What Went Down in South Korea w/ Lt. General Chun | EYES ON PODAST

Today were joing by LT. General Chun, he breaks down what went down in South Korea 10 days ago when President Yoon declared Martial Law. Find General Chun here:⬇️ https://youtube.com/@inbumchun?si=58T9mpLctbYgtO86 Support the show on Patreon:⬇️ https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse Find Jason here ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-lyons-666873316?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app https://bsky.app/profile/bgsilverback73.bsky.social Find Andy Milburn here:⬇️ https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fandymilburn8 https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmilburn2023 https://amilburn.substack.com/ https://www.amazon.com/When-Tempest-Gathers-Mogadishu-Operations https://bsky.app/profile/andy-milburn.bsky.social https://open.substack.com/pub/amilburn/p/journal-of-a-plague-year?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=emo6q&utm_medium=ios Find Mick Mulroy here:⬇️ https://fogbow.com/ https://www.loboinstitute.org/ https://x.com/MickMulroy?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-patrick-mulroy-31198b52/ https://bsky.app/profile/mickmulroy.bsky.social #southkorea #martiallaw Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:28Speaker 01

  Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Eyes On. And today, we're taking a bit of a departure from current affairs in the Middle East, and we're turning to Korea. And we're very, very excited to have as a guest Lieutenant General Choong, formerly of the Republic of Korea military. But General Choong has a very interesting background. Dee, you'll be interested to know that he spent four and a half years, almost five years, in New York as a kid before attending high school, hence his perfect English. Awesome. And then after, after joining the military, Richie Lee Quine, after joining

• 1:13Speaker 01

  the military as a newly fledged second lieutenant, won one of South Korea's most prestigious awards, the Bravery, in 1983, which is, you know, as all of you know, is outside what we think of as combat, you know, the history of combat on the Korean peninsula. It's a very interesting incident. We're going to ask the general to talk about that later in the episode, and it occurred in Rangoon during a North Korean attack. And then Lieutenant General Choong went on to have a distinguished career after that. I know that's a cliche to say, but he really did.

• 1:55Speaker 01

  He was part of the ROK US Combined Forces Command. He served with the Korean Special Warfare Command, has commanded at every level, to include operational commands in both Afghanistan and Iraq, in Afghanistan, he was involved in a South Korean hostage crisis in 2007. If we have time, we'll certainly talk about that. He headed up the, I'm going to use the term ROK for Republic of Korea. He headed up the ROK Special Warfare Command,

• 2:31Speaker 01

  which is of course closely affiliated with our own SOCOM.

• 2:36Speaker 01

  And has a US Bronze Star Medal, the first Korean to receive that honor since the Korean War. He retired in 2016 and since then has served with the Brookings Institute and John Hopkins University in Washington DC. General June, welcome to the show.

• 3:03Speaker 02

  Thank you very much for that introduction.

• 3:06Speaker 01

  And well, I think before we get on to talk about some of the highlights of your career, we'd love to hear your thoughts about what is happening in Seoul right now.

• 3:23Speaker 02

  So about 10 days ago, on 3 December, the President of Korea suddenly announced martial law.

• 3:35Speaker 02

  Thankfully, it only lasted for six hours. No one was injured or killed. But it put a great dent in the Korean image as well as the military for being called in to execute this mission. I hesitate even to call it a mission, but

• 3:59Speaker 02

  it was poorly planned, poorly coordinated. And anybody with any military experience knows that poorly planned, poorly coordinated operations will always result in fatalities. But this time, thankfully, nothing happened of that nature.

• 4:21Speaker 02

  According to the Korean Constitution, the National Assembly had a vote. They said we're not going to uphold the martial law. And they turned it over. And the president had a couple of hours to think about it. And he recalled martial law. And it seemed like it was going to be just a bad tasting incident. But it's been lingering on even to this day, where the president must take responsibility. What that forum will be, will it be a resignation or impeachment? It's still up in the air.

