As controversy brews over U.S. beef imports, the Seoul Shinmun reports that U.S. beef is being illegally sold to Korean consumers at U.S. military bases in Korea.
Last weekend, the paper visited a U.S. military golf course on the outskirts of Seoul. Much like the casino found on Yongsan, the place was full of Koreans, with not a U.S. soldier in sight. The entryway was completely open with no U.S. or ROK military personnel inspections at the gate.
At the country club restaurant, people were eating mostly 25 U.S. dollar New York or T-bone steaks or 15 U.S. dollar LA galbi. All were made using U.S. beef, which is nearly impossible to find in Korea now. In the case of the galbi, it was still attached to the bone, and it’s the bone—the Seoul Shinmun points out—which is barred from import due to Mad Cow Disease concerns.
Restaurant staff said the beef was airlifted from the United States.
According to the restaurant, Koreans account for most of the restaurant sales, with hundreds of Koreans visiting on the weekend. Because of this, said the paper, the restaurant’s menu is written in both English and Korean, chopsticks and Korean side dishes like kimchi are provided, and Korean won are also accepted along with dollars. Change is also given in won.
One Korean patron said he came often because the steaks and galbi where not only far cheaper than those made from Korean beef, but the portions were much larger as well. He said that unless you make reservations, it’s hard to get a seat on the weekends.
The Seoul Shinmun said some point out that the fact that Koreans can enter U.S. base facilities at their pleasure without entry permits or country club memberships is due to the connivance of the U.S. military. A U.S. military official said that limiting Korean access would hurt restaurant sales, and there was no real reason to restrict access anyway.
The Korean authorities, meanwhile, appeared to be unaware that this was going on. A Korean customs official said it was a violation of both customs law and the SOFA to sell U.S. food products to Koreans. He said authorities would look into the matter and correct any wrongdoings that might be going on.
Meanwhile, the 8.9 tons of U.S. beef that got the gas-face from Korean customs officials for “bone fragments” might be supplied to USFK instead. The firm importing the beef said it was considering plans to either supply the beef to the U.S. military or directly hand the beef over to them.
53 Comments
Preventing Koreans from playing golf and purchasing food on USFK bases is as simple as preventing Koreans from prostitution and human trafficking.
Looks like someone will have to ‘play golf’ at the big green nets from now on.
There is more US beef in Namdaemun Market than all the USFK bases combined. OF course it’s all black market from the bases, but who’s counting. Those Koreans at the Golf Course are all Upper Class residents or Military/Government Officials. They are the only ones who get memberships and tee times out there. The Customs official who said it was a violation of both customs law and the SOFA to sell U.S. food products to Koreans, he is an idiot. There are thousands of Korean Nationals working on the USFK bases. They are free to eat at any restaurants they choose. Some of the resaurants are 95% occupied by Koreans eating nothing but good ol’ USA BEEF.
This is by no means news, and is probably the tip of the iceberg, considering the long lines of oxtail smuggling grannies I used to see at Yongsan (1990s). If the Seoul Shinmun put journalism over jingoism, they would tell readers how completely this puts the lie to the ROK’s stance that US beef is unsafe and how far from free-trade the country remains.
As I’ve asked before, where else in a peacetime, capitalist economy are basic commodities like meat, maple syrup, shampoo smuggled like contraband?
Strange that the reporter didn’t bump into a few dozen Korean lawmakers at Sungnam.
That isn’t supposed to happen. We’re supposed to sell entry permits and club memberships.
Too bad there isn’t a gas station, a room salon and a kiddie hagwon there; it’d be almost like Disneyland.
Slim,
Don’t forget honey, butter and SPAM, and any vitamin that was on the Korean TV that week. And yes the ajjummas are still taking carts of frozen ox-tails and LA kalbi out the door straight to Namdaemun.
As has been said before, this is nothing new. I know the Sea Men’s Club in Busan sells US beef and steaks and I also know that that is one of the biggest reasons why wealthy Koreans will shell out a lot of money for a membership to the club—just to eat the steak—that and a weird way of boasting status. “Look at me, I’m eating at the exclusive Sea Men’s Club!”
These people want to believe they are the privileged class by using U.S. base facilities and buying Steaks , California rice from US Base. I am sure they are DoenjangNyeo, their husbands and friends.
Or they just like a good steak at a reasonable price.
