch at a little cold Udon (actually Naengmyeon Japanese style) in a small restaurant in Naun-dong. The noodles were black vermilli served on Japanese platters. You put them in the bowl and poured on the cold Naengmyeon broth and added garnishes to your taste. The garnishes were chopped up green oniions, ground turnip and finely-cut seaweed. Nothing special, but at 10,000 won for the two of us, it wasn't expensive. It was slackening up on the rain and I thought -- actually was wishing -- that rain would let up. By the time we finished lunch, the rain had started up again so decided to head back home. It was raining all the way back to the Pyeongtaek area, but smooth going until the Pyeongtaek bridge where it slowed down to stop-and-go traffic. Once past the bottleneck, it was again smooth driving. It took about two-and-a-half hours to get home and the first thing the wife said was --- you guessed it -- "I told you so." Started Going to Osan City River Park After they blocked off my favorite spot up in Jinwi, I searched the area for another place to go on weekends just to get out of the house. My problem is that I need an area that the dogs can roam free without interfering with people. A lot of Koreans are afraid of dogs -- no matter how friendly they seem. When we first moved into the area, I discovered the river park BEFORE it was developed. My favorite spot back then was along the concrete causeway where the stream actually ran over the causeway. Nowadays the causeway has been built up into a concrete bridge where the water flows under it. The causeway connected the small roads (barely fits two cars) that run along the embankments on both sides. At the top of the embankment on the east side is a Golf Driving Range. In the old days, the spot was a favorite of fishermen. This is where I take the dogs as there are no people around in this area. Not the perfect spot but nice and tranquil enough to park a chair and read a book.     Along one side is a bicycle path that is part of a large loop that runs north under the overpass crossing the stream. Underneath the overpass, Koreans like to congregate. Years ago this was a makeshift dirt road that led to the underpass. Construction workers liked to congregrate there after work to drink and cook foods. The road continued on until it rejoined the main road running along the top of the embankment. Now that road is gone.   Past the overpass, the bicycle path comes to a small park where they have small concrete cranes set up in a pond. Along the embankment wild crocus were blooming. There are bridges over the pond as a sort of tranquil spot to relax. Around the edges of the pond next to the bicycle path are benches to rest.        One unique thing about this park is that the lights along the bicycle path have solar power packs on them to conserve energy. Another thing I noticed that I'd never seen before was that the trees were being nourished by IV bags hung on the tree limbs. I'd never seen this before.   The bicycle path continues up for about a mile then crosses the stream via a causeway and loops back down to the other causeway. Again where it passes under the overpass is a popular spot for picnickers trying to escape the summer heat. The stream at this point is shallow enough to wade across and kids are seen playing in the water. A major change that I really like is that the road widens after the overpass into a four-lane road so there is plenty of parking from where the pond with the concrete storks all the way is down to the causeway. Once one parks along the street, one can walk down to the bicycle path on paths down the embankment spaced about a hundred yards apart. The only drawback I saw with the bicycle path was the scarcity of porta-potties. In contrast at Jinwi, the stream is rather primative in its development, but there were plenty of porta-potties along the embankment. The road continues on to join with the other Osan City park near the Osan City College. Years ago (before I found Jinwi), I used to go there on the weekends to read a book on a bench and relax. That park has a very nice concrete walking path along both sides of the stream -- but it is primarily for pedestrian strolls. During the summers, it is usually packed on the weekends with picnickers. Birthday Visit by an Old Student (21 Aug 2009) -- On 21 Aug 2009, some old students -- actually THREE -- the mother and two sons. The mother Monica I had taught for many years in an Adult class in my old hagwon in Kunsan -- Kalani Yongau Hagwon. Mike and Willy I had taught when he was in elementary school many years ago -- also at my hagwon. As for the mother, Monica, she is actually a designer and has a business in Chonju where the family moved to after we left Kunsan. I believe her husband is an engineer but I've forgotten.  It was very nice to see them all -- even though it made me feel decrepit and aged. Mike is now a high school senior in Minnesota -- a place he calls "the REAL sticks." He will be finishing up his high school education there and hasn't really decided where to go next. I questioned him about having a license and he said he couldn't get one -- because he is a homestay student. However, it is not a problem as his "hick town" you can walk to your friends house because everything is so close. I remember making Mike cry so many times -- he would cry at the drop of a dime -- because I was yelling at him to correct his pronunciation. He finally got that straightened away and he continued to progress upwards. But the physical change is what shocked me the most. He is now a young man. Dang, he has grown so tall. His face has grown longer and changed so much that if I had passed him on the street, I would not