Well, I just arrived Kunsan for 1 week and I must say, WOW!

I have only been to Kunsan for a few hours awaiting an aircraft before this week. The first night I went down into American Town for a quick dinner.

Why is the area immediately outside the main and back gates so dead? Why area Koreans not opening up restaurants, Starbucks, etc? Someone told me that everything within 3 miles is off limits. Even so, why is American Town so dead? Seams like there is a lot of room for an Indian or Thai Restaurant and some other key businesses.

Mike

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Hi... Why did you go there ?
Hyori lives in Seoul. You can't meet with Hyori in there.
BTW, I have one question for you.
When can I eat a pig into your Avatar ?

Hi Mike.

Yes, the outside of base for 3 mi. is off limits & A-Town is dead b/c sometimes a lot of us didn't want to go ALL that way in town for a beer when you can get that on base.

I remember the 1st time I visited Osan. It blew my mind! I felt like Dorothy from Kansas visiting the big city! lol.

But to answer your question, I asked the same thing myself while I there & got 2 answers:

One is that an airman got into some to-do w/ a Korean national & showed out real bad outside Kunsan. To keep further incidents from happenening, it was decided to just made 3 mi. outside the base off limits to GIs.

The second answer I got was that they wanted to keep 3 mi. area outside of the base relatively uncluttered by houses & such b/c if war were to break out they wanted to have a clear field of view. They didn't want to give the enemy a bunch of buildings & houses to hide in, etc.

I do not know if either of those explainations is true. Those were just the answers I got when I asked.

If I had to hedge on one being true, I'd guess the second, b/c if you will notice, all around the base are small buildings, fields & rice paddies.

JMHO ...

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Thanks Dane! Like the banner in your sig.

Mike

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Both of the responses on this one are true. A few years ago the 3 mile cordon was almost lifted. There were plans to build a new Kunsan hotel just down the street from the gate. Construction even began on one building that I know of, but it was still sitting unfinished the last time I was there.

Don't be spoiled by the 'country' of Kunsan. Get stationed at Osan and never leave a 4 block radius? that's for the dogs. There is plenty of 'history' in A-town. But A Town is not all that Kunsan has to offer. Get out and see the country for christ sakes. It's great to visit Seoul/itaewon, dongdaemun and stuff, but Young Hwa Dong, which is an area just before you reach Kunsan City that had 'juicy bars' and Songtan-like shopping, but has since been given up to return to normal korean area. There are Baskin Robbins, and even a shop that sells the new colder ice cream that you find in vending machines in the theater, I forget the name. It doesn't matter, though, get out and do things. The real night clubs and Karaoke rooms are a lot of fun. You can get a group together into a private room and karaoke amongst yourself and drink a few beers and have some snacks. Go down to Oompa Lake and rollerblade or have a picnic. Try as many different restaurants as you can. Hook up with the Korean Nationals in your office and go out to dinner. Learn how to use chopsticks properly, don't settle for a fork. ****tail bars are great, too. Learn some customs and courtesies of your host country. Don't be mad that they can't speak perfect English, be mad that you only know how to say "Pali Pali A-Town adashi" Rather, address the cab driver as 'Ki Sa Nim' (Driver).....

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

Mike, Mike, Mixed drinks by another name is not profanity. Almost funny, really. "SEE OH SEE KAY tail"

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When people ask me where I'm from, I say that my hometown is 'Kunsan'! 진 짜! 정 말!

You're right 3x'er. The area around KAB is dead, but if it weren't for that, I would not have seen as much of Korea as I did. KAB was always hosting trips & things for us to go on & we pretty much had free rein to go almost anywhere we wanted arouns Kunsan City. i remember there used to be a great BBQ place down there somewhere, I can't remeber the name now ... but back to my point, KAB isn't that bad. I'd rather be able to be out & about to explore the country that restricted to a giant mall.

JMHO ...

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Re: SEE OH SEE KAY TAIL ----the computer censors and puts asterisks in automatically, and doesn't know all usages. If the computer misses certain words, we monitors will step in to assist. This Forum strives to remain family oriented. Mike is too busy to do all that, but blame him if you like-he is the 'lustrous potentate.