And while we’re pointing fingers the USO is also selling
dangerousSOFA-status food right in the center of Seoul. In addition to Koreans Canadians have been seen eating there. Well-knownmen’sadult magazines such as SI Swimsuit Edition may be purchased.Earlier I failed to add the gratuitous “Somehow it must be Japan’s fault” to satisfy cmc, so here it is now.
Somehow it must be Japan’s fault.
Those bases on which the US Army currently sits formerly were Japanese garrisons. And we all know that if the Japanese had not provoked the rapacious Yankee, he would not be here in Seoul today. So there you go: It’s Japan’s fault.
Yes Brendon and the Headquarters for the USFK is in the SAME building that housed the headquarters of the Japanese Military in Seoul.
All of this talk about good U.S. beef is making my stomach rumble. Going to have to head to the USO for a double-bacon cheeseburger. Or shall I go wiht a double chili cheese burger? Either way, its one of the few restaurants that not only sells U.S. beef in its sandwiches, but
U.S.bacon (I guess there is no reason to say where its from, since the crap made in Korea certainly ain’t bacon).Ah-so. The circle is complete.
But can you buy American cigarettes with dollars and get change in won?
Jesus, how silly. Of course they’re buying and eating American beef. Seoul Shinmun’s next big shocker will be “PRISON INMATES, SINGLE SOLDIERS MOST LIKELY TO MASTURBATE, STUDY SAYS”
I’d like to hear from knowledgable USFK-affiliated readers about the other side of this equation: the degree to which the finances of AAFES operations depend on locals’ abuse of this system.
The reasons why Koreans flock to US bases and buy/eat stuff there are;
1. They like to flount the fact that they are priveleged to enter US bases.
(BTW my neighbor parks his car in a way so everyone in the neighborhood can
see the USFK entrance sticker on the windshield on their way to work)
2. They like foreign stuff and there are a lot of them inside US bases at more
reasonable prices than stores outside US bases.
The solution?
ELIMINATE SILLY TRADE BARRIERS
They are writing about Songnam GC. This place is as corrupt as they come. Many a day I would venture out to play a round of golf during the week and see no 8th Army solders. MWR my arse! They tried to fix the skimming with a membership system based on levels and numbers, that’s broken too. I watched an active duty guy get rightfully pissed as he was passed over to play a round while Korean Chingu’s waltzed right by. The beef and the black market is a sub-economy that is allowed. Remember the tunnel under the PX? It takes graft at its highest degree before action is taken. This is a joke to anyone who has lived in Korea over a month. Ha, Ha charade you are!
That question about the USFK side of it is a tricky question from what I understand. The AAFES people (who run all the restaurants, PX, imports for the military) say they would love to sell as much as possible since any added revenue helps finance and run the system in general. But they are not in charge of policing what goes on, and officially cannot allow it. That’s why you see the beef in namdaemun. The AAFES won’t work to stop smuggling through its own operations, but won’t do it openly either becasue of SOFA. Anyway, that’s what I have heard, since I am not a part of AAFES or USFK…
this is the same at every military golf course even at CRC
you never see GI’s playing golf on that course
as for the food at the restraunt its pretty much the same as going to the Navy Club or some place like that and ordering a tbone
its US beef and unless they only offer korean beef at US base MWR facilities (which will never happen) the its a mute point
Corruption at the US military bases is a byproduct of the SOFA and the Korean culture (Japan doesn’t seem to have the same problems, despite the fact its internal markets could be said to be even more distorted than Korea’s).
Security at the Yongsan base is outsourced to Korean companies (I think the Air Force keeps its own security at Osan and Kunsan) — companies who underpay their staff to keep the bid low. That creates incentive for the guards to accept the routine small bribes that are offered to them. So the gate only really works to keep out unauthorized white people. Oh, and black people too. Just not unauthorized Koreans.
The reporter should quit the newspaper business and put to good use his ability to tell a person’s nationality by just looking at them. I heard the CIA is looking for some good experts in racial profiling.
Brendon, how would you solve the problem? I’d assign MPs to the guard posts while making sure that both guards and MPs are rotated on a daily or weekly basis, but doing so might be a bit costly.
Don’t MPs guard the entrance to Yongsan post along with the Korean civilian guards?
Anyway, having Koreans come and go freely into US bases to buy/eat stuff is wrong, I agree and yes assigning MPs will drastically reduce the number of unauthorized Koreans entering US bases.
