Houston, we have a problem. According to Stars & Stripes (via the Lost Nomad), two U.S. servicemen in Chuncheon stand accused of—you may want to sit down for this, Oranckay—throwing a bicycle at a taxi as it sat at a red light.
It’s kind of funny he should post that today, because as I was surfing around Naver.com, one of the big pieces was on how some unruly Korean football fans apparently went nuts last night, climbing on people’s cars and what not. Naturally, as I read it, I thought to myself, gee, perhaps all that North Korean propaganda about the GIs being a harmful cultural influence might not be so far off. And wouldn’t you know it, linked right under that piece was this one about a 19-year-old USFK private who has been turned over to the Korean police for alleged involvement in two separate incidents: a May 6 assault and robbery of the female proprietor of a hotel soapland massage parlor in Pyeongtaek and a May 14 assault and robbery of—you guessed it—a taxi driver in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu. In the latter incident, the GI is accused of bashing the driver with a brick and taking from him 70,000 won.
Coincidentally, I was in Itaewon meeting a friend recently when we noticed two inebriated GIs striking taxis as they passed.
Does AFN Korea need to run one of those stupid information spots about this issue?
14 Comments
It would be sort of interesting to see what criminal offense the GI who threw the bicycle stands accused of. Would it be assault? Maybe destruction of private property? I mean, unless the bicycle actually injured someone, somehow I can’t see this resulting in anything more than a fine (and some more bad publicity for USFK).
what would cause someone to throw a bike at a taxi sitting at a red light? way to feed the fire.
i can think of a million things that a cab driver could do to make someone want to throw a bike at them.
number one on my list would be driving them off the road. likely, something happened somewhere up the road and the red light was the guy with the bike’s first chance to get a crack at the cab.
Has Hankyoreh done a cartoon about this yet?
Yeah Robert, Mr Puerto and Mr Rico, complete with Attitude,dude, demeanor, bling bling and other flashy attire, were loud, noisy, aggressive, all of this probably booze- and fear-of-curfew-induced.
But kicking taxis doesn’t help catch one… It did remind me of the early/mid 90s when at night taxis would swerve around foreigners, even sober, quiet ones, and only take in Koreans…
“Coincidentally, I was in Itaewon meeting a friend recently when we noticed two inebriated GIs striking taxis as they passed.
Does AFN Korea need to run one of those stupid information spots about this issue?”
Dead on Marmot. It’s about time the PSAs relate to what is actually happening. Let’s have a PSA from AFN that teaches all the “little boy and girl soldiers” how to behave when hiring a taxi - especially when drunk.
I’d like to see the, ” “I’m so pretty”, credit card fraud, Brooklyn accent woman” in the lead role.
“ya see dem guys ova der yellin and bangin, dat ain’t da way to do it…look at me……de sures made up for it, I even got a discount”
“im so pretty…la la …..
I just don’t get these guys doing this kind of thing. I find it hard to believe they come from any part of America even.
I used to write people I knew when I first came over and tease them about having a new hobby of stealing car parts in the neighborhood and that it was ok since I was a foreigner but it was only a joke!
This doesn’t sound good, but we haven’t heard from the alleged perpetrators, have we? I’ve seen taxi drivers do plenty of shit in this country to piss people off, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this driver did something to set the guys off. Tossing a bike may have been too much, but I’m inclined to an innocent-until-proven-guilty standard.
I have also witnessed some pretty bad behaviour by young GIs who somehow think they have the right to abuse people off base. It should be made rather clear that it is not…
Throwing a bicycle at a parked taxi? Maybe the GI though the taxi was a bike rack.
Robbing a soapland? Simply pathetic. Are they going to do a penis-lineup like the gym teacher want in Porky’s?
–Remort
“This doesn’t sound good, but we haven’t heard from the alleged perpetrators, have we? I’ve seen taxi drivers do plenty of shit in this country to piss people off, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this driver did something to set the guys off.”
You have to be fucking kidding me. Taxi drivers are working. They may as well be my father or mother trying to make ends meet. What are you getting at? If you can’t handle your booze than don’t drink or don’t go out. There are limited modes of transport after the subway closes - there are literally millions of people that are aware of that and don’t have violent confrontations with taxi drivers. Grab hold of yourself and make the best of it, use common sense and show respect. There’s no reason to get violent.
I remember telling a taxi driver, ” I need to be at the train station in 10 minutes, I’ll pay you triple the rate if you get me there in time.” Man, it was the best taxi ride I’ve ever had!
The taxi drivers I’ve met are hard working and decent folks, it’s a shame this happened.
So did the GI just stand there and wait for the cops to show up? Or did the taxi driver kick his ass?
–Remort
Hardyandtiny: Like I said, we don’t know the whole story, do we? We don’t even know whose bike it was. And if the soldiers were caught then it probably means they stuck around because they thought, perhaps incorrectly, they were in the right.
Taxi drivers in Seoul have improved vastly in the last 13 years, but I did a run to Changwon a few weeks ago and was reminded of how they used to be in the capital.
This looks to me like many of those intial-reported stories, where we only
have 10% of the story-info. The whole picture probably looks much different…
4 Trackbacks
[...] The World Cup madness had hit Korea again, and I have had the opportunity to watch the Korean team play this past month. I don’t know if it is a strategy or not, but it seems like they play like crap for most of the game to wear down the other team and then pull it out in the end. The expressions from the French players and coaching staff after the last game was absolutely priceless. The Red Devils do continue to get calls from the referees to go their way some how, but I can’t fault the Korean team for taking advantage of it. Bad calls are part of just about any sport. I just wish Team USA could get the calls Koreans do sometimes, such as the second goal against Italy being counted. Emotions are running high in Korea over the World Cup which is evident by this confrontation in the good old 2ID city of Uijongbu. Can you believe it, there are also Koreans in Uijongbu getting into trouble besides just US soldiers? Speaking of soldiers getting in trouble, the monthly Taxi Cab Related Incident for the month of June has occurred as well, with a soldier throwing a bike at a taxi in Chuncheon. As you all know, I have no love for the cab drivers in the 2ID area due to my own run ins with them, but at no means should anyone get in a physical confrontation with them because you cannot win, even if the cab driver provoked it. It is best just to walk away. [...]
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