PATRIOT Missiles to be Relocated from Gwangju

It looks like 35th ADA has wore out their welcome in Gwangju, actually I don’t think they were ever welcomed to begin with:

A battery of U.S. Patriot missiles stationed in the Gwangju area will be moved to Waegwan in North Gyeongsang Province by December, it emerged Thursday. U.S. Forces Korea command plans to relocate the 16 PAC-3 missiles, the 450-member 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade 2-1 and two air defense batteries.

The missiles were moved to Gwangju in Novermber 2004 despite violent protests from anti-American organizations, university students and labor groups, and there is speculation that the move is a belated response to them. But U.S. officials say the move is strategically motivated and has nothing to do with anti-American sentiment. The chief of the air defense unit, Lt.-Col. Marcus Black, met with Gwangju leaders at the base on Aug. 18 to reveal the plans. It is understood that Black would not comment whether the relocation had anything to do with local resentment.

The relocation of the Patriot missiles to Gwangju came after Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff requested that the U.S. deploy the missiles there to protect the Gwangju Air Base. The USFK deplays a total of 64 Patriots at bases in Suwon, Osan, Gunsan and Gwangju.

It wasn’t a very good idea to put PATRIOT’s in Gwangju to begin with because of the anti-Americanism and communist sympathies down there, but incidents like February’s Gochu-gate incident didn’t help matters either. As far as defending the city from North Korean attack, I don’t think the Korean government is to concerned about that because if the North Koreans bombed Gwangju it would be like bombing one of their own cities.