have recognized him. As for Willy, he was the better of the two in English pronunciation and I had no trouble at all with him. Willy is very good in English and is in middle school now. He hopes to follow in his brother's footsteps to go to America. However, I am kind of sad that Willy has not progressed more in his English ability, though he attends hagwons in Chonju. With my methods, he should already be fluent in English and writing at American middle school levels. Thus I feel badly that Korean hagwons concentrate only on making money -- and stretch lessons out for years -- and don't really do a great job with kids. However, listening to Willy speak, I can see that my yelling and screaming to correct their pronunciation faults when they were young paid off. As for Monica, well, I saw her last year when she came up to help her nephew open up a shop at Shinjang Mall. She hasn't changed any -- still the always smiling face. Truthfully, I really miss her adult classes because those women were able to discuss complex topics on a multitude of areas -- teaching me things just as I imparted facts (remember that I am an amateur historian). The children of these women also were my students and many of them went on to get educated in the states.  They drove all the way up from Kunsan and brought a cake for me, but I had to cut the visit short as they arrived just as my first class was starting. I wanted to spend more time with them, but I have to pay the rent so said goodbye to them for now. Full Moon (Sep 2009) The last time I took out the telescope was when I tried to look at the stars up in Jinwi and it clouded over so that was a waste. We were coming home from a restaurant in September and Boram wanted to take pictures of the moon because it simply looked so big that night. Hauled out the telescope and focused on the moon. It was so bright, the craters that usually are more defined looked like they were spotlighted. Anyway, Boram was happy. As for me, once I got it sighted in, I went inside to make some hot coffee. It was too cold.    October Cold Snap and Swine Flu Scare (Oct 2009) Cold spell and flu bring underclothes back in vogue in Korea. Amid the energy saving movement, together with the prevalence of the H1N1 flu virus, people are arming themselves with underclothes to keep warm. The sales of thermal underwear soared with the falling temperatures. Even President Lee Myeong-bak said he was wearing them in his meetings as the temperatures in the offices are being lowered to conserve energy. This is rather unseasonal as it is cool in October -- and cold at nights. However, this was a sudden cold snap. It has fallen below freezing at night from around the 10th of October and was expected to last until the 19th of October. Got a new tank of gas for the LPG heater and got all the windows taped shut -- but its still breezy because the door leaks and can't be sealed properly. It tried to snow a few times during the week, but nothing came down except a few flakes. Though some of the resorts in Gangwon-do have snow on the slopes already, in Songtan, it doesn't get real cold until December. Started hauling out the winter clothes and found that my lightweight slacks weren't going to cut it. Went out and bought some heavy winter suits (hoodie hip-hop type) for $70. It's a mix and match combo with my SouthPole hoodies and really warm. I know it looks wierd for an old man to wear hip-hop type training suits but I don't care. It's nice and warm when worn with a down vest. Also bought a Clairborne down jacket at the BX -- too hot for this weather as this is a REAL cold weather jacket. It was on sale at 25% discount so I got it for $75. Wore it once and I ended up sweating inside the thing with the temperatures in the low 40s. It'll be great when the Korean Winter sets in. My leather jacket and wool overcoat are more for fall weather. READING LIST Haven't really had time to read this year because I became obsessed with Obama. All my free time is now taken up with tracking all the moves of Obama to send America down the path of destruction -- and tracking the only hope for America being the grassroots movement -- a spontaneous uprising -- that I believe will overwhelm Obama and his "handlers."
FOR KOREAN, HAWAIIAN AND HAOLE (AMERICAN) FOOD RECIPES GO TO RECIPES TABLE OF CONTENTS. Traditional 'boyang' cuisine, for a healthy summer (Jun 2009) The following is from the Korea Herald: The signs are all there: sweat, the buzz of cicadas, and the inexorable sun. Yes, it's that time of year again. Summer has arrived. The hot and tired can stave off the blistering heat with ice cream, frosted mugs of beer and long dips in the pool or they can turn to the timeless dishes that epitomize Korean summers. They can turn to "boyang" cuisine. In Korean, "boyang" means to replenish and nourish one's depleted yin and yang, chi and meridians. Hence, boyang food energizes. It reinforces one's stamina and helps maintain one's health. For decades, Koreans have dined on boyang dishes during the traditional three hottest days of summer, collectively called "sambok" and referred to separately as "chobok," "jungbok," and "malbok." According to Institute of Traditional Korean Food president Yoon Sook-ja, sambok fall between June and July on the lunar calendar and come at 10-day intervals. This year, Yoon says, chobok, jungbok and malbok fall on July 14, July 24 and August 13, respectively. "From the perspective of Eastern medicine, the surface of the body grows hot and the internal organs grow cold when the weather heats up in the summer," Yoon, who co-authored the book "Amusing Story For Korean Traditional Festival Foods" (Jilsiru, 15,000 won), elaborated in an e-mail interview with The Korea Herald. "By making 'boshin (the act of replenishing nutrients with food)' cuisine hot and spicy, one sweats profusely, boosting stamina dampened by the heat and recovering damaged yang." "Hence, on 'bok' days, which are exceptionally hot, one eats 'boyang' food, to invigorate one's body without fail." Yoon cited "samgyetang" (ginseng chicken soup), "yukgaejang" (spicy beef soup), and "kongguksu" (noodles in cold soybean milk soup) as some of the dishes that were eaten on sambok in the past. Judging from the long lines that stretch out of establishments serving up these "boyang" dishes during the summer, it seems that the tradition is still alive and well. Here is a look at the medicinal benefits of samgyetang, yukgaejang and kongguksu and where to go to get a taste of these healthy dishes.  