USFK striving to become good neighbor

By Lee Tae-hoon

Less than 10 years ago, it was not uncommon for protestors to throw rocks and bricks at U.S. soldiers while tens of thousands of citizens gathered together for candle-light vigils, shouting “Yankee, go home.”

Stephen M. Tharp, a spokesman at United States Forces in Korea (USFK), sadly remembers 2002 as the year when his colleague Lt. Col. Steven Boylan was stabbed by a group of three youths chanting anti-American slogans.

“Anti-Americanism reached a whole new height especially toward our service members as the presidential election drew near in 2002,” Tharp, chief of the USFK strategic outreach public affairs office, recalled.

He noted that the anti-American sentiment peaked following a series of incidents at that time, including the deaths of two 14-year-old girls run over by an American armored vehicle and the controversial disqualification of skater Kim Dong-sung at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Many Koreans believed American skater Apollo Anton Ohno stole the gold from Kim, who finished first but was disqualified for blocking Ohno, by drawing the attention of the referees with a “Hollywood action.”

“The favorable opinion rating of the United States dropped below 50 percent,” Tharp said.

Birth of Good Neighbor program

USFK realized that something had to be done to curb the heightening anti-American sentiment in the country in the early 2000s.

Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, then-commander of USFK, came up with the idea of creating a comprehensive community relations program, called Good Neighbor, with the goal of reversing public opinion so it’s more favorable.

“USFK and subordinate commanders will immediately engage the Korean community, the government, media, business, universities, schools and military in order to provide understanding and appreciation that will mature and strengthen the Korea and United States alliance,” LaPorte said in a memorandum as he launched the initiative on Jan. 17, 2003.

Opinion polls suggest how the general public’s perception of American troops has changed as a result.

According to USFK’s face-to-face surveys of 1,500 citizens, the positive opinion towards the United States which nosedived to 47 percent in Jan. 2003, inched up to 57 percent in April 2005 and climbed to 62 percent in March 2007 and 74 percent in July 2009.

“Korean public opinion polls of the U.S. have steadily increased from 2004 through 2010,” Tharp said. “We must have been doing the right job.”

He points out that all three of the previous USFK Commanders were essentially equally committed and their roles were equally important, although varying.

“Gen. LaPorte created the Good Neighbor program in 2003 and gave life to it while he was the Commander between 2002 and 2006. General B. B. Bell codified and expanded the program during his period as commander from 2006 through 2008,” Tharp noted.

“Gen. Walter Sharp increased the focus and expanded the scope of the program as commander.”

Good Neighbors today

Before the official Good Neighbor program began, a range of activities were held but without coordination. Orphanage visits by USFK servicemen can be traced back to the 1950-1953 Korea War.

Tharp and his colleagues often visited orphanages and participated in home visit programs when he was stationed in Korea as a 2nd lieutenant in 1982.

“Back then, we used to volunteer at orphanages or help out local students in English, but we did not use the term, the Good Neighbor program, as it wasn’t formalized until 2003,” Tharp said.

Nowadays, every commander down to Lt. Col level is mandated to have their own community relations program, in which his or her subordinates participate on a voluntary basis.

Tharp claims no other country where U.S. forces are stationed implements the Good Neighbor program, nor have a system that would match the size of the USFK initiative.

“There were 2,565 Good Neighbor activities in 2010 attended by 651,236 Koreans,” Tharp said.

“On average, over 200 events are held every month over a course of a year.”

This is on the many different military bases throughout Korea.

He noted that the Good Neighbor program can be broken down into four categories — community relations, military-to-military relations, Korean cultural awareness and student engagement.

Priority in students

Of the four areas, USFK puts top priority on the student engagement programs as teenagers are the most susceptible to misguided information.

“A survey conducted in December last year, shortly after Pyongyang’s attack against South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island showed that 47 percent of elementary and secondary students believed that actions taken by the South provoked the attack,” Tharp said.

North Korea launched a surprise artillery attack at the West Sea island near the maritime border during a regular South Korean naval drill in November 2010. The incident killed two South Korean Marines and two civilians.

The same survey, which was jointly conducted by the local daily Chosun Ilbo and a teachers’ union, also found that nearly a quarter of teenagers believe the Korean War broke out because the South launched an attack against the North.

English camps

Tharp said, “USFK reaches out to students by holding English camps in all our forces bases so that school children can spend time with us living in our house and attend our school one week at a time.”

USFK launched the English Camp in 2005 to give the opportunity to Korean youth to immerse themselves in an English-speaking environment.

For the seven-day English camp, 65 teenagers, including four students from North Korea defector families are invited to participate.

Through a series of interactive and educational activities conducted on USFK installations and homestay with USFK families it aims to facilitate understanding of American family life.

The English camp students attend classes at Seoul American High School shadowing American students.

Local community support

Nearly all expenses for Good Neighbor activities are funded by local friendship groups or out of their own pocket as they are carried out on a voluntary basis and USFK is prohibited from holding fundraising activities.

“Volunteers of the Good Friendship Program don’t get any separate money,” Tharp said.

Hwang Moo-young, former president of People to People New Seoul Chapter, who has financially supported USFK’s community program in the past 17 years, says USFK volunteers have helped Korean teenagers become global leaders.

“I have been involved in the Good Neighbor programs and previous USFK programs as I have the firm belief that they provide a great opportunity for Korean students to hone their skills as a global citizen by gaining confidence to speak English and learn a different culture,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Larry Wells, deputy chief of staff of USFK, says the objective of the Good Neighbor program is to promote and achieve harmonious relations with its various communities.

“We try to do our best to explain what we are doing and why we are doing it,” he said.