• 5:06Speaker 02

  But until then, on both conservative and progressive sides, peaceful demonstrations are continuing, which could become nasty. Now nasty demonstrations in Korea has not happened in 15 years or more. We demonstrate, but we do it very lawfully. But you know how things like that are. Anything can go wrong. People can get emotional. And anybody who had a bad day could

• 5:48Speaker 02

  turn a bad situation into an ugly situation. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that our democratic system will work. And it'll make us stronger because now people who couldn't even spell impeachment, know how to spell that. In other words, people aren't getting more interested in politics and the value of their vote. So that's where we are now in a nutshell.

• 6:23Speaker 01

  Sir, you talk about, or you touched on kind of the, some of a couple of the positive aspects of this and for the benefit of our audience, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind just touching on some of the recent history of brushes with martial law in Korea and then why there are, and then the contrast with what has just happened. For instance, the role that the special warfare commander played in this recent crisis is actually

• 7:01Speaker 01

  quite positive. I mean, he essentially refused the orders coming from President Yoon, but he didn't have a strong precedent in recent history with, you know, I'm talking about, for instance, the Guangzhou demonstrations, I think, in 1980 and, I mean, demonstrations against martial law all the way up to 1987. So, in a way, this is, I'm paraphrasing here, but this is a benchmark, an important benchmark, important turning point in Korea's recent history, a transition to being a highly functioning democracy.

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• 8:43Speaker 02

  Okay. So first, why does Korea need a martial law? We need a system like a martial law because only forty miles from where I live is North Korea with a million men armed to their teeth with now not only missiles but nuclear missiles, nuclear weapons to threaten the way of life that I enjoy as a free person.

• 9:14Speaker 02

  So martial law in case of war is declared basically to maintain law and order to support the mobilization of the Republic of Korea. And this mobilization in turn will be the engine with which we will be able to execute our defensive plans against an outer enemy. So that's why we have martial law. That is the justification for having this system.

• 9:48Speaker 02

  In order to under... Before I go. So this time, my president

• 9:58Speaker 02

  identified that the actions of the opposition political party was criminal and that it threatened the integrity of the Republic of Korea as a democracy and as a free nation. That's what he's... That's why he declared martial law. And why he thinks that they are a threat is because the opposition party, because they had superior numbers in the National Assembly and with their ability to pass laws, started passing laws intentionally to embarrass the president,

• 10:42Speaker 02

  to get him impeached, to impeach, among others, public prosecutors who was going after and investigating illegal activities of the opposition leader.

• 11:01Speaker 02

  In fact, they had just passed laws to impeach. The public prosecutor was going to investigate their head of state, head of the party.

• 11:13Speaker 02

  Finally, the opposition was threatening to unilaterally pass next year's budget. This has never happened in Korea, even during the so-called dictatorship authoritarian times in Korean history. Whether it was by bribing or, you know, threatening murder, at least they agreed to a budget. But this year, the opposition threatened to unilaterally pass a budget. And in this budget, they cut all

• 11:52Speaker 02

  funds that were

• 11:57Speaker 02

  that could be used to

• 12:02Speaker 02

  on a

• 12:07Speaker 02

  discretionary level. So why do you need discretionary funds? Well, let's say you're on a

• 12:16Speaker 02

  investigation of of a drug ring. Oh, you can't have a budget that says

• 12:25Speaker 02

  drug, drug ring, you know, hideout clandestine operations. So they put it in a discretionary fund. They were going to cut every one of, one of those things. So this is why President Yoon said enough is enough. And this has been going on for 200 years. That's number one. But this was a political problem. He should never have tried to solve it by declaring martial law, which is basically a military solution. And it would not have worked.

• 12:58Speaker 02

  Now, another side to this story is, well, the opposition, how did they get, you know, superior numbers? It was because Yoon and his administration were so incompetent that many of the middle, middle class voted for the opposition, not because they trusted the opposition, because they hated what Yoon and his people were doing. And they were doing some really stupid things. And so that's, you know, this whole situation was created by, in most part because of Yoon's, my president, Yoon's own policies and ineptitudes.

• 13:38Speaker 02

  So we're at a stage where you cannot differentiate from the human and the swine. You know what they say, never fight a pig, because in the end you'll get so muddied up, people will not know which is the pig and which is the human. So in my view, they're all the same. Anyway, right now, President Yoon used the military to solve a political problem. And I think that was so inept.

