General Bell: Eighth Army Highly Likely to be Disbanded

The worst kept secret of the US-ROK alliance is out:

 The Eighth U.S. Army command, which is in charge of U.S. ground troops stationed in South Korea including the core Second Infantry Division, is highly likely to be disbanded, it emerged Friday. Asked about the chances that the Eighth will be dismantled, USFK Commander Gen. Burwell Bell did not deny the possibility and indicated it will undergo a transformation. He said its role has completely changed to RSOI (Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration) and is “radically different” than it was in the Korean War, when it served as fighting headquarters. Bell said no matter what decisions are made about the army’s future, they have nothing to do with conducting wartime operations on the Korean
Peninsula.

On top of this development if Korea wants to keep any presence at all the Pentagon is saying they better start paying their fair share:

 If Korea maintains its share in the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea at the current level, it will be unable to keep the number of USFK troops it wants stationed here,
U.S. defense department official Richard Lawless warned Wednesday. The Pentagon’s under secretary for Asia and Pacific affairs made the remarks at a hearing of the House International Relations Committee on Thursday, saying
Korea’s financial contribution is 10 percent short of what is required now. Lawless said the USFK was now being bled white despite already having shed excessive flab and some essential flesh. Korea and the U.S. annually renegotiate their share in the
U.S. forces upkeep and every year find it harder to narrow their differences.

 So the ball is really in the Korean’s court now because their amount of cost sharing is what is going to really determine how much of a US presence remains in Korea.   The Air Force will be staying though I think the recent compromise on the bombing range will be an issue again in the future.  Than as far as an presence General Bell made it clear that the only remaining combat troops on the peninsula the 2nd Infantry Division will be removed.  General Bell also made it clear that the mission of the US Army personnel that would be left in Korea would be for assisting the ROK in intelligence gathering and Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, & Integration (RSOI) or in otherwords support personnel responsible for maintaining the logistics chain of bases on the peninsula that would aid any US deployment of troops to Korea.  To train these logistics units left on the peninsula I see the military probably deploying Stryker Brigades and Marines to Korea on annual exercises to not only train the US support personnel, but also to maintain close contacts and training with the ROK Army.  Despite the political relationship between the US & Korea the military relationship has always remained strong and it is in the US’s interest to keep it that way.The current plan appears to be a solid one that would allow the US to free up more combat troops for world wide deployments while still keeping enough of a force presence on the peninsula to deter a North Korean attack.  Plus the remaining troops would be consolidated further south on Camp Humphreys and away from the DMZ and out of Seoul.  This moves all US troops outside of North Korean artillery range and out of the highly populated capitol city of Seoul. 

This plan will ensure continued US influence on the peninsula to ensure the stability of Northeast Asia overall.  There hasn’t been a war in Northeast Asia for the past 55 years because of one reason, the US military.  It appears Washington wants to keep it that way.  However, there is one wild card out there, the South Korean government.  Remember we may not have seen the last of the bombing range issue and the Camp Humphreys expansion hasn’t been completed yet either.  These are still issues that can flare up again that will require South Korean governmental leadership, and one thing that is in short supply in the current South Korean government is leadership. You can read more on this over at Nomad’s.