South Koreans Protest U.S. Military

[sbp]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... military_3

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - About 700 activists burned an American flag and demanded the U.S. military leave South Korea after two U.S. soldiers were acquitted of negligent homicide charges in a traffic accident that killed two Korean girls.

"Let's drive out American troops!" the protesters chanted, shaking fists in front of the Korean War Museum in central Seoul.

Shoving matches erupted when riot police blocked the demonstrators from marching on the nearby U.S. military base. No injuries or arrests were reported.

In two separate U.S. military trials earlier this week, Sgt. Fernando Nino and Sgt. Mark Walker were acquitted of negligent homicide charges in the deaths of two 13-year-old school girls that their armored vehicle hit and killed on June 13.

Walker is from Acworth, Ga. Nino's hometown has not been released. Both are soldiers in the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division.

The acquittals prompted an outcry from South Korean activists, who called the trials a sham.

The U.S. military appealed to South Koreans to trust the judgment of the military panels and offered an "apology and deepest sympathies" to the victims' families.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement Saturday that it was not completely happy with the verdicts, but warned against using them to stoke anti-American sentiment.

Saturday's protesters, including 150 high school students, demanded that the American soldiers be retried in a South Korean court.

The U.S. military has jurisdiction over its soldiers accused of crimes while on duty. There are 37,000 American soldiers based in South Korea.

Walker and Nino were on a training mission near the border with North Korea when their mine-clearing vehicle struck Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun.

South Korean political parties have called for revision of a U.S.-South Korean military accord to grant South Korea more jurisdiction in cases involving U.S. soldiers.


Dipshit protesters burn an American flag during an anti-U.S. rally near the Yongsan U.S. Army Base in Seoul, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002.


An ungrateful South Korean moron prepares to throw eggs toward the U.S. Army Camp Casey during an anti-U.S. rally in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, Friday, Nov. 22, 2002.

[sbp]

Before and even during the trails, there was protests.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... sia_135125
"The accident, in which the two 13-year-old Korean schoolgirls were crushed by a tank-like minesweeping vehicle as they walked on a road in their village, prompted apologies from several U.S. commanders as well as Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The injured were among about 60 protesters who rushed a phalanx of hundreds of South Korean riot police wielding clubs and shields in the latest of dozens of sometimes violent protests since the girls were killed on June 13.

Mun and others shaved their heads in protest and several activists cut their fingers and wrote anti-U.S. slogans in blood." wackos.

This vehicle was going uphill and around a bend.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/327/n ... rea+.shtml
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/ ... ldier.html
"The girls were walking on the right side of the road when they were hit but Walker's vision on that side was obscured by a crane on the mine-clearing vehicle he was driving. In addition, the 57-ton vehicle was making a right-hand turn up a hill, further impeding his view, Womack argued."

Yeah, the US is sitting there defending these fscktards and they bash. Its time to leave and let them to defend themselves from the North. See how long they'll last.

[fearfox]

wtf ungrateful bastards, we gave our men to defend them. Its total bs it always makes me wonder why we should send troops to defend these kind of countries.

[BillyGoat]

not only are they ungrateful, but there economy would suffer a great deal if we pulled out, my father live there- works for locheed over there, and from what he tells me americans both cicilian and military make up a substantial part of thr population

[Solo2]

You seem to be ignoring the fact that a US base in Korea does serve US interests. This base is not free, our government charges them over a 100 mil to keep it there.

Whats worse is the history of crimes that the Army does against Korean civilians. Here's an article on a particularly vicious incident:

http://www.ahrchk.net/hrsolid/mainfile. ... no01/1937/

So when someone runs over and kills two girls and gets a slap on the wrist, protesting makes sense to me. South Korea wasn't even allowed to try them.

To think Americans make up a large population of Korea is dillusional. There are 48 million people in Korea and 37,000 US troops.

If you honestly care, here's an article that describes the situation between Korea and the Army base well:

http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/1 ... /p8s2.html

[fearfox]

whos side are you on solo? I understand our military has done mistakes but its never there fault, if you read about the two girls ran over, there was communication malfunction. I bet you have never been in combat situation have you. Have you ever been inside a tank its pretty hard to tell whats up close to you, your communications sources is what helps you navigate as tank driver or many other military vechiles.

I say we pull out, give them their wish, let North Korea invaded. Oh yeah they will come back crawling.

[PreDatoR]

I say its time the US just says a big FUCK YOU! to every country they are helping protect bring all of our guys home and let WWIII official start cause you know it will. I get so sick and tired of hearing all these country's bitch about the US. Since we are so horrible we just need to cut the ambilical cord and protect our own. And when they come crawling back and need our help. Just laugh at them and give them the finger. It was an unfortunate accident that happened. They were in a bad spot and with a big ass blade on the front of that they couldn't see those girls.