But you also have to look at the cost-benefit of stationing MPs to guard US bases from Koreans who are enriching the USA while making a big fool out of themselves.
Of course, if the Koreans decide to go terrorist, then for sure go with the heavily armed MPs.
MPs do not man the entry points at Army posts in Korea. Sometimes there are KATUSAs, but no MPs at the gates. The Air Force, by contrast, has Security Policement (SPs) at all entry points.
How would I solve the problem? Close the base and take the troops — and their delicious brain-melting steaks — out of Korea.
Our guards are contracted from a British company called Group 4 Falck. The old man guarding gate 19 in the mornings is always drunk, but there’s a hottie guarding gate 7 in the afternoons.
Brendan is correct, at all Army installations the gates have Korean security guards manning them. no MP’s. The Air Force bases are more heavily guarded by US personnel. The Koreans are not on the bases illegally. There are ways to obtain base permits legally for wealthy Koreans. They go through AMCHAM and Korean/American Friendship Organization to buy a pass then they sign on all their friends and go golfing and eating. The driving range (2-300 yards long) is the biggest attraction for Koreans on Yongsan. Then they eat and drink at the restaurant adjacent to it. If USFK took away the right for these Koreans to come on base, that whole restauran/golf complex would go under within a month. It is HUGE money for MWR. Also, any Retired General in the ROK army has the right to go on as well. The place is teaming with gaggles of ajjumas in BMWs and MERCs that keep the place afloat.
Actually Group4 Falck was under bid and a Korean Co. Jeoun Security is guarding them now. Same guards though. That drunk guy I know, he let me in once when I left my ID at home. The hottie is the one who used to be at Gate 20 I’m betting, she was very tasty.
“The Koreans are not on the bases illegally. There are ways to obtain base permits legally for wealthy Koreans. They go through AMCHAM and Korean/American Friendship Organization to buy a pass then they sign on all their friends and go golfing and eating…Also, any Retired General in the ROK army has the right to go on as well.”
In other words, the article was a piece of yellow journalism.
This story could not be true. Ask any Korean and they will tell you that Korean beef is superior to US beef or beef from any other place in the world. Just ask them. Also, because buying such beef is illegal, a Korean would never do such a thing.
Does Songnam have an entry control checkpoint? On Osan AB, there are a lot of Koreans using the golf course every day but that course is on base, and the only people that can play on it are those who have a valid ID card, or those who were escorted on base by someone with an ID card and escort priveleges.
The people who are getting rich are the cahiers at the casino. You can pledge million won and they will sign you on post. Then you will pay them anywhere 200K to 400K to have the ability to waste money in the casino. Go in there and look at the agumas who look like they need a shower, and are eating ramen communally. It is a thing of beauty. Oh and the beef and black marketeering….. Anyone who pays U.S. taxes is loosing……
Actually, Korean beef is pretty good, maybe even better than most of the American beef we get here…but it has little to do with the cows being Korean. Simply put, Korean farmers have been following breeding programs that are strictly aimed at producing higher quality meat, whereas other considerations, such as the amount of production, may be behind American breeding programs.
PS. You could say that the current Hanwoo breed is also French. To be more precise, it is 5/8 Charolais and 3/8 Hanwoo (which is a crossbreed of the original Hanwoo with Holsteins, Angus, and Charolais cows). American cattle is mostly Angus and Texas Longhorn (ie. Korean and American beef will be different, no matter what).
Holy crap! Listen to Gerno…I have verified everything he has said…it is all true.
Nomad, great Socratic irony. LOL
mmmm, “delicious brain-melting steaks” - I’ll take two thank you.
About five years ago the guards at the Golf Course were exposed for taking bribes from Koreans who wanted access to the club and restaurant. I think it was KBS who made the “hidden camera” exclusive.
More recently, the guards at the G.C. have been removed and, being that it is very close to a few Korean driving ranges and another Korean G.C. it is no wonder that a few
hundreddozen Koreans miss the turn and end up in the parking lot.During a weekend visit earler this fall Mrs. Opus and I almost didn’t get a table because of Korean
intrudersvisitors enjoying some grain fed U.S. beef.As for base access: military personnel and their dependents can sign on four adults at any one time for a 24 hour period. Some Korean employees have the “privlige” of signing on a guest or
twofew if their U.S. boss approves. Recently the bosses have not been approving an extension of the “privlige” to lower grade employees.The entire “Ration Control” process is flawed. Authorized patrons have their commissary sales “logged in” to a main computer which can track how much you spent each month and how many pounds of galbi, oxtail, cabbage or cheese you buy each month. I’m told there have been a few families investigated, judged, and had their access removed.
