12 Dec 19
Dear Mr. Jeppesen,
I just finished reading “See You Again in Pyongyang”.
I found it well written, unbiased, (with one exception), and informative.
However, I must dispute quotes you included, from a person named Bruce Cumings.
On page 126, you quote him as saying that US and South Korean troops ‘routinely included….back-pack nukes controlled by mobile units, practice with nuclear cannons,..in nuclear war scenarios.” You also quoted him as saying that the North Koreans fear that US Army helicopters ‘might stray over the DMZ and drop a bomb.”
Sir, I have no idea what planet Mr. Cumings was on, but I can tell you that there is no such thing as a ‘nuclear cannon’. Soldiers do not pack nuclear bombs in their rucksacks. There is no such thing as a ‘back pack nuke’, at least in the US military. Helicopters are not used to drop bombs. A helicopter is easily shot down and the North Koreans have plenty of radar sites to illuminate aircraft and anti-aircraft weapons with which to shoot them down. US Army and South Korean helicopters don’t ‘stray’ over the DMZ. Bombs need to be dropped from a greater height than than a helicopter is capable of. As for the mention of nuclear capable aircraft…what he meant by that, I have no idea. By his standard, the Enola Gay..a B-36 propeller plane-was nuclear capable. But it wasn’t nuclear POWERED, so what Cumings meant, I don’t know.
I think he was full of shit.
I spent 21 years in the US Army and enjoyed two years in South Korea. Of my twelve years stationed overseas, Korea was the best. I lived on the economy for part of my tour of duty there, and part in the barracks. I met many Koreans and learned to speak the language…not so fluently that I could discuss quantum theory, but enough so that I could carry on a rudimentary conversation.
My job in the Army was in ordnance, the branch that supplies armored and tactical vehicles, the mechanics for those vehicles and the ammunition to fight battles with. If there’d been nuclear warheads or bombs on the peninsula, I would have known about it.
I have read a lot of books about North Korea, to include “Without You There Is No Us,” “Nothing to Envy”, “North Korea Confidential’, and “Escape from Camp 14”.
In addition, one of my neighbors is South Korean, married to a retired US Air Force airman, and has taught me to make kimchi, bul gogi, and my favorite, shigumchi. She and her husband are hosting a 29 year old North Korean man, who escaped North Korea, was taken in by the S. Korean Catholic church and eventually brought here to the US. He had never been in Pyongyang. To him, it was as foreign a land as South Korea and the US. The one thing he says, over and over, is how wrong the dictators were and are about Americans.
As for Otto Warmbier…what an idiot. He had it coming. I refuse to believe he wasn’t warned half a dozen times by the Chinese touring agency he was with. Anyone who knows anything about North Korea knows that the Kims are considered gods, ones who stupid American tourists disrespect at their peril. Throughout my career, I saw young idiots like him do stupid, often illegal things in a foreign country and then are shocked and dismayed when the country’s law enforcement arm arrests them for their crime. So many assume that the Bill of Rights protects them wherever they may be. Idiots. If you ever get to S. Korea, ask about Suwon prison. It’s near Osan. It’s home to several of the above referred American idiots who did things like murder a hooker and get stuck in that hell hole as punishment.
Other than the inflammatory and incorrect quotes from Cumings, I found a lot to learn from your book. Sounds like you had a good time.
Thank you for your time and attention,
Michele Jefferson SFC, USA, Ret.
Seattle, WA

by Michele Jefferson on December 13, 2019 at 3:48 am. #