[BillyGoat]

actually my father isnt in the military, he is one of about 200o civilians lockhead martain has over there,
im not going to go into how much he makes, but him and his friends make (and spend) probably 10 times that of the average korean household. I bet 100 mil doesnt even come close to what it cost to operate that base, and last but not least, im sure there was no neglegence on the GI's fault, ive been in the miliatary, and they throw the book at you if you goto court martial-especially enlisted. You have alot less rights then civilians do, and are under the presumtion of guilty until proven innocent.
The UCMJ is hard to follow.

[sbp]

The US has apologized repeatedly and compensation will be given. Yes, that pales in comparison to two children lives.

Accidents happen. You do know 2 US army soldiers were run over by 68 ton US tank recently during training exercises in the US recently?

"To think Americans make up a large population of Korea is dillusional. There are 48 million people in Korea and 37,000 US troops." And that a look at where those US troops are-the heavily armed DMZ where tensions run high.

Since population was brought up-its amazing how a country with twice the population, much stronger economy and more military spending than its rival, can't handle that rival by itself.

South Korea population: 48.324 million
GDP: $865 billion
Military manpower - fit for military service: 8,990,488 million
Military expenditures: $12.8 billion
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/ks.html


North Korea population: 22,224,195 million
GDP: $21.8 billion
Military manpower - fit for military service: 3,619,535 million
Military expenditures: $5.124 billion
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... os/kn.html

These anti-American protestors love to protest all the time. This is about the mental midgets agenda.
Criticism can be given but the way these morons act its like the US is worse thing ever. Fsck them.

And yes the whining from the Olympics is recalled. Then it was the World Cup showing off.

Many of the numskull protestors are younguns who don't care about the past. Without the US, there would be no South Korea. Say that again: Without the US, there would be no South Korea. They'd all be suffering and starving under a ruthless Stalinist regime as North Koreans are. And US service people put up with a lot of crap there.

Its pathetic they can run down the US then hide behind big daddy protector. The Cold War is over, we don't have to defend these or any other ingrates. But we will continue to since we are too damn nice. I question how useful S. Korea is really. And its doubtful South Korea would take the lame bashing the US has.

North Korea has some lovely things in store for South Korea. Don't forget about China either.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuter ... 2_436.html

"North Korea is building a plant that by the middle of the decade could produce enough uranium for two or more nuclear weapons a year, a CIA analysis said on Friday.

The CIA previously estimated that North Korea had one or two nuclear weapons using plutonium produced before 1992."

Time for South Korea to take care of their own dayum selves. :

[FlyingPenguin]

Hey no problem, let's leave South Korea. Watch how fast they beg us to come back when North Korean army comes rolling over the border again.

[Solo2]

sbp: Its not that accidents happen. Its that they keep happening with little reprecussion. If an accident happens, "sorry" works. If accidents keep happening its obvious that "sorry" just isn't enough. We also dont need another country stockpiling weapons. If you want to talk money, I doubt SK would have any problems financing their own arsenal. SK is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia.

Why do the South Koreans want the base to leave? Its not because they no longer want the protection. They arent just protesting because they are now more able to protect themselves so they're just kicking us out. The only one to benefit from the US base leaving would be North Korea. I wouldnt mind seeing South Korea finally get it over with and take back North Korea. Instead South Korea has peace talks while they send up aid to feed their supposed "enemies."

They have this attitude because they dont need the crime that the army base brings, they dont need the condesending attitude that they're treated with. They dont need to fear being attacked by foreign soldiers in their own cities. These are people who are supposed to be there to protect them. There are sections of Korea where Korean women dont hang out at night specifically because there will be American soldiers there. US soldiers can do anything in South Korea and the South Korean government cant do anything. US Soldiers are subject to SOFA.

The general feeling I'm getting is that SK should just shut up and take it. This was sparked by the killing of two girls. If this was to happen in the US where two girls here were run over. Where the US was not allowed to try them. Then the foreign country let them go with a slap on the wrist I'd be the first to say we should protest, at the very least. What happened in South Korea was exactly that except that this was just another incident in a long history of incidents.

And I do believe that we should not butt into world affairs as much as we do. But every action we take we do because it serves our own interests, either directly or to appease some interest group. Keeping the status quo where we're on top is in our own interests.

What I think should be changed is simply making US soldier's in South Korea subject to South Korean law. That would solve a lot of problems.

[Raymond Kim]

I'm honestly quite shocked at the types of responses in this thread I've seen regarding this issue.

Yeah, the US is sitting there defending these fscktards and they bash. Its time to leave and let them to defend themselves from the North. See how long they'll last.

Its pathetic they can run down the US then hide behind big daddy protector. The Cold War is over, we don't have to defend these or any other ingrates. But we will continue to since we are too damn nice. I question how useful S. Korea is really. And its doubtful South Korea would take the lame bashing the US has.

Time for South Korea to take care of their own dayum selves.

This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for Bush. The South Korean president made great strides during the Clinton administration making agreements with the North; he even won the Nobel Peace Prize for it. And all of that hard work into creating peace was immediately thrown out the window the moment Bush referred to the North Koreans as a part of the "Axis of Evil" following the September 11 attacks. How do you think the South Koreans responded to that?

