As a military man stationed in Korea I get used to the daily injects of protest and Anti-Americanism in the South Korean media. One simply has to view USFK’s official Civil Gathering Update to see the frequency of the protests in South Korea. There are almost daily “civil gatherings” (a nice name for protests) at Yongsan Garrison and weekly ones at Kunsan Air Base. One has to ask: is the US military in Korea really that bad or are we the victim of media bias and the spoiled Korean youth?

Any time you read a story involving a GI in a popular South Korean newspaper, you will typically get a negative spin. The US military can do no good in Korea. Any incidents involving a US solder and a Korean citizen typically depicts the US solder in a negative light randomly causing havoc.

It is also stunning how little attention is given to US solders being attacked by Korean citizens. Most recently a US officer was raped by a South Korean national. Take a look at the Stars and Stripes article Here for the only story I could find on the internet. Good luck finding this story in the Korea media or even in the US media. The story has most been buried by the US State Department to keep our good relations with South Korea. I found the story on GI Korea Blog as it is almost nowhere to be found on the internet or in print media.

Don't believe that attacks by South Koreans on American solders are buried? Let's do a little exercise shall we? In Yahoo or Google, type in just about any key words related to US solders being attacked in South Korea and you will get absolutely nothing. Type in “US solders attacked in South Korea” or “US officer raped by Korean” and let me know what results you get. I already tried it and I typically get results that have nothing to do with American service members getting attacked.

A few years ago, two South Korean school girls were run over by a military vehicle. It was a tragic accident that cause huge protests in South Korea (picture 1) and was the main reason Roh Moo-Hyun was elected President of South Korea. Did you know in response to this incident a female US solder was attacked with a knife while jogging off base? Did you know dozens of solders were injured as South Korean protestors threw rocks at US solders? You probable never heard about these incidents because stories like this are buried even in the Stars and Stripes.

Did you know an American solder was kidnapped for several hours and forced to apologize for defending himself against hundreds of radical students? Read the story at usinkorea.org here (about half way down the page) and watch the video here. Here is the executive summary. Three GI's walked into a Anti-US rally and were attacked by 100s of radical South Koreans. The ROK police pulled two of the Americans from the crowd, but the third was literally kidnapped for several hours and forced to confess and apologize (picture 2). The press the next day reported American GIs injured South Korean politicians (so, 3 Americans picked on 100s of Koreans). Additionally, Koreans don't consider taking an American against his will for several hours kidnapping!

Here is another test. Ask your Korean friends how many US solders died or were wounded in the Korean War. You will most likely get a blank stare. I have asked many of my Korean friends this question and none of them had any clue. Roughly 54,000 American’s died and well over 100,000 wounded to keep South Korea free from North Korea's rule. You will almost never hear this number in the Korean media. Instead you will hear about Koreans loosing their jobs due to American budget cuts, attacks by GI's on Korean nationals and the sex trade that is in South Korea because of the US presence in South Korea. This is why the South Korean youth are so brain washed. They never hear about the sacrifice and good Americans do, only the few bad incidents.

Need more proof that the Korean youth are spoiled, ungrateful and misguided? In 2004, Research & Research carried out a survey to find out which country is the key enemy of Korea. According to the study, people aged between 20s to 40s picked the U.S. (57.9 percent in their 20s, 46.8 percent in their 30s and 36.3 percent in their 40s) as Korea's biggest enemy.

Do you understand those numbers? Almost 60% of the Korean youth think America is the biggest threat to Korea not North Korea. Again, this is due to the radical brainwashing that occurs in their schools and in the media.

This media bias and the brain washing of the Korea youth is troubling to say the least. Instead of protesting, they should be visiting the local VFW and to say thanks. Do the Koreans honestly think they became the 3rd largest economy in Asia because of their hard work? Or do you think American assistance had a little to do with it? Picture 3 shows what Songtan looked like in 1954 and picture 4 shows Songtan today (thanks to kalaniosullivan.com).







 

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