You know, if I were a taxi driver (surprise!) assaulted by two GIs aged 18 and 20, I’d be slightly more pissed off. Then again, maybe he took pity on them—they apparently have no other job options…
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16 Comments
“Thugs and idiots” was the comment in the previous thread about the draft. Whoever it was that said that now gets to shake his head, sadly but wisely.
How many headlock accompanied by fisticuff assaults took place over the weekend, Korean on
Korean? For that matter, how many took place back here in the USA? Well, no matter;
those aren’t the stories the S&S reporters and editors are looking for.
Sounds like they did it alright, a “verbal assault” (first time I’ve seen that phrase in print, is that the official MP jargon now?) by the taxi driver isn’t sufficient reason for committing “physical” assault as these two will now find out. According to an earlier S&S story, the two mentioned to the Korean police their hope to “pay financial restitution as is allowed in Korea”
(my paraphrase). That sounds suspiciously like they been privy to prior barracks conversation on this subject.
I hope you will check the Korean print
media to provide a synopsis of what they say (if anything). If the taxi driver felt it was a murder attempt as he told the S&S, the presumably this deserves a Korean trial and similar nationwide publicity to the case of the two Korean schoolgirls run over by the AVLB.
Mr. H, the taxi driver made the “attempted murder” claim to soak the maximum amount of cash out of the soldiers (well, Uncle Sam actually) since In Korea this kind of thing usually doesn’t go to court, it gets sorted out between the parties with a payoff for the “victim,” i.e., the one who can claim the most injuries. Anyway, the antics of U.S. soldiers here is already so politicized I doubt anyone will make a bigger issue of this, just add it onto the endless list of “grievances.”
(Mr. Marmot, the sidebar is cutting off the comment box on IE….)
What’s with all the hate for this taxi driver? I feel sorry for him, and hope these two go to jail for a year or two.
Paul, you seem to think he is milking this for anti-Korean publicity, while Michael you seem convinced he is trying to cash in as much as possible. Huh? He has a RUPTURED EYEBALL, FELLAS. Reach up on your face and feel your cheekbone. Now imagine that it’s been kicked by army boots until it is broken. Really imagine that. That is what this guy experienced. I think attempted murder is not far off the mark - you start kicking people on the ground in the head over and over and death or permanent brain damage is a very real possiblity. It happens, and “just because I was kicking him in the head over and over, didn’t mean I wanted to kill him” is irresponsible horseshit, especially coming from guys who are, lets be frank, trained and instructed in the use of force and fighting.
The guy got the living shit beat out of him by two young soldiers in their early 20’s - why shouldn’t he have bad feelings to them and try to stick it to them as much as the law will allow? If two guys kicked you to a point where you were going to be looking at the world blurry for the rest of your life, if not from one eye with a glass eye in the other, you wouldn’t want tell the cops to throw the book at them?
Should be “anti-American publicity”, sorry.
You’re the one jumping to conclusions Hugh. I’m not convinced of anything, I was pointing out that in Korea when people are assaulted they are expected to make the maximum claim for damages, just as people often do in the U.S. The big difference here is that the law typically favors the person with the most injuries, regardless of who the guilty party is. I’m not passing judgment here, just telling Paul H. how these things usually play out.
I was mugged once and nearly lost my sight in one eye, so I don’t need to imagine what it feels like.
Ok, I misconstrued your comment as criticizing him and missed that ‘worst hurt is the victim’ is what you were criticizing. Sorry, guess I read it too fast.
Sorry to hear about your mugging.
Maybe I wasn’t too clear, no harm done. My sympathies go out to the guy for being attacked.
I don’t think it’s inordinate publicity. I hope those punks see some serious jail time. And if they’re soaked by the taxi driver, so what? May teach them a lesson.
Truly. I can’t imagine any possible legitimate reason they could have had for beating him up like that. I myself have been “verbally abused” several times by Korean men, usually one with alcohol obviously in them, and i have always responded in the true American patriotic fashion — say “well, you’re a friggin’ moron” and just walk away from the situation…
what is it with koreans involved with public transportation and foreigners attacking them? taxi drivers getting clocked by english teachers, GI’s stealing busses and or causig havok on them….etc etc etc. Why can’t someone beat up those guys who sell vegetables at 7 am with the speakers blaring?
You guys are right of course, I hope he gets a million dollars from the US taxpayer and retires from taxi driving forever.
Well, he won’t get a million dollars. Korea values injuries according to a percentage of disability multiplied by wages (to account for notional lost income) over the expected working lifespan to retirement age (60 by default). Discounted for net present value, of course.
So let’s say loss of vision in one eye is a 20% disability, and assume a W1,500,000 monthly income. The cab driver is 51, which gives him nine more working years.
A 20% disability, therefore, leads to a notional loss of income at W300,000 per month for the next nine years — W32.4 million in compensation for “lost wages”. Discounted to NPV it’s probably W20 million.
Plus the soldiers need to make compensation for medical expenses and lost wages during the time of hospitalization. Add a pittance for the Korean valuation of emotional distress and pain & suffering, and this looks like a W30-35 million compensation claim.
With no permanent disability it’s only worth a couple million won.
There are no punitive or other exemplary damages available here in Korea.
The guy got beaten pretty badly for just telling them, allegedly, to piss off.
Brendon, could they be charged with attempted murder?
I have another question for Brendon.
In South Korea, is the, uh, fighting training (for lack of a better phrase) a factor in charges laid and/or damages given? For example, if a Korean taekwondo instructor broke someone’s nose, would he get punished more than if an average Korean guy with no training broke it? Is there a kind of ‘fightesse oblige’, where those trained are expected to restrain themselves against others? Just curious.
I wonder if these soldiers jobs would matter - would they be punished more if they are highly trained special forces hardmen, vs. a soldier who repaired electronic weapons systems.
I heard that my former taekwondo instructor here in Korea, a former full-contact champion (long before the creation of the pussy footing olympic taekwondo), was specifically instructed by the police to simply run away if he ever was attacked (although I don’t know if this is a matter of law or simply a recommendation made by the local police station).
Hugh #14, Ref: what the soldiers’ “jobs” are:
The quote from the Stars & Stripes article: “…officials said two soldiers belonging to a subordinate unit of the 19th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) were under investigation.”
Hadn’t heard of this before so I spend some time on line checking out “sustainment command (expeditionary)”. I had an idea what it would be already of course, figured it was a redesignation/ slight reorganiation of Army combat service support branches.
Almost certainly this is an 8th Army level unit which includes logistics specialty subunits, probably one or more each of a battalion (or maybe just a separate company) of the following:
1) quartermaster (supply corps),
2) transportation (heavy trucks), and
3) ordnance (not just ammunition supply, but also higher-echelon maintenance specialties for the vast variety of Army equipment present in 8th Army).
So probably these two had some military occupational specialty related to one of these areas. But it could be even something else besides this, though probably still “rear-echelon” (ie they could work in a maint unit’s personnel admin section, holding a “personnel” MOS).
Set aside any mental image you might have of combat arms soldiers being the “carnivores” and the “rear-echelon” types being the “herbivores”. You’ll find plenty of cocksure young guys who lift weights and/or play sports in all Army units; indeed, commonly the “garrison” type units do better at intramural unit sports, given that they spend far less time “in the field” and thus have more time to practice.
Never was stationed in Korea but it’s my understanding that taekwondo teams/clubs are common throughout USFK. One might guess that these two weren’t active in TKD or something similar, given what is commonly understood about the mental discipline that is supposed to be taught in martial arts, overridingly (though concurrent) with the physical training. But of course all I know (as regards exact indiv circumstances) is what I read in the papers.