Yes this what the Korean director Im Sang-Soo believes as he debuts his film “The Taste of Money” at the Cannes Film Festival:

“I have no intention of insulting the other Asian directors invited to Cannes but I have noticed that the Cannes selection is often marked by Orientalism, in other words an Asian aesthetic focused on the exotic,” he said.

Im argued that a failure to look at other cultures on their own terms helped breed the rage that fed international terrorism.

“This separation from The Other is the reason why you had September 11 attacks because they (Westerners) did not really want to know what happens in other countries,” he said.  [7 News]

Cpl. Charles Price sounds "Taps" over the graves of fallen Leathernecks during memorial services at the First Marine Division cemetery at Hungnam, following the division's heroic break-out from Chosin Reservoir. December 13, 1950. Cpl. W. T. Wolfe. (Marine Corps)

Via Morning Calm News Flickr page.

The AP for Memorial Day has an article published about how the VA is swamped with disability claims and the government was unprepared and doesn’t have the money currently allocated to pay for all the claims:

America’s newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.

A staggering 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. That is more than double the estimate of 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told The Associated Press.

What’s more, these new veterans are claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones over the last year are claiming 11 to 14. By comparison, Vietnam veterans are currently receiving compensation for fewer than four, on average, and those from World War II and Korea, just two.

It’s unclear how much worse off these new veterans are than their predecessors. Many factors are driving the dramatic increase in claims — the weak economy, more troops surviving wounds, and more awareness of problems such as concussions and PTSD. Almost one-third have been granted disability so far.  [Associated Press]

There is a lot more details that can be read at the link.

What did these politicians think was going to happen after 8 years of war in Iraq and now going on 11 years in Afghanistan?

From my own personal perspective what I see the most is muscular and skeletal injuries caused by not only wearing so much gear during training and deployments, but also from years of doing poor physical training exercises like situps that are notorious for causing back injuries.  So in addition to these increased injuries servicemembers are also very aware now a days about getting their injuries documented so when they do get out they have evidence to file their disability claims.  So basically increased injuries and increased awareness is what is causing the flood of claims in my opinion.

The article also had a short comment about Agent Orange claims taking up 1/3 of the VA’s staff used to review disability claims.  Agent Orange use along the DMZ in Korea as well as claims of it being stored and disposed of on USFK camps away from the DMZ have been hot topics in recent years here on the ROK Drop.  Many of the commenters have complained about how long it takes to process the claims and this article explains that despite a huge amount of staff dedicated to reviewing the cases that the VA is just overwhelmed.  It seems that if there is a government organization that does need some growth it is the VA just to be able to process all these claims in a timely manner.

Amnesty International has actually found time out of their busy schedule of criticizing Lee Myung-bak and advocating for the return of Bradley Manning’s blanket to actually write a report about executions happening in North Korea:

A new Amnesty International report paints a gruesome picture of summary executions, torture and ill-treatment in North Korea as Kim Jong Un succeeded his late father, Kim Jong Il, as the country’s ruler last December.

The country used firing squads or staged traffic accidents to execute 30 officials involved in talks to unite North and South Korea, according to the 2012 Amnesty International reportreleased Thursday. It also notes that the country had been questioned about another 37 reported executions between 2007 and 2010 for “financial crimes.”

As the ruling authority shifted to Kim Jong Un, the country’s State Security agency detained another 200 North Korean officials, some of whom are now feared executed or in prison camps, the report notes.  [The Lookout]

You can read more at the link as well as the Amnesty International report at this link.  Despite the prominent article I spotted on the front page of Yahoo for the AI report, there really is nothing new it for people paying attention to North Korea.  All the information about executions, political purges, the food crisis, concentration camps, and other aspects about the human rights situation in North Korea is already widely known but due to AI’s influence with the media they are able to get major news outlets to publicize their report.

Really Amnesty International should be doing what One Free Korea has been doing for years by publishing detailed Google Earth images of North Korea’s camps and highlighting the various other human rights violations going on in the country.  However, I do have to say that Amnesty International has been taking more of a notice of North Korea this year.  So far Amnesty International has released six reports critical of South Korean human rights and twelve for North Korea in 2012.  This is different compared to past years where they issued more reports critical of South Korea than North Korea.

A cruise ship clears Gyeongin Port yesterday at Seo district in Incheon after the Gyeongin Ara Waterway, which connects the Han River with the Yellow Sea, officially opened.

Via Joong Ang Ilbo.

I hope everyone is having a good Memorial Day Weekend, but try to take some time to remember all those US servicemembers that have made the ultimate sacrifice over the years.

Maybe the Korean government can test fire some these missiles on the Chinese fishing boats that continue to violate Korean waters and assault & murder Coast Guard personnel:

 The United States is moving to sell eight advanced multi-purpose helicopters and 18 naval missiles to South Korea, worth nearly $1.1 billion, according to a defense agency here.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it has notified Congress of possible sales to South Korea of eight MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission helicopters, along with related parts, equipment, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $1 billion.

It also informed Congress of another plan for a foreign military sale to Seoul for 18 UGM-84L Harpoon anti-ship missiles to be carried by submarines. The expected cost is $84 million.

The agency, affiliated with the Defense Department, said the possible deals come at the request of the South Korean government.  [Yonhap]

This picture comes via a reader tip and shows a Kim Jong-il themed tongue scraper for sale on Amazon.  Why anyone would use Kim Jong-il to sell a product like a tongue scraper is beyond me.

What would the weekend be without a little tabloid news?  Here is a good one, John Travolta reportedly has a thing now for Korean guys:

According to Randolph, Travolta definitely has a type. “His preference is Middle Eastern or guys with dark features,” he explains. “His taste has changed over the 15 years that I’ve seen him visiting spas. First he strictly liked black guys. For the longest time if you weren’t black, he didn’t want you. Then he was into Middle Eastern men. Then it was Mexicans and other Hispanic guys. Then he moved on to Koreans. I guess he doesn’t have much of a preference any more.”  [Gawker via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link which is NSFW, but you will find out that his preference for Koreans runs in contrast to this popular ROK Drop thread.  Also notice that one of his favorite haunts is the Korean spa pictured above.

Welcome home:

The remains of South Korean soldiers killed in North Korea during the Korean War returned home on Friday via the U.S., marking the first such repatriation of South Korean war dead since the 1953 armistice.

Twelve sets of remains, two of which have been positively identified, were among 226 sets recovered in the northern part of North Korea by a U.S. excavation team between 2000 and 2004, before Washington halted the joint recovery mission with Pyongyang due to concerns over the safety and security of its workers.

After conducting DNA tests, the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii confirmed last August that some of the remains were those of Asian soldiers.

Since then, Seoul and Washington have conducted joint analyses to identify the remains and 12 sets were confirmed to be from South Korean soldiers, officials at Seoul’s defense ministry said.

The 12 sets of remains were flown Friday to a military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, where they were met with an honor guard ceremony attended by President Lee Myung-bak, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and U.S. Army Gen. James Thurman, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link but the return of these remains is very important to family members even after all of these years.  I once participated in a funeral detail for the remains of a World War II US servicemember that was recovered and the soldiers 90+ year old sister cried during the funeral like it had just happened.  The rest of the family was extremely thankful to the Army for finding the remains and conducting the funeral service.  I am sure the Korean families for these 12 ROK Army soldiers likely feel the same way.