by Cat on September 19, 2006
If you live on a U.S. military post here and your Internet service has been hinky—this is probably the reason.
Police have arrested the owner of a company who bribed his way to winning the exclusive telecom contract for U.S. bases in Korea. Their investigation was prompted by frequent complaints that the Internet breaks down at the bases. The reason was simple: the suspect was a cell phone lender with only 16 staffers and without any experience in the field, and he won the US$206 million exclusive contract in November 2001 by bribing [two] Korean-American U.S. officers.
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by Cat on September 14, 2006
Despite reports that plans to relocate U.S. forces from Seoul were being put on hold, CNN is reporting that the razing of homes in the disputed villages near Pyongtaek have already begun.
Hundreds of workers started bulldozing part of a village on Wednesday to clear the way for the expansion of a U.S. military base set to become the Americans’ new headquarters.
The government’s move comes amid sometimes violent protests in which local residents and anti-U.S. protesters in the village of Daechuri, inside Pyeongtaek city, have clashed with police and the military over the base.
Although residents of the villages were forcibly evacuated in May, many residents and some activists have occupied about 100 of the houses to peacefully resist the base expanion plans.
Several villages around Pyeongtaek, a city of 360,000 people, would have to be razed for construction of the base. The government has offered residents financial compensation to move out of their homes, but some residents have strongly objected to the plans.
Some 90 houses in Daechuri would be removed by this week, said an official handling the issue at the Defense Ministry. He asked not to be identified, citing policy.
In May, the South Korean government evicted protesters from the village by force, but more than 220 local residents and anti-U.S. activists remain in some 100 houses — about half of the houses in the village, according to an activist group opposed to the expansion plans. The government is not planning to destroy the houses being occupied.
by Cat on September 1, 2006
The move to turn over wartime operational control to the ROK military will apparently mean big changes to USFK plans to move its operations from Seoul’s Yongsan Garrison south to Pyongtaek:
A diplomatic source in Seoul said some 20 experts have been called in to help with the move of the U.S. Forces Korea to the nearly 1.3 million sq.m base at Pyeongtaek, but a directive to put the plan on hold was issued as talk of handing over wartime control intensified.
“The plans for the Pyeongtaek base were worked out on the premise that the CFC would be maintained for a substantial period,” the source said. “But if the Korean military ends up exercising independent wartime control, the CFC will be dissolved and one of the main buildings at the Pyeongtaek base will not be needed, so a reworking of the plans seems in order.” In April, the USFK said the building, with Korean-style roofs, would house the CFC, USFK Command and UN Command.
The Chosun Ilbo is reporting that the plans are on hold until after an October meeting in Washington where details for the transfer will be hammered out.
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by Cat on August 15, 2006
A survey commissioned by the Hankyoreh indicates a majority of South Koreans are in favor of the transfer of wartime operational control of military forces here.
However, the timing of such a handover was still a divisive issue, and a large number of people were concerned with post-command-transfer security issues.
On August 12, 700 people nationwide were asked their opinions on the transfer of wartime operational command. Of those, 52.5 percent answered that the command has to be transferred to Korea, a figure 12.2 percentage points higher than those who believed that the U.S. should keep the command (40.3 percent).
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