Sunday, January 1, 2006

Run amok?

Nomad posted a couple stories about a group of USFK personnel in Uijongbu who robbed a taxi driver and then locked him in the trunk of his car. Last week they admitted what they had done, and we're waiting to see how the case will be handled.

A commenter named justpassingthru through claims that this same group of people has beaten down a bar owner and his wife, but they were still running around. Nomad himself is incredulous about the claim:
So you're saying that's correct? The same guys previously beat up a bar owner and his wife? I'm having a hard time believing they did that and were still walking around free.
If it is true (and I will retract some of this if it turns out it isn't), then I have something to say about this. [Before I begin, I want to make clear that I'm saying this from a personally held point-of-view that USFK is mostly well-behaved and that the chinbo "progressives" who want to push USFK off the peninsula to remove what they believe is the primary obstacle to peaceful unification seek to blow any incident out of proportion.]

It is this kind of thing that, when reported, feeds the common Korean public perception (well, mostly misperception as far as I'm aware) that too many USFK personnel have for too long run amok without fear of real punishment by a military organization that lets things slide when Korean nationals are victims of such crime by USFK personnel.*

This, plus the taxi jumpers and the alleged stabber in Shinchon who managed to make a spectacle on camera (GI Korea suggests the half-naked guy [seen above in what GI Korea describes as a staged photo] with the yakuza-esque tattoos who was willingly breaking regulations against being in an off-limits area "was probably a good kid just out having a good time with his friends"), are a composite image that, sadly, can eclipse the many good deeds of thousands of law-abiding, hard-working USFK personnel.


*A proper refutation of this perception would address how USFK personnel crime is taken seriously by USFK, not point out, correctly or not, that the Korean judicial system does not take seriously crimes committed by Korean nationals against USFK personnel.

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3 comments:

  1. Tower of BabelSunday, January 01, 2006 12:30:00 PM

    Another teasing photo with the bits blanked out, Kushibo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. KushiboSunday, January 01, 2006 12:33:00 PM

    By gosh, you're right! I thought he was born pixelated (which would explain his anger at the world) and it would just be a social faux-pas to bring that up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. misuchanThursday, March 30, 2006 10:43:00 AM

    This is a shame, really. They send low-class Americans over here, and don't really tell them that "Hey, you're going to a foreign country so don't make us look bad." Insead the commands try to brush it off, and the soldiers get a slap on the wrist. The soldiers here get more of the "we could pwn them in seconds so have your way with them" kind of attitude. The commands are *starting to brief soldiers on importance of KATUSA-US Soldier friendships, but in my two years service here, I haven't once been told to behave as a representative of the States when I'm offpost.

    ReplyDelete

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