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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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 Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:28 pm Post subject: Trouble brewing in Main Gate Songtan Pyongtaek |
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It may be wise to avoid the area until this cools down.
http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/entertainment-district-outside-osan-ab-declared-off-limits-1.225653
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SEOUL � The Songtan Entertainment District outside Osan Air Base has been declared off-limits for 18 hours every day starting Friday because of planned protests by area club owners over the decision to prohibit servicemembers from frequenting a half-dozen bars found to be promoting prostitution.
The entertainment district is to be off-limits from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m.
�This action is necessary to ensure the safety and welfare of military and civilian personnel and family members, and to avert incidents and provocations detrimental to the alliance between the United States and Republic of Korea,� said a statement posted on Facebook and attributed to the installation command.
Songtan is home to dozens of so-called �juicy bars� where primarily Philippine women are employed as hostesses, flirting with servicemembers and trying to get them to buy them expensive juice drinks.
While flirting is as far as things go at some juicy bars, others are notorious for forcing their hostesses to prostitute themselves when they fall short of drink-sale quotas.
A spokeswoman for the 51st Fighter Wing command said the bar owners� association has said that between 50 and 150 supporters will protest for as many as 30 days.
�To ensure the safety and welfare of our service members, the Songtan Entertainment District will be temporarily placed off-limits for the duration of the protests,� said a release from the command.
The main gate will be closed to all vehicles and most pedestrian traffic. All military personnel who reside off base are being asked to wear civilian clothes when traveling to and from base.
More than 50 base-area establishments, including juicy bars, are now off-limits to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in South Korea because of ties to prostitution and human trafficking. Six in the Songtan Entertainment District were recently added to the list of by 51st Fighter Wing commander Col. Patrick McKenzie.
�Establishments may be put off limits to all military personnel until the 51st Fighter Wing commander has determined that the establishment has instituted adequate corrective actions to again make it a safe environment for our service members to visit,� said the release from the command.
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liveinkorea316
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I guess they will have to build more pool halls and another movie theatre and a batting cage to keep people busy in the weekends near the base. I think it's s good thong really. |
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rowdie3
Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Location: Itaewon, Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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A good 'thong' indeed. lol
Well, I agree with working to eliminate prostitution and human trafficing, but I feel bad for the legit shop and restaurant owners who have businesses around the main gate who could end up out of business. I also feel sorry for the airmen and women and their families who will have to make new plans for off base activities. Hopefully the protestors will realize the damage this will cause to everyone and cancel their plans.
Until then, I'm claiming the rooftop pool at the Yongchon Hotel as MINE! No more juicy/'date' dance parties while I try to get my tan on. SCORE! |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Rowdie is right. There are many good people getting hurt by this situation. Let's hope they can get everything straightened out ASAP. Until then it would be a good idea to avoid the area. Protesters are not your friends. Even misunderstandings can get ugly. |
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MiXX
Joined: 30 Aug 2012
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| Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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I know many of the girls that work in these places. They told me about the bars closing this past weekend.
I am alittle pissed because now I cant go listen to latin music at Woody's.
Anyone know if Click was closed as well?
I think I am gonna go check out the protests tomorrow. I look like a GI so it could get interesting! lol |
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lemak
Joined: 02 Jan 2011
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javis
Joined: 28 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 2:25 am Post subject: |
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| And, the counter protesters have rolled out. |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:30 am Post subject: |
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An update
http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2973470&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist1
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Protests over U.S. base’s ban on 15 hostess bars
Owners complain about probe methodsJune 22,2013 A week ago, about 150 members of an association of owners of foreign tourist facilities and businesses in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, gathered in front of the U.S. Osan K-55 Air Base and staged a protest.
They claim that their livelihoods have been threatened.
The U.S. military has designated some of their businesses, all of them hostess bars, as off-limit areas to their soldiers, causing them huge losses as most of their revenue is derived from the nearby soldiers.
They held signs reading “Stop the ban!” and “Don’t threaten our livelihood!” Some shaved their heads as a symbol of protest.
According to the association, on June 13, the K-55 camp designated 15 of 50 hostess bars, including seven on the Rodeo Street of Sinjang-dong, Pyeongtaek, as off-limits for offering illegal prostitution.
They also said that the U.S. military called the owners into the camp for investigation, questioning them in an interrogation room without legal representatives.
Under the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) regulations, at least one Korean police officer must be present when the U.S. military questions Koreans or the investigation must be carried out through Korean police.
They claimed that this is a clear SOFA violation and that their human rights have been abused by the U.S. military.
But the K-55 camp officers told a different story to the Korea JoongAng Daily yesterday.
Park Young-hee, a spokesman for the K-55 camp, said they first ran an internal investigation into soldiers who were suspected of paying for sex in the region. They then found these 15 bars were offering prostitution to those soldiers.
“We found that some of the bars abused their hostesses, who are mostly from the Philippines,” said Park. “We heard that the owners have taken the hostesses’ passports and don’t pay wages on time. We can’t say whether it is true or not, but we just limited the access to those places because we didn’t want our soldiers to step into places that look like they have problems.”
Regarding the illegal investigation issue, Park said, “The owners wanted to speak with us first. They said that it isn’t fair to designate their places as off-limit areas without listening to their opinions. So we requested that they come to the camp and they responded to the call. It isn’t true that we summoned them compulsorily.”
In the past few days, the business owners have claimed that they had to comply with the U.S. military’s call for the investigation as their businesses heavily rely on the soldiers.
As the rally continued for about a week and the investigation process became a hot issue, Patrick McKenzie, the commander of the 51st Fighter Wing at the Osan K-55 Air Base, stated that they will consider revising the process for the off-limit measure when he meets Kim Sun-ki, mayor of the Pyeongtaek city government, on Tuesday.
At the meeting, McKenzie pledged that they will make sure that they will run questioning sessions with at least one official from the city government and one from the local police and all sessions will be held in a place outside the camp.
But McKenzie said the ban in the area will continue temporarily to secure the safety of soldiers because those merchants are still staging a rally every day.
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Stan Rogers
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 2:59 am Post subject: |
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| Sounds like an abusive married couple who are madly in love with each other and yet you see the cops over at their place every second night. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:59 am Post subject: |
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| I really don't feel any sympathy whatsoever for the juicy bar owners. First off, it's the soldiers who will face legal action if soldiers are caught in the joint. Why would they need a Korean cop in the room? The USFK isn't turning over information gleaned to the Korean authorities. If there's an official Korean presence at the USFK investigation, then the ROK authorities will have to take action. Yeah, right. Second, so they're upset their hookers couldn't hide the fact they're sluts? Seems to me the pimps need to do a better job of training the hookers or, better yet, find a better business model. |
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Nester Noodlemon
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 4:25 am Post subject: |
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| This country has some of the most ignorant protests. |
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liveinkorea316
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:20 am Post subject: |
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So the truth (according to the Military spokesman) is that they ascertained that 15 out of 50 juicy bars endangered their own staff so they put those places off limits to their own soldiers until those places were improved.
Nothing wrong with that. Seems like they were not trying to close anyones business down. They just had info that the girls were being kept as semi slaves which is quite common in Korean prostitution so believable. |
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