"To think Americans make up a large population of Korea is dillusional. There are 48 million people in Korea and 37,000 US troops." And that a look at where those US troops are-the heavily armed DMZ where tensions run high.

Since population was brought up-its amazing how a country with twice the population, much stronger economy and more military spending than its rival, can't handle that rival by itself.

I don't think you've taken into consideration the millions of people that starve to death in North Korea; the government spends most of their money on military weapons instead of providing money for public services. Quite the contrast from South Korean.

I cannot even put into words how disappointed I am by sbp's comments. It was quite unfair that you made those comments without really knowing the South Koreans' situation. This thread shows exactly why foreigners dislike us Americans so much; we claim to know so much about foreign affairs yet really know so little.

[sbp]

Thank for your enlightening thoughts Solo2.

-------------------
Well Raymond, the message can be sugarcoated or blunt, but either way it is the same in the long run.

This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for Bush.

Nonsense. The Clinton administration had a policy of appeasement and look at the mess it made. Its nice to have someone with the gonads to call North Korea, Iran and Iraq what they are.

The South Korean president made great strides during the Clinton administration making agreements with the North; he even won the Nobel Peace Prize for it.

Some agreement that Jimmy Carter negotiated in 1994. North Korea, in exchange for giving up their nuclear weapons program, got goodies from the US and South Korea. A few weeks ago, right after Carter won the Nobel Peace prize {a political move-see below}, North Korea admitted it was working on nuclear program. It was a total shock the North Korea had a nuclear weapons program! They said they wouldn't do that in exchange for things. Now, Jimmy Carter is sad. I don't like seeing Jimmy Carter sad. And some say he is gullible. Geez.



Carter does deserves major kudos for building homes for the poor. However, foreign policy matters like Cuba and North Korea are a different matter.

Sad to say the Nobel is a political tool and giving it to Carter was no different.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories
"It should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current administration has taken," Berge told the Associated Press in widely reported remarks. "It's a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the United States."

This is akin to having a midget try to kick you in the shins. :jester

Now Carter is in good company with Arafat. After all Arafat's efforts have resulted in years of peace in the Middle East.
Not having peace in the Middle East is the US fault too.

I don't think you've taken into consideration the millions of people that starve to death in North Korea; the government spends most of their money on military weapons instead of providing money for public services.

Originally posted before in this thread: They'd all be suffering and starving under a ruthless Stalinist regime as North Koreans are.


Look what is in the news today: Bush Apologizes Over South Korea Schoolgirl Deaths

SEOUL (Reuters) - President Bush apologized to the South Korean people on Wednesday over a road accident in which a U.S. Army vehicle crushed two schoolgirls to death, prompting anti-American protests.

At a special news conference on Wednesday following days of protest, including the student firebombing of a U.S. Army base, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard passed on Bush's apology.

The response to the apology:
Hey, at least its not being burned!

Has link to video of firebombing: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... a_usa_dc_3

It appears people are being influenced just because they are of Korean descent. You know folks, my mother is an immigrant from Ireland who came here in 1964. I'd be damned if I allow some Irish person to run down this country time after time and shake the head like damn fool. That goes for blood too. I don't run down their country, please don't run down mine.

Take a look at the pictures then take a look at the video. But damn if you say anything about it-thats being mean.

The US is suppose to take it time after time. The US is supposed to be whipping boy for jealous people whenever they have a connipition fit. Can it not be understood that Americans are tired of being bashed? Is it any wonder Americans think of some as ingrates and whiners? Nope.

[blade]

<b>Very well worded</b> sbp, and I agree with every single word.



We help others, then they later screw us. Not once, not twice, but just about continiously. And we usually still help. What thanks do we EVER get? Perhaps they consider bashing just "friendly playing around". Most of that is pure pathetic jealousy.

As others have said, ones like that we should stop ALL help. They should be on their own. But alas, when they need help who is the first country they all come to for that help? Maybe one day we'll get a prez who has the ballz to say "hit the road jack". <i>blade's version: "go help yourself and then go fvck yourself"</i>


But we continue being nice and taking their crap and they know this. But it's getting old.


If anyone can't see how obvious that this incident was an accident, then yes they are seeing things only in their own kinds eyes. But that's typical as we know.

[Tomuchtime]

SBP
you write a lot of shit and seem to have all of the answers.
So ,Why is there a certian Henery Kissinger aboard your ship?
Let's see here ,he's wanted in at least 13 countries around the world for war crimes...no wait...ahaa Let's put henery incharge of the 9/11 hearings.Yeah, that makes sense. I didn't forget Cambodia
1974 either.Ummmm about 30,000 killed under a little agreement with the 'rouge.
I really think some of you people are in denial about whom really runs the world.
Call me a freak all you want too but fact's are fact's
It's obvious that the wheels are falling off of the whole 9/11 Islam thing.
Any president that blocks freedom of speech has something to hide. Period.
End of Discussion.
What a freaking joke about S.Korea
Look at your history books and see what happened to McCarther at the Yula river...He thought he had balls too...

Bill