Han, Seung-bum “Stupid Korea, US Ambassador by Terror”

SEOUL--(Korea Newswire)--Han, Seung-bum, the Director of KATUSA Veterans Association and CEO of Maccine Korea said as below.
 
An unprecedented event occurred where the US Ambassador to Korea, Mark Lippert, became victim to an act of terrorism in the heart of Seoul. An ambassador of a sovereign country is an official envoy who is sent on behalf of the president of that country. In other words, the US Ambassador Lippert is representative of the United States of America, the sovereign state itself. An act of terrorism against an embassy or an ambassador is a serious issue that can lead to a declaration of war or begin a war. That is why major foreign press all over the world including CNN from the US cannot repress their astonishment towards this “act of terror against the United States” which occurred in South Korea, an ally to the United States.
 
At the end of the 1980s during which chants of “Yankee go home!” were prevalent, I served as a KATUSA(Korean Augmentation To the United States Army) at a US Army base in Dongducheon. Like any university student at that time, I held a sense of hostility towards the US and US soldiers. On the base, there was a newspaper for US soldiers stationed overseas called “Stars and Stripes”. Anti-US protests or photos of protesters burning the American flag used to be printed as a headline on the front page of “Stars and Stripes” which would be only slightly dealt with in the Korean media. You ask, “How did the US soldiers feel when reading such newspaper?” They were in complete shock. From the point of view of US soldiers, they are stationed in Korea for a year or more for the security and peace of Korea. But, they simply could not understand why Korean university students displayed hostility towards the US. For reference, the worst place to be stationed overseas for US soldiers was Korea at that time. In addition to the environment being poor and inadequate compared to West Germany or Japan, and not to mention mainland US, it was mainly because of the issue of safety due to anti-US sentiments.
 
Whenever university students took the streets to hold demonstration, without fail, US soldiers would be ordered to refrain from leaving the base to go to Seoul. For US soldiers who are free to leave the base at any time other than during training periods, it was truly unbearable. It would be the beginning of serving a sentence in a prison without bars. Most US soldiers are also petrified to go to a different region beyond Dongducheon. A sense of fear always exists that they can be assaulted by the university students or leftist activists. It can be equated to the sense of fear that we may have towards the IS outposts in the Middle East. Of course, such US soldiers are surprised after they realize that Koreans in Seoul are actually nice and courteous when they visit Seoul.

During the 1980s, we committed atrocious acts such as setting the U.S. Culture Center in Korea on fire or illegally occupying the U.S. embassy. It is quite fortunate that the U.S.-Korean alliance is still intact despite of such barbaric offenses. We tend to give front-page prominence to criminal offense committed by US soldiers stationed in Korea and fall into silence about crimes that victimize US soldiers. For example, there was a case where a US Army captain was stabbed to death for no reason in the middle of the day in Itaewon. In that case, the US Armed Forces in Korea did not develop the matter into a serious issue and discreetly processed the case. It is also common for US soldiers to be assaulted by Koreans. However, what we see on the news only focuses on crimes committed by US soldiers stationed in Korea.
 
Let’s trace back to the candlelight protests regarding the “US Army armored vehicle traffic accident deaths of Hyo Soon and Mi Sun”. At that time, leftist activists and civic groups exhibited horrible photos of the crushed bodies of the two middle school girls and instigated a social uproar that it was an intentional act of murder. How can a US soldier driving an armored vehicle have the intention to kill two school girls whom he has never seen? The local road on which the accident occurred was a narrow road with two lanes and no side walk. Although the main cause of the accident was the narrow road, the protesters only blamed the US and insisted on the “withdrawal of US forces”. Pro-North Korea leftists like Ki-Jong Kim who committed this act of terrorism against the US ambassador were present in such anti-US protests.
 
Last February 9th, ex-director of the National Intelligence Service(NIS), Se-Hoon Won, was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment at his appellate trial for charges of violating the Public Official Election Act and the National Intelligence Service Act and was put under court custody. Ex-deputy head of the 3rd office of the National Intelligence Service, Jong-Myeong Lee, who was also indicted with Won, was sentenced to imprisonment of 1 year with a suspension of execution for 2 years and has given a statement in court that “the army is an organ that prepares for war. But, the NIS is currently waging war.” There are well over tens of thousands of pro-North Korea leftists like Ki-Jong Kim that are active on the internet. The internet is full of people who revere and praise the North Korean regime more than North Korean spies. As an expert on managing online repute who has experienced numerous cyber election campaigns, I also encounter much difficulty in distinguishing North Korean spies and pro-North Korea leftists from good-willed progressives. I can sufficiently imagine the level of difficulty that non-expert employees of the NIS may experience.
 
The practice where telecommunication companies would provide personally identifiable information of customers (communications data) to investigation authorities upon their request has been called into question by the Korean courts. Most advanced countries such as the US or Germany permit investigation authorities to request for communications data without the court’s issuance of a warrant and are even sanctioning telecommunications companies if they do not. However, serious concerns remain regarding investigations into serious crimes in Korea such as espionage and terrorism. It is only a matter of time until Korea becomes a nest of North Korean spies and terrorist elements.
 
As you may already know, South Korea is a divided country. Korea stands face to face with a North Korea which may be considered to be 100 times more dangerous that IS. However, the hands and feet of the NIS which is “currently waging war” and the prosecutors’ office and the police are tied up with a rope called “civil rights”. In Korea, pro-North Korea leftists like Ki-Jong Kim act secretly behind the mask of “civil rights”. UN Secretary-General, Ki-Moon Ban, has commented about IS that “countries all over the world should further strengthen their efforts to counter terrorism and extremism to protect the civil and human rights of people all over the world.” President Geun-Hye Park should further strengthen efforts to oppose North Korean spies and pro-North Korea leftists to protect the civil and human rights of South Korean citizens. The mistake of infringing upon the actual “civil rights” of South Korean citizens should not be committed for the benefit of false “civil rights” for North Korean spies and terrorist elements.
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맥신코리아 소개
맥신코리아(대표 한승범)는 온라인 평판 관리 전문기업이다. 맥신코리아는 사람·회사·브랜드의 ‘온라인 평판(reputation)’을 모니터 할 뿐만 아니라 적극적으로 관리해주는 서비스를 제공해 준다. 고객의 ‘온라인 평판(reputation)’ 위기를 기회로 바꾸어 주는 것이 맥신코리아의 궁극적인 목표이다. 맥신코리아는 2009년 중소기업청장, 2010년 보건복지부장관 표창장 수상한 바 있다.

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This is a news release distributed by Korea Newswire on behalf of this company.