• 14:11Speaker 02

  So that's, that's the root cause. Now, historically, the Republic of Korea was established, it was established in 1948. We were liberated by the Japanese in 1945.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  When 1945, we were liberated,

• 14:33Speaker 02

  the 38th parallel divided Korea into North and South. In the North, the Soviet Union came in. In the South, the United States came in to disarm the Japanese soldiers on the Korean Peninsula.

• 14:48Speaker 02

  The American soldiers at that time had this joke. There are three things that an American soldier hates. One is gonorrhea, second is diarrhea, and third is Korea. That was Korea in 1945. I mean, we were a backward country. Our per capita income was like $50 or something. Eighty percent of our people couldn't read or write. And now, in less than 100 years, we're the 10th largest economy. And we now contribute to world peace. And we actually are an active member in the UN. And I must be honest with you.

• 15:33Speaker 02

  Ninety percent of the Korean people believe it is because of US support.

• 15:39Speaker 02

  I believe it is because of the American people's support, not necessarily our government. But to many Koreans, it's the same. The American people have helped us by coming to our aid during the Korean War. And even now, tens of thousands of Americans are on the Korean Peninsula to maintain peace and to deter the Korean War. Anyway, in the early days of Korea, 1948 or 1945, just think back what it must have been like. Ignorant, poor people.

• 16:22Speaker 02

  They were under Japanese colonial rule for 30-plus years, 35 or something.

• 16:29Jack Murphy?

  Hey, guys, it's Jack. I just wanted to talk to you today about a way that you can help support the podcast if you're not already. To support the channel is to become a Patreon member. So we have Patreon memberships that start at just $5 a month. And when you sign up, you get access to all of our episodes ad-free. That's the big bonus for that. I mean, we also do some Patreon bonus episodes for our subscribers. But this is the biggest and best way that you can support the Team House channel and podcast if you'd like to. And we really appreciate that. So go and check us out at patreon.com/theTeamHouse.

• 17:10Speaker 02

  During those years, the Japanese treated us as sub-humans.

• 17:18Speaker 02

  And so if you were a young man in those days, say, 1920, what did you see of the world? You saw that the Japanese treated the Koreans like animals. And the Japanese were capitalists and the Japanese were imperialists. So in your mind, you would think capitalism and imperialism is a bad word. And at the same time, you heard that in a far, far country called Rusol, which is Russia, that the evil Tsar was now ousted and that everybody was equal.

• 17:53Speaker 02

  We know now communism does not work. But did we know in 1920? No. So if you think, imagine yourself being a Korean in 1920. Do you think you might have been calling yourself a communist? Many Koreans thought that communism was the future of Korea in 1945 and 1948. And in 1948, when we were established as a republic, we were on really thin ice. There were hundreds of thousands of Koreans who thought communism slash socialism was the future of Korea.

• 18:32Speaker 02

  It was only because a man named Lee Seung Man, who was the first president of Korea, who was a devout Christian and an American educated man.

• 18:46Speaker 02

  He came to Korea with the support of the United States. He was able to establish Korea as a democratic capitalist country.

• 18:56Speaker 02

  But within Korea, there was a lot of strife.

• 19:01Speaker 02

  Killing and violent strife. And during those years of 45 to 1950, before the Korean War, the North Koreans were very systematic in their preparations because they were under the Soviets. It was a communist dictatorship. They could, you know, control the press, make sure all the labor unions were gone and all the propaganda stuff. They were, they were just masterful at that. Whilst on our side, we had to respect human rights, freedom of speech. And these, these communists, they took all of that into their advantage.

• 19:46Speaker 02

  Anyway, within South Korea, there were a lot of communist sympathizers not knowing that communism did not work. So even before the Korean War, within South Korea, there was a lot of killings. Thousands of people in North Korea, especially those of landlord descent or landlords themselves, were persecuted, murdered, and, you know, horrible things happened to them under the communists. They escaped down south. Many of their children, who had an affluent life in North Korea, now found themselves jobless and looking for a cigarette butt on the streets.

• 20:31Speaker 02

  Can you imagine the hatred that these men had? They were poor, they were hungry, and now they were full of hatred against communists. So when they were down south, again, a lot of strife. And of course, the conservatives, the capitalists, they used such elements for their own political gains.

