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South Korean ex-SEAL has no regrets for Ukraine

#South #Korean #exSEAL #regrets #Ukraine

A former South Korean Navy SEAL-turned-youtuber who risked jail time to leave Seoul and fight for Ukraine says it would have been a “crime” not to use his skills to help.

Ken Rhee, a former special warfare officer, registered at the Ukrainian embassy in Seoul at the moment President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for global volunteers and fought on the front lines near Kyiv in early March.

To get there he had to break South Korean law – Seoul banned its citizens from traveling to Ukraine and Rhee, who was injured in a fall while leading a special operations patrol there, was met at the airport by 15 police officers on his return.

But the famous ex-soldier, who has a YouTube channel with 700,000 followers and documents much of his Ukraine experience on his popular Instagram account, says he has no regrets.

“You’re walking down the beach and you see a sign by the water that says ‘no swimming’ – but you see someone drowning. It’s a crime not to help. That’s how I see it,” he told AFP.

Rhee was born in South Korea but grew up in the United States. He attended Virginia Military Institute and wanted to join the US Navy SEALS, but his father — a “patriot,” as he says — convinced his son to return to South Korea to enlist.

He served seven years, completed both U.S. and Korean SEAL training and served in several war-torn posts in Somalia and Iraq before leaving to establish a defense consultancy.

“I have the skills. i have the experience I’ve been to two different wars and when I went to Ukraine I knew I could help,” he said, adding that he sees breaking South Korea’s passport law as tantamount to a “human trafficking violation”.

– Backlash in Korea –

But the reaction in South Korea – where Rhee rose to fame as a coach on the popular YouTube series Fake Men – was swift and unforgiving.

“It was instantaneous. People in Korea just criticized me for breaking the law,” Rhee said.

His critics claim the 38-year-old’s decision was criminally irresponsible, citing the posting of war footage on his YouTube and Instagram accounts as evidence of showboating.

Rhee says he’s trying not to let the excitement get to him. “I think it’s pretty obvious who the good guys are and who the bad guys are,” he said of Russia and Ukraine.

On his first day at the front in Irpin, which he describes as “the wild west” and “chaos”, he witnessed Russian war crimes.

“I saw a civilian being shot. He was driving … and they shot him through the windshield and he died before our eyes,” he said.

“It was like, ‘There’s my proof. There are definitely war crimes. It reminded me and my teammates of what we were doing and why we were there,” he said.

Because of his military training, Rhee was assigned to build his own team, so he recruited other volunteers with combat experience and formed a multinational special operations group.

“I ate Canadian MREs. My gun was from the Czech Republic. I have a javelin missile from the United States. I have a missile from Germany … but nothing is Korean,” he said.

He attempted to take his Korean-made night vision goggles with him, but failed to obtain a government export permit. Seoul hasn’t provided fatal aid to Kyiv, but Rhee said they could do more.

“Korea has state-of-the-art equipment…they are very good at making weapons,” he said.

– ‘See you in Taiwan’ –

Russia said this week that 13 South Koreans traveled to Ukraine – including four who were killed. Seoul said it was trying to verify the claims.

Despite not knowing the fate of all his teammates, Rhee said “a lot of my friends died”.

“I don’t want my friends’ sacrifices to be forgotten,” he said, adding that he plans to write a book — and maybe a screenplay — about his team’s experiences.

But first he must deal with the official aftermath of his trip. He’s quietly optimistic that South Korea’s new conservative government won’t jail him.

Rhee is not allowed to leave the country until his case is resolved and his injuries are being treated. But he hopes to one day fight alongside his teammates again for a cause they believe in.

The joke as people left the front was, “See you in Taiwan,” he said, referring to the risk that Beijing would follow Moscow’s lead and invade a neighboring democracy.

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#South #Korean #exSEAL #regrets #Ukraine

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