Progress on US Bombing Range Issue

It looks like General Trexler’s ultimatum worked. From Yonhap:

South Korea has finally approved the construction of an electronic weapons scoring system on an island southwest of the mainland, a move expected to kickstart firing exercises by United States pilots stationed there soon, a government official said Sunday.

The approval came after nearly a year of postponement amid protests from residents at the designated island site on Jikdo, some 70 kilometers off the port city of Gunsan.

Like many issues in Korea, it is all about the Benjamins:

The altitude of the bombers will increase to 4-5 km, from the current 600 m, to minimize noise, while the controlled sea area where fishing boats are banned is to be reduced from a radius of 18 to 9 to provide more fishing area. Gunsan city will be given W300 billion (US$1=W947) and other incentives by the government.

The next step by the anti-US groups will be to claim noise pollution and environmental damage on Jikdo once the Air Force begins training there. Eventually I wouldn’t be surprised if the groups try to take a boat to Jikdo to protest and delay training exercises there to increase tensions between USFK and the Korean authorities. Jikdo is just a short term solution to what will continue to be a long term problem for USFK.