• 20:57Speaker 02

  Between forty-five and fifty, there were actually South Korean units that refused orders and rebelled. And so there was, again, a lot of murders and killings. When the North Koreans came and attacked us and nearly conquered the entire Korean peninsula, and when we went bad, it was actually an opportunity to make sure, well, to come to a semi-conclusion about,

• 21:42Speaker 02

  you know, who should be on the south side as a capitalist democratic country and in North Korea as a...

• 21:52Speaker 02

  Communist country, and of course, they call them a democratic state, but as a dictatorship. Until the sixties and seventies, the North Koreans had a higher living standard than the South Koreans. And South Korea, until that time, was under a military-led authoritarian state.

• 22:16Speaker 01

  So did you say, sorry to interrupt, did you say until the sixties and seventies?

• 22:21Speaker 02

  Yes, the North Koreans had a higher, higher state of living standards than we did. So it was very easy for the North Koreans to say, look, communism is working. Uh, we don't have any kind of a dictatorship like you do because they have, they have one hundred percent of the people voting and everybody voted for Kim. So there was the proof. It was only until the eighties that North Korean system started to falter.

• 22:56Speaker 02

  And by the late eighties, North Korea started to be isolated and Korea became the, it was the start of the opening of South Korea. So we, we, we, we know that Park Chung Hee was the dictator of South Korea from nineteen sixty-three to nineteen seventy-nine. Right after him was Chen Duhuan. Chen Duhuan, during his initial years, was the chief of the military when the Guangzhou incident happened.

• 23:37Speaker 02

  Uh, but when Chen became the president, he was the one who actually lifted uh, curfews, opened up our markets, uh, and, and revamped Korean economy. And by the late eighties, he was able to open the way for Korea's economy and the Korean system to work as it is now.

• 24:04Speaker 02

  For an example, you, most people know that Korea is the most wired country in the world. And the way we were able to do that is because we had, we have all these relay stations and the infrastructure. Well, it was Chan in the eighties who initially said that this is the future for us. Anyway.

• 24:29Speaker 02

  So until those years, martial law was required because Korean society was very, very unstable. Imagine it, until the late seventies, Korean economy or living standards was not as great as North Korea. North Korea used every available means to destabilize South Korea, labor unions. Uh, using, you know, fake news. Thank God they didn't have internet then, but they did that. Then, of course, the authoritarian slash dictatorships had their own faults.

• 25:10Speaker 02

  They, they fabricated cases, sometimes executed innocent people. A lot of wrong was done, torture, you know, all that kind of stuff. Not as bad as the Iranians, though. So anyway, martial law left a really bad taste.

• 25:30Speaker 02

  During the sixties and seventies, ten martial law decrees occurred. The last one was when in nineteen seventy-nine, the then-president Park Chung-il was assassinated by one of his close associates, the KCIA director. Anyway, we, we Koreans have been able to become a very democratic country, freedom of speech, expression, you know, uh, all that kind of stuff.

• 26:03Speaker 02

  Uh, and for the past forty-five years, we have lived, we have been able to live without a martial law. And all of a sudden, this happens. And it's, you know, pretty embarrassing. Uh, and it's really bizarre because the whole way that this, this martial law planning had occurred was there was no plan. So the whole truth is still to, still evolving. But so far, we know that bad planning uh, resulted in the Korean soldiers uh, dragging their feet because they didn't understand what the orders were or the objectives.

• 26:48Speaker 02

  Although the commanders are coming out and explaining their role, mainly uh, saying that uh, they didn't know what the whole picture was. They're making excuses. And we still don't know what their full involvement in this uh, debacle is yet, but it's going to come out.

• 27:20Speaker 02

  But the, at the end of the, but at the end of the day today, most of the Korean public recognize that the soldiers on the ground are not to blame. And in fact, because the soldiers showed restraint when the civilians were yanking at their rifles, throwing stuff, uh, spraying fire extinguishers on them, that the soldiers maintained calm. And no fatalities, no one was injured. So the public uh, is applauding the, the individual soldiers. But the commanders and the senior leaders in the military

• 28:06Speaker 02

  are now being uh, looked very closely into their role. And I'll finish there.

