The government is in talks with U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) about having the site of Yongsan Garrison’s Dragon Hill Lodge returned to South Korea in exchange for an alternative plot of land, sources said Monday.
According to foreign and defense ministry officials, the two sides have been in negotiations to return a 105,000 square-meter site hosting Dragon Hill Lodge, situated next to the presidential office in central Seoul, to the South Korean government.
In return, Seoul will provide a plot of land at a different site.
The sources said the two sides are expected to reach an agreement in the near future.
Seoul and Washington had previously planned to retain a U.S. military base at the Dragon Hill Lodge site to host a liaison office for USFK and the United Nations Command as well as a front office for the ROK/US Combined Forces Command in the wake of the U.S. forces’ relocation to Pyeongtaek.
The THAAD has been in South Korea now for five years and still the environmental assessment has not been completed and protesters continue to block the road. This clearly has little to do with the environment and everything to do with politics. It will be interesting to see if the Korean left tries to mobilize around the THAAD issue and launch Braveheart style attacks against ROK police if and when they try and remove the protesters like they did at Camp Humphreys years ago:
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup talks with troops at a boot camp in Nonsan, 213 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 23, 2022, in this photo released by his office.
South Korea will expeditiously push for the “normalization” of a U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here, Seoul’s defense minister said Monday, as it has been in the status of “temporary installation” due to an environmental assessment and other reasons.
Lee Jong-sup made the remarks as Seoul and Washington are striving to sharpen joint deterrence against Pyongyang amid growing concerns about possibilities of the regime’s additional provocations, like a long-range ballistic missile or nuclear test.
“The normalization of the THAAD unit should have been done (earlier),” Lee said in a meeting with reporters. “We will push for it (to materialize) at an early date.”
If President Yoon wanted to show President Biden where close integration between the USFK and the ROK Military happens, the KAOC is good place to start:
President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden meet with South Korean and American troops at the Korean Air and Space Operations Center at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 22, 2022. (Yonhap)
President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden visited an Air Force operations center Sunday on the last stop of Biden’s three-day trip to South Korea, underscoring the allies’ readiness against threats from North Korea.
The two visited the Korean Air and Space Operations Center (KAOC), which is situated in an underground bunker and serves as a key command post for air and space operations at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.
Yoon described the center as a symbol of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and a key site where the two countries jointly respond to “continually advancing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.”
It looks like Key Resolve and UFG exercises could be coming back:
President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed Saturday to begin discussions on expanding joint military exercises between the two countries amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
The two reached the agreement during their first summit in Seoul, which took place as both countries believed a nuclear test or intercontinental ballistic missile launch from the North was imminent and could even happen while Biden was touring the region.
“Both leaders agree to initiate discussions to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training on and around the Korean Peninsula,” a joint statement on the summit said.
This claim has long been hinted by Trump himself due to the cost sharing issue with South Korea. Trump wanted the ROK to pay more for USFK which the Moon administration declined to do. The media now is trying to sell this as a new story when it is actually an old one:
Mark Esper, the former secretary of Defense under President Trump, says that the former president proposed a number of “outlandish” foreign policy proposals while he was in the White House, including pulling troops out of South Korea and shutting down embassies in Africa, according to an excerpt from Esper’s upcoming memoir.
In a new excerpt, shared by Politico, Esper wrote that shortly after he was hired to be the new Pentagon chief in 2019, Trump was railing against NATO and corruption in Ukraine, two personal issues that the rest of the national security and foreign policy team tried to tamp down because they weren’t considered leading concerns at the time.
Trump also said he wanted a “complete withdrawal” of forces from South Korea and that he wished to “bring our people home” from embassies in Africa, according to Esper.
The big news here is not that the Yoon administration may be stepping back from wanting an additional THAAD battery; it is the fact they want to improve access to the existing site:
Foreign Minister nominee Park Jin speaks during a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly on May 2, 2022. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s foreign minister nominee stressed the need Monday for “in-depth” deliberations on whether to deploy additional U.S.-made THAAD missile defense systems here, in an apparent sign of cautiousness on the geopolitically charged issue.
During his confirmation hearing, Park Jin responded to a lawmaker’s question about President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign pledge to bring in more THAAD systems, which opponents say would undermine ties with China, South Korea’s top trade partner.
China has opposed Korea’s hosting of the THAAD system, arguing the anti-missile asset undermines its security interests. The installation of a THAAD battery here in 2017 triggered apparent Chinese economic retaliation.
Here is the part where he discusses the existing THAAD battery:
Despite his cautious stance, Park highlighted the “first task” of ensuring U.S. Forces Korea can normally operate its THAAD unit in the southeastern county of Seongju.
Since the THAAD battery was installed here, it has been in the status of “temporary installation” pending South Korea’s environmental impact assessment.
“I think that there needs to be an environment for the normal operation of the THAAD battery, as access to the unit has been restricted, while living conditions for troops there are also poor,” he said.
You can read more at the link, but the current Moon administration has allowed protesters to block the road since the THAAD battery was put in, which causes daily logistical support to the site to be conducted by helicopter. Only when materials that cannot be moved by helicopter need to be brought in does the police open the road. I have always been concerned that over an extended period of time this could increase the chances of a helicopter crash happening.
Building on the expanded economic ties established under the Korea-US free trade agreement 10 years ago, the next decade of bilateral cooperation will focus on tech, digital trade, and climate change, says KEI's Troy Stangarone via @Diplomat_APAChttps://t.co/6RS8pozB8r
Here is some increased messaging of unity within the US-ROK alliance:
Top South Korean and U.S. military officers on Thursday boarded a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier sailing in the East Sea, sources said, in a rare move to highlight the allies’ unity amid concerns about possible North Korean provocations.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-choul and Gen. Paul LaCamera, the head of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, met aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier that arrived in the waters earlier this week in a show of America’s military might.
Their symbolic meeting came amid speculation that the North could engage in provocative acts, like another intercontinental ballistic missile launch or a nuclear test, in time for its key political events, including the 110th birthday of its late national founder Kim Il-sung on Friday.
That is pretty bad when China is outpolled by North Korea is a survey like this. Additionally these survey results give a mandate to incoming President Yoon’s agenda to strengthen ties with the U.S.:
American and South Korea flags wave outside Camp Humphreys, South Korea, March 16, 2020. (Stars and Stripes)
Nearly 87% of South Koreans think their country ought to develop closer ties to the United States than to any other nation, according to a poll released Monday.
The survey found 86.8% of respondents believe Seoul should develop closer economic, foreign and security policy ties with Washington. The Federation of Korean Industries commissioned the poll, which was conducted March 24-28.
Just 5% of respondents said North Korea ought to be the top partner with South Korea, and 3.2% said China. The European Union was cited by 2.1%, and 1.4% said Japan.
The poll surveyed 1,000 people and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. The federation, an association of large businesses, seeks to “promote sound economic policies,” according to its website.
You can read more at the link, but I think this survey says more about China than the U.S. because is demonstrates the level of distrust many South Koreans have with the CCP. It would be interesting if this same poll was conducted in multiple countries in the region to see if similar results are found.
