Text Fwd: USFK Tyranny in Pyeongtaek; Entertainment businesses subject to armed crackdowns by US military police

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USFK Tyranny in Pyeongtaek; Entertainment businesses subject to armed crackdowns by US military police
Posted on : 2011-05-11

Burwell Bell, Commander of US Forces Korea, delivers a speech marking the launching of construction for Pyongtaek military base for US Forces Korea at Daichuri, Pangsungup, Pyongtaek, Gyeonggi Province on Nov 13, 2007. US Forces Korea stationed in Pyongtaek is effectively exercising "the right to crack down on and punish" foreigner-only entertainment businesses, thus igniting Koreans' criticisms of their "tyranny." (File photo by Yonhap News, Caption by Seol Wontai )

It has emerged that United States Forces Korea (USFK) in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, is effectively exercising “the right to crack down on and punish” foreigner-only entertainment businesses.

USFK is exercising thorough control in the fields of health, hygiene and public order. This includes entry by armed US military police into entertainment establishments and demands that employees present proof of identity.

Based on crackdowns, USFK is indiscriminately declaring “off limits” measures that effectively amount to suspension of business. According to entertainment businesses, 33 out of 40 establishments have been declared off limits or received warnings in the last five years.

Crackdowns by armed US military police

News of crackdowns was first revealed by the Kyunghyang Shinmun on May 10, after the newspaper acquired “an official document sent by the commander of ‘Base X’ of the Unites States Air Force in Pyeongtaek to the owner of a nearby entertainment business, by the name of Choe.”

The document states that USFK declared Choe’s business “off limits” to USFK personnel twice: once in June 2009 and once on January 21 this year. The reason stated for this was that the establishment allowed “bar fines” (female employees who receive alcohol from USFK personnel) and employed foreign workers in possession of “E-6” (entertainment) visas.

USFK stated in the documents that [a foreign female employee at the establishment] had refused to present her ID when requested to do so by patrolling USFK military police personnel, and that, having considered the circumstances, USFK had concluded that the establishment was in violation of the agreement not to employ Filipino women. This, the document said, was USFK’s reason for declaring the bar “indefinitely” off-limits.

This is not an isolated case. According to Pyeongtaek people’s Solidarity for participation and Autonomy (PPSPA) and the Songtan branch of the Korea Foreigner Tourist Association, the US military has declared 33 out of 40 US military-only establishments off limits since 2005.

From 1992, USFK controlled such businesses arbitrarily, according to a type of agreement reached with Pyeongtaek city authorities. When official documents upon which “off limits” measures were based were made public and caused a scandal in 2005 (as reported on the front page of the Kyunghyang Shinmun on March 31, 2005), this agreement was abolished.


Regulations not contained within SOFA

Even since then, however, USFK has been running a system of parallel crackdowns and punishment of businesses close to bases, by communicating regulations and guidelines orally and sending armed military police on patrol.

Under the pretext of protecting its own citizens, USFK has been creating irrational regulations that are not found within the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Korea and the US, and arbitrarily exercising what amounts to a right to carry out crackdowns.

Entertainment establishments have protested, saying, “For businesses that operate exclusively for foreigners, being declared ‘off-limits’ is a punishment equivalent to suspension of business. There are 500 more establishments that would effectively go out of business if US military personnel did not visit them.”

Despite the circumstances, however, Pyeongtaek city authorities are refusing to consider remedial measures or even look into what disadvantages are being incurred by the businesses in question. An association for Korea-US cooperation, created to aid conflict resolution between the two countries and headed jointly by the mayor of Pyeongtaek and the local USFK base commander, is also proving ineffective.

Civic groups including the PPSPA plan to hold a press conference on May 12 in front of the main gate of Base X and call for the off limits measures to be lifted. (News, The Kyunghyang Daily News. May 11, 2011. Reported by Choi In-jin; Translated by Ben Jackson. )