• 28:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, the um, the, just reading about legislators pushing their way past soldiers to get into, into the assembly, uh, you know, to your point about restraint on the soldiers part. Um, certainly, it's, it says a lot, and it says a lot for, you know, all these young men, women were brought up in, you know, in, in recent years and, and, um, uh, and, and seemed to have, as you said, acted with restraint, which was a saving grace to this. Um, as far as the role that Special Warfare Command played,

• 28:54Speaker 01

  uh, do, do you think it was a conscious decision by the, the commander not to obey orders then? Or, or is that still unclear? Do you think it was perhaps that he wasn't, he, he didn't understand his orders?

• 29:09Speaker 02

  You know, Andy, I'm human. Uh, I'm not the first guy that's gonna throw, throw the stone. I don't know what the circumstances was. I feel really sorry for the guy. But he's a three star. Uh, all this, you know, comes with the job. When he was initially told, if he was confused, he should have asked. And when he got the details, he should have said no. But instead, uh, he didn't ask questions. He didn't know the details, according to him, but maybe he did, I don't know.

• 29:52Speaker 02

  Uh, he didn't, he, he, he didn't know the details. And so since he didn't know, he couldn't tell his subordinate commanders the details. And they were basically told, go to the National Assembly and block the National Assemblymen from getting inside. Thinking that the National Assembly at ten thirty at night would be empty. Well, there were a lot of people there. And that's the first, uh, misassumption that they made. And thank God that they didn't try to prosecute their mission as, as stated, because it would have been a bad situation.

• 30:32Speaker 01

  So the parallels, I mean, at least for for our audience are are important because, you know, the question of when to obey, when to disobey orders is one that's prevalent in any in any military, you know, certainly one serving a democracy. And I think one of the reasons perhaps that people in the United States are very interested in this is it's not unimaginable. It's not unimaginable that, you know, the military commanders in this country will find themselves in the same position of when to obey or disobey orders coming from, you know, from their political leadership. It's a tough and and

• 31:14Speaker 01

  at that level, at that nexus between between policy and military, you know, military strategy, military leadership is is where those decisions get made. And to your point, that's kind of why, you know, that's, that's why, that's why there are so few four and three star generals. I mean, and and why it is such a tough ladder to get up there. And for those who who think they will never be put in that position, this is a very salient reminder that you can't be complacent about it.

• 31:51Speaker 02

  Yeah. Another point that I would like to make is the Korean Special Forces that were employed this time has a long history. In the 60s and 70s, they were like a personal elite force to execute the president's orders. They were like the Republican Guard. And this today.

• 32:24Speaker 02

  Unlike the rest of the Iraq military, which is 70% conscript.

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• 33:29Speaker 02

  The Korean Special Forces is 90% NCO or above, which means they're professional soldiers. So these are highly capable men, but they are not like the Republican Guard of the previous years. So that's the main difference. The main difference occurred because of the 1981 Guangzhou incident, where the SF, as a palace guard, was deployed to the city of Guangzhou to quell demonstrations. And it did not go as planned.

• 34:11Speaker 02

  Many people, more than 200, were killed during that period. So because of that, the SF has been trying for the past 40 years to stay away from political situations. Something like this. We've been trying to get away and regain our honor, sort of, in making sure that we are understood as the people, people's army, not an army of an individual.

• 34:49Speaker 02

  I guess everybody got the word except for my president and the senior leaders of the Korean military.

• 34:57Speaker 01

  So during this crisis, obviously, North Korea is taking advantage of the propaganda value.

• 35:06Speaker 01

  Are you concerned that this will lead to at least temporarily a weakening of the of the rock military? Or do you think that that this this is just a storm that will be weathered very quickly?

• 35:20Speaker 02

  So the Korean people are resilient. I've talked to young officers and NCOs this week.

• 35:32Speaker 02

  And to my deep gratitude, their attitude was, sir, we're gonna do our job. We're gonna let the senior leadership figure this out. So I think ninety percent is doing their job, especially those looking at the North Koreans.