Samgyetang Soup and Yukgaejang stew Samgyetang "Around 900 to 1,000 chickens are sold on a 'bok' day," says Hanbang Jungtong Samgyetang president Kim Won-soo. The chickens Kim is referring to aren't just regular birds. They are 35- to 41-day old spring chickens from South Jeolla Province, stuffed with sticky rice and a hefty chunk of three- to five-year old Geumsan ginseng. Served up in a bubbling hot broth, customers can choose a pure, unadulterated stew laced with garlic and garnished with a jujube or two, one chock full of over 30 medicinal ingredients that have been brewed for almost 10 hours, one filled with fresh ginseng, slices of deer antler and licorice root, or one with all of the above. Paired with a shot of homemade ginseng liquor and a tasty side dish of their signature garlic stems seasoned with chili paste, chili powder and a little bit of something resembling glutinous rice jelly, one bowl of Kim's samgyetang is a veritable summer tonic. Kim, who has been running the 10-plus year old establishment for four years, maintains a humble stance towards his place. But the tender chew of chicken, the clean and fragrant broth and the eye-watering bite of his spicy garlic stems attest to the long-standing popularity of this joint. A hearty and ambrosial meal isn't all that one gets when one drops by Hanbang Jungtong Samgyetang. According to Yoon, the chicken and ginseng in a bowl of "samgyetang" possess warm properties, preventing the chi or energy within the abdomen from getting cold. Yoon lists some of the benefits of samgyetang as a strengthening of the immune system and recovered physical strength. "It is also good 'boyang' food for those with weak digestive systems and those who sweat and get worn out during the summer," Yoon added. In regards to the origins of samgyetang, Yoon pointed to a historical text from 1795 that documents a dish where chicken was boiled in water called "jingye-baeksook." Yukgaejang According to Yoon, yukgaejang - a spicy soup loaded with shredded beef and vegetables - served as a boyang dish for those who preferred beef over dog meat soup; hence the prefix "yuk," which means beef, to the dish name "gaejang," which means "dog meat soup." "Yukgaejang is a leading dish of 'bokjung (midsummer)' that one eats, while sweating, in the hot summer season," Yoon explained. "Yukgaejang is originally a native dish of Seoul," Yoon continued. "But Daegu, which is hotter than other regions, fights fire with fire in the summer by feasting on this dish. In Daegu, the local version of yukgaejang is called 'Daegu tang.' Heaps of green onions, Korean leeks, garlic and stimulating vegetables are put into the dish and boiled. The perfect balance of sweet and spicy flavors is its distinguishing characteristic." The key then, to a good bowl of yukgaejang lies in the harmonious combination of beef, vegetables and spices. Hanok, which specializes in "hanwoo" (Korean native cattle) beef, serves up a hearty and savory version of the stew. Brimming with luscious shreds of hanwoo beef and organic vegetables, "gosari" (fernbrake), daikon radish and translucent noodles, Hanok's yukgaejang merges sweat-inducing heat and spices with the sweet juiciness of beef and the varied textures of vegetables. Continuous refills of their delectable "banchan" (side dishes) and a cup of refreshing "sikhye" (rice punch) rounds out a perfect summer meal.  Kongguksu Soup Kongguksu Vegans can also reap the benefits of "boyang" food during the hot summer by slurping away at a bowl of noodles in chilled soybean milk. Kongnamu Soop, a restaurant located in Seocho-dong that specializes in tofu dishes, whips up an even healthier version of the classic dish, substituting the usual white soybeans with "suritae" - a black soybean with a black skin and blue innards that is harvested around October after the first frost. Buckwheat noodles replace wheat, and diners can season the milky soup to suit their preferences with a small dish of salt that comes on the side. "We buy the beans, soak them, boil them and grind them," said Kongnamu Soop president Jang Ji-ran, who adds peanuts and black sesame seeds to the broth, giving it that extra nutty richness. The dish is garnished with julienned cucumber and a half a boiled egg, but vegans can take their noodle soup without the egg. According to Yoon, while the exact origins of kongguksu remain unknown, a cookbook from the late 1800s describes a dish of wheat noodles in a soup made of soybeans that were soaked, boiled, strained through a fine sieve and seasoned with salt. Wheat reduces excessive heat in the body while beans are rich in vegetable proteins, states Yoon, making kongguksu a "nutritionally excellent dish." (Source: Korea Herald.) Excerpted from Food and Drink in Korea menu and other Korean food sources.
Naengmyon (Chilled Buckwheat Noodles)
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