They still allow some leniency around Chusok. One Ajuma I spotted had 10 packages of five pound galbi, a dozen packs of Ball Park Franks and a few 10kg bags of rice.
At the PX there are a host of crafty
black marketeersAjuma’s who seem to like Levi’s in size 0-6, Shisedo makeup, Centrum vitamins (no they don’t like GNC brand), and Godiva. They stop by every day and pay with a few crispsupernotesbenjamins and head out the door.Apoligies for the typo’s. My flippers miss a few keys.
I’ve taken numerous Koreans to Yongsan where they’ve ordered numerous American beef products where I take special care to inform them of the origin, should they be skittish, and nobody cares (same at my BBQ parties at home).
The biggest loser in this American beef ban is the average Korean consumer. When will they wake up that they are bending over? When will the hordes of irate housewives–who spend eight times what they should have to for beef–march on MOFAT?
Someguy asked,
Not Brendon, but here’s a solution. One’s ID must be scanned to enter any facility and it must be scanned to complete any financial transaction. CCTVs at the doors and checkout counters. And MPs frequently at the exits to check IDs–I’ve yet to see MPs do this in many years here. Lastly, Koreans who don’t work on post may not bring their cars on post–they ignore traffic rules and take up parking spaces to boot.
Currently the DoD issues a Common Access Card (CAC) to all US-citizen employees and to those Koreans who require computer access to perform their jobs. Family members and others are not issued a CAC, but their IDs include a bar code that can scanned. At the Yongsan commissary and PX you must show your CAC and, if not uniformed service, a Ration Control Plate (RCP) to enter. These are not scanned by anything. BTW, go to a commissary and PX at smaller installations and there’s no ID check at the entrance. Only at the commissary is an entire transaction recorded, when the cashier types one’s social security number into the system. Some cashiers have been caught typing in someone else’s social security number to circumvent the system.
The Class VI (booze, food, golf balls & small appliances) does not require one to show any ID to enter, and the employees often do NOT check any ID at the checkout, though they are required to perform a “100% ID check”. ID not scanned. (The Class IV is full of ajummas mid-morning and mid-afternoon, all buying the same items.) The same is true at the Four Seasons (bicyles, BBQs and golf equipment). ID not scanned. The driving range is supposed to check ID, but it doesn’t. Same with the casinos. At the gas station one must show one’s CAC & RCP prior to filling up, but this check is not hands on and one can flash just about anything. ID not scanned. None of the restaurants and bars perform any type of ID check, except for age.
Of course the outcome of this will be to screw over MWR-financed activities. And it screw over those of you who
shopare gouged at the blackmarket.But it may screw over enough Korean shoppers too, and may thus put pressure on the gov’t to liberalize a bit better.Last point scratched; they’ll just be bitter with the US.And an aside that may piss off US citizens without SOFA status. At the Yongsan commissary and PX you’ll see non-US diplomats’ cars in the lots and these diplomats in the aisles. Some nations are somehow able to purchase goods that are subsidized by US taxpayers (shipping not added to the cost).
i recall that beef was not as plentiful and more expensive in South Korea in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Just a question. Do you US expats not involved with the US military find themselves eating less beef in South Korea? Thanks.
wjk, I’m not American, but to answer your question: I gained 15 pounds over the summer when I went to Canada. I had BBQ three meals a day…sometimes four.
…but the greatest culinary injustice in Korea isn’t the price of beef or pork…it’s the lack of bison meat.
Aaaah, the black market. If we were serious about it, we’d take ration control cards away from everybody who didn’t actually wear a uniform, and didn’t have command sponsorship. This is the way it used to be.
AAFES contributes to MWR, which are “non-appropriated fund” activities. So PX purchases made by USFK soldiers actually pay for the Seongnam golf course enjoyed by Koreans.
The Commissary, on the other hand, is subsidized by the taxpayer, and does not have to make a profit.
But as for Koreans on USFK courses, yes, I have a hell of a problem with memberships and tee-times being awarded to civilians instead of soldiers.