• 35:55Speaker 02

  My biggest concern is even now

• 36:01Speaker 02

  there are ultra-left

• 36:05Speaker 02

  labor unions or

• 36:09Speaker 02

  organizations in South Korea that we know communicate with North Korea.

• 36:17Speaker 02

  And the North Koreans are not at attacking us with missiles and artillery. But sure enough, they're probably telling their agents here create unrest, discredit the South Korean military, you know, destabilize society and so forth. And there are so many ways to do that in South Korea because freedom of speech.

• 36:42Speaker 02

  There are more than five thousand mediums in Korea that is a registered medium.

• 36:50Speaker 02

  And and people will first are susceptible to to information nowadays. So that's the most worry right now. It seems North Korea, Kim Jong-un now realizes there's more than one crazy person on the Korean Peninsula. And he's not taking any chances right now, so. Uh, but I want to tell him that, hey, South Korean military is still on its toes. And then we have our alliance with the United States, so don't, don't mess with us.

• 37:28Speaker 02

  And oh, by the way, even their spies and their agents, it might not turn out as he thinks because it never does in South Korea.

• 37:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think it's um, to your points or to uh, among the South Korean people about uh, you know, three quarters. I mean, it it it seems to be have been such a backlash against President Yun's actions and um, by, you know, according to the US papers, at least three quarters of South Koreans now want to see him impeached, want to see him gone. There was a a candlelit protest the other night with with about a hundred, well, estimated a hundred thousand people rallying in front of the National Assembly. Um, during um, during, you know, the impeachment vote on on President Yun, so.

• 38:20Speaker 01

  It seems as though, to use kind of a cliche, the forces of democracy there, I mean, this has been a test of them and they are incredibly strong.

• 38:31Speaker 01

  To you, you, you know, so although uh, Yun released, I mean, North Korean papers is saying, you know, calling it a shocking incident to the puppet Yun. Regime where guns and knives, I'm reading from from uh, something they put out the other day, guns and knives of its fascist dictatorship brought havoc across South Korea. Um, that kind of propaganda, at least to date, doesn't seem to be gathering much uh, much traction.

• 38:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, North Korea has its own problems.

• 39:00Speaker 01

  Certainly. Sir, um, if, uh, since we've got a little time left, I'd love to go back to, uh, uh, some high points of your career and, um, let's start off with a, an incredible incident that occurred, uh, in nineteen eighty-three, when you, you were just a lieutenant. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind telling our audience about that.

• 39:23Speaker 02

  So I was a lieutenant and I was the aide to the chairman of the Republic of Korea Joint Staff. Um, he was accompanying the president of Korea to Rangoon, Burma, and on his way to Australia and to Brunei.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  Burma was our first stop. The North Koreans used their diplomatic privileges to smuggle in explosives and detonating devices. And then infiltrated three operatives to assassinate my president. Only by sheer luck and karma, my president was spared. But seventeen of the eighteen official party that attended the ceremony at the mausoleum of, uh, Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi,

• 40:27Speaker 02

  were killed. The only person that survived was my chairman, Chairman Lee. And I got the credit for saving his life. Which is a little bit overdone, but I guess my country needed heroes. For me, it was a very, uh... Deepening moment.

• 40:53Speaker 02

  A lot of people were killed and I just haven't had much experience seeing dead people at that time. Especially people that I I knew and that I was talking to three, four minutes before this thing happened. And I I know many of you might be able to relate that you ask yourself, why me? And then you ask the ultimate question, what is the purpose of life? And so those questions lingered on. And I I also saw that there was a lot to do in my military, so I decided to stay on

• 41:35Speaker 02

  to make this world a little bit better. And in that course, there are not many Korean officers, especially in my generation, who can speak English like I can. And I thought it was my God given duty to help

• 41:54Speaker 02

  Americans understand Korea. And that's my main reason for appearing here today.

• 42:04Speaker 02

  To to help Americans understand Korea more and vice versa, because Koreans really don't know the United States.

• 42:14Speaker 02

  When we see a Hollywood movie, I think that's about ninety percent of our information that we get about the US, and now it's Netflix, of course. So you better make some good movies. Anyway,

• 42:29Speaker 02

  the the the the incident, just think of it, using their diplomatic privileges to try to assassinate somebody else at another in another country. It's just it's just North Korea. And they've never really changed.

• 42:48Speaker 02

  From that incident and on, another thing for me as a military man was, you don't know what's gonna happen the next minute. So always prepare. Make sure your men are trained, ready and equipped. Steal if you have to, but make sure your men are ready.

• 43:11Speaker 02

  Drive them hard, but be also make sure that they they they know that you care for them. And I really enjoyed being in command. And I'm even to this day deeply honored that I was able to serve for thirty eight years. And during that course, I've met many, many American officers and NCOs. Who are really great soldiers, but really decent people. And I really have a respect for the American, the decency that the American people have.

• 43:50Speaker 01

  General Chan, it's been a great pleasure having you on. And I would love to have you on again. There's so much more to to talk about. Certainly with latest developments with North Korea and Russia. But also, you know, to continue the discussion of North Korea's aggression over the last forty years. I mean, you saw a very sharp end of it, but just as a reminder to our audience on the American side. That, you know, the the Korean War never ended. It, I mean, it it continues, it is.

• 44:29Speaker 01

  And and at times, more times, I think than most people aware, it has flared up into a hot war resulting in casualties. And the incident of which you, you know, you speak that you were directly involved. Is one of of several that have occurred since, you know, since the the Korean War. But um.

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• 45:18Speaker 01

  But so, thank you, thank you again. And Dee, over to you.

• 45:25Speaker 02

  Hey, Andy.

• 45:26Speaker 01

  Yes, sir.

• 45:28Speaker 02

  Can I say something before you end?

• 45:29Speaker 01

  Oh, absolutely. Yes.

• 45:31Speaker 02

  Yeah. So, at every opportunity, I want to tell my American friends that every American, in my view, should watch Spider-Man 1 and 2 at least three times in their lifetime. Because Spider-Man 1 teaches you that with great power comes great responsibility. Being an American in itself means great power. And you must be very responsible for what you do. You cannot act like the rest of the world. You need to be better than us.

• 46:06Speaker 02

  Secondly, remember Spider-Man 2? Peter Parker, you know, he's being chased by the cops, the villains want to kill him, and finally Mary Jane wants to break up because she can't see him enough. But the evil forces of the world don't let that happen. This is the karma of you Americans. You will never be able to be safe with the Pacific and Atlantic protecting you because the evil forces will never let you alone. That's why you need to be here in Korea. Because we are a staunch ally, no matter what. I think we are the staunchest ally in the entire world. We were in Vietnam for seven and a half years. Did you know that?

• 46:53Speaker 02

  Twenty-five thousand casualties. Five thousand Koreans lost their lives and twenty thousand of us lost our arms and legs. We fought because we didn't think it was a just war. We fought there because the United States was involved and you needed our help. So again, I thank you for this opportunity and come visit us. This thing will blow over in a couple of months.

• 47:18Speaker 01

  I can't think of a better way to send that message than than those the quotes from the Spider-Man movies, sir. And again, a reminder not, you know, that that support continues in South Korea's support for Ukraine, which is a cause close to to my heart. So on that note, Dee, sir, thank you again. That that was awesome. Dee, over to you.

• 47:45Speaker 06

  Yeah, General, absolutely incredible. Um, the General has a YouTube channel, so please take a look at the links will be in the description as well as the show notes for any of the audio platforms. Um, we'll be definitely keeping a close eye on this space and we'd love to have the General on again. Andy Milburn, of course, when the Tempest gathers his book, all the links will be in the description if you want to follow Andy on Blue Sky, Twitter, LinkedIn. Everything you need to know is down in the description and the best way to support the channel is patreon.com slash the team house. Thank you, guys. This is incredible. Thank you, General.

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• 49:21Speaker 02

  Night.

• 49:21Speaker 01

  Thank you, John.

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  By the time I hit my 50s, I'd learned a few things. Like how family is precious. Work can always wait. And 99% of people over 50 already have the virus that causes shingles. Not everyone at risk will develop it, but I did. The painful blistering rash disrupted my life for weeks. Don't learn about your shingles risk the hard way. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. Sponsored by GSK.

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