1986…we were living in uninsulated, open-bay quonset huts built back in 1953. Diesel was strictly rationed, so when we ran out on Feb 15th, that was pretty much it for heat in the barracks. The latrines and shower areas were common for 20 quonset huts, and 300m away in the cold. A battalion ate in one single “stretch” quonset hut, so no lingering over chow.
The 8th Army golf course was a nice place to eat breakfast, if we could get down to civilization. On several trips, I or my troops were turned back at the door because we were in field clothing, vice spiffy BDU’s or class-b’s. Forget playing golf there. Every time someone in the platoon tried, it turned out that various staffs or “special activities” associated with the viceroy had permanently blocked out tee-times.
Then the 8th Army Golf Course clubhouse burned down. Nobody knows why or how.
While we were told that money was not available to refurbish the quonset hut that served as the enlisted club at Cp Hovey, it seems that money WAS available to rebuild 8th Army’s golf course clubhouse from the ground up, bigger and better, and in a record-setting 60 days.
A few Bolsheviks in the platoon had an idea…so in the middle of the night, a platoon of tracks, M113’s and 548’s, to be exact, roadmarched to Yongsan. Someone had thought to dummy up convoy clearance paperwork and paint on bumper numbers for an entirely fictitious 1369th ADA BN.
The platoon of tracks entered Yongsan and went straight for the golf course, at around 0200. Nice pivot turns on each and every green, destroying the grass, digging holes a foot or so deep. Roostertails of sod flying from the tracks, we departed Yongsan and were back home in time for PT.
Naturally, 8th Army had a shit-fit. Gary Luck, the commander of 2ID and a real soldier’s soldier, stubbornly insisted that none of his tracks had left the gate of Camp Casey (technically true, as we were at Hovey), and fended off any and all efforts of CID to investigate. MG Luck knew exactly who had done this horrible thing, and sent the platoon leader a personal attaboy.
It took well into the fall for them to repair damage to the greens and fairways.
Sorry if it sounds random, but are there restaurants in Korea that serve really good PRIME RIBS? (like those at Lawry’s in the U.S)
Irrawaddy,
You should have a living snake shoved up your ass! Anyone who would damage a golf course is an scumbag. Do you have no shame?
Irrawaddy,
You should have a living snake shoved up your ass! Anyone who would damage a golf course is an scumbag. Do you have no shame?
OOOps… Make that the Bolsheviks should have that treatment! Maximus Maya Copa!
Irrawady, that’s a good story, told with “picture detail” that gives it the ring of truth (ie, “roostertails of sod” coming off the back side of the rotating track).
But I think we deserve a little proof. As Mondale demanded of Hart, just two years before your “alleged” escapade:
“Where’s the beef?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where’s_the_beef%3F
Got any photos (”crime scene” aftermath I mean), Stars & Stripes stories, or maybe a local Yongsan garrison newspaper clipping? Surely it must still be recorded somewhere, though I suppose CID/MP blotter reports are tossed after a year or two unless somebody gets arrested and charged.
If so, maybe you can work out with the Marmot about how to get them to him for posting and thus further entertainment/ admiration.
Not saying I’d admire it (I’m a golfer sometimes, & what you did guarantees some time in purgatory), just that I enjoy a good story. However this is the internet and even Bolsheviks (more like anarchists in this case) should have the good manners to provide some kind of a link.
The golf course lawn job story sounds too good to be true, and if true, worthy of disdain. Color me skeptical as well.
Yeah Wedge! Now that I think of it… How could Kelly’s Hero’s get past the fences and check points?
I retract my previous statement! Put the snake back!
That’s a great story Irrawaddy. I hope it’s true. A golf course on a US military installation that is monopolized by civilian Korean politicians and businessmen and takes money away from the lowest ranking soldiers’ quarters ought to be sown with crap. Better yet, let herds of cattle on and let them eat all the turf and shit on all the greens. Then you can serve that beef to the Koreans in the clubhouse at Songnam.
Actually, The golf course pays for all of the MWR facilities with money to spare. Don’t shoot the golden goose!
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[...] Robert Koehler from Marmot’s Hole reports about the recent debate concerning US military base selling illegal beef to Korean resturants. Oiwan Lam [...]
[...] He also said “all citizens” (well, apparently not all) were worried about U.S. demands that Korea completely open its market to U.S. beef. He said Korea needed to make it clear that U.S. beef imports were not subject to negotiation during these talks. [...]