Category: US-ROK Alliance

It looks like ROK and US Marines are getting some good winter training in which the Kim regime is not happy about:

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: South Korean and US Marines are conducting military exercises on ski slopes in sub-freezing temperatures, including shirtless hand-to-hand combat in the snow, prompting warnings of retaliation from North Korea over “madcap mid-winter” drills.

More than 300 Marines are taking part, simulating combat on the ski slopes of Pyeongchang, host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, amid speculation North Korea could be planning another missile test in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

“U.S. Marine Corps and ROK (Republic of Korea) Marine Corps partnered together at every level to build a camaraderie and friendship of the two countries’ militaries but also to increase our proficiency in the event where we have to fight a war together,” U.S. Captain Marcus Carlstrom told reporters.   [Channel News Asia]

You can read more at the link.

I doubt this phone call will be when President Trump will ask the ROK for more funding for the US-ROK alliance, but at some point I fully expect this issue will come up considering how he made this a central issue during his campaign:

South Korea’s Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will have a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump this week, Hwang’s office said Sunday.

The bilateral talks — the first since Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president on Jan. 20 — will begin at 9 a.m., Monday (Korea time).

The announcement came after Reuters reported, citing a White House statement, that Trump “will speak to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea in separate calls on Sunday (Washington time).”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is what a Yonsei professor who is an expert in international relations had to say about the incoming Trump administration:

Hankyoreh (Hani): Can you describe in broad strokes how the Trump administration will affect the Korean Peninsula?

Moon Chung-in (Moon): The Korean Peninsula policy won‘t be taking shape until April or May, when all the assistant secretaries have been appointed and confirmed. There are a lot of variables. But the main question is whether the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” policy will be retained, since that is linked to the global strategy the Trump administration comes up with. One has to bear in mind that Trump will reconsider the alliances according to his “America first” policy and that he’s more interested in geoeconomics [than geopolitics]. It’s also important to remember that Trump has a tendency to acknowledge what is called the Chinese and Russian sphere of influence, so he‘s not on the same page as the geopolitical strategy of checking and blockading China.

Hani: What kind of changes do you expect for the South Korea-US alliance?

Moon: Trump is blunt about the alliances. He has called out South Korea, Japan, NATO, Germany and Saudi Arabia for getting a “free ride.” He has a strong sense that the US is the benefactor and that its allies are the beneficiaries. The primary issue is adjusting how much of the joint cost of the South Korea-US alliance is covered by the two sides. First is defense burden sharing. South Korea spends 2.4% of its GDP on defense, and Trump could ask it to increase this to the US level of 4.3%. Second is defense cost sharing related to US Forces in Korea. South Korea is covering around 50%, and Trump could ask it to cover as much as 100% of this. These adjustments could be complicated by resistance inside South Korea. If a progressive government comes to power in South Korea, the question of pushing forward the transfer of wartime operational control [of South Korean troops to South Korea] would be sure to come up. Trump is likely to say that South Korea can have it right now if it wants it. He tends to act on instinct and impulse.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

This is not a course of action I would recommend at this point considering the other options that have yet to be fully used to pressure the Kim regime and China:

Talk is growing in the United States of the possibility of using military strikes to take out North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities after the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, threatened he’s close to testing a long-range missile apparently capable of hitting the U.S.

Kim said in his New Year’s Day address that the communist nation has reached the final stage of preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. The remark was seen as a thinly veiled threat that Pyongyang is close to developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the continental U.S.

The threat appears to have stoked genuine fears of security among Americans, with reporters bombarding the Defense Department with questions of what the U.S. is going to do about the North’s missile, including whether it’s going to shoot it down or even launch a preemptive strike before it’s fired.

It also prompted President-elect Donald Trump to send a tweet: “North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!”

On Wednesday, a private intelligence analysis firm, Stratfor, even laid out a list of potential targets in North Korea, including the Yongbyon nuclear complex, home to the North’s plutonium-producing reactor and reprocessing facility.

“When considering an attack on North Korea, there are two broad categories of strikes to deliberate. The first is a minimalist strike, specifically focused on dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program. In this scenario, the United States would engage North Korean nuclear objectives only,” Stratfor said in an analysis piece carried by MarketWatch and, titled, “How the U.S. could derail North Korea’s nuclear program by force.”

“By not launching strikes on other North Korean targets, Washington leaves the door open, if only slightly, for de-escalation if Pyongyang can be convinced that the strike is not part of a regime change operation. What benefits Pentagon planners in this scenario is that a limited strike requires less resources and preparation, enhancing the element of surprise,”

Potential targets in the minimalist strike include the Yongbyon complex, including the 5-megawatt nuclear reactor and the reprocessing plant, as well as the Pyongsan uranium mine that provides fuel for the reactor, and the Pyongsong nuclear research and development facility, known as the North’s “Silicon Valley,” Stratfor said.

“These facilities form the heart of North Korean nuclear production infrastructure. If they were destroyed or disabled, the North Korean nuclear production network would be crippled, set back years at least,” it said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but what anyone thinking of advocating for a limited strike on North Korea needs to answer is what is the response then when the Kim regime retaliates and launches a limited artillery strike on Seoul?  Can you imagine what the reaction will be from the Korean public will be especially if a left-wing President is elected this year?

Where does this guy get his information from?

Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, one of the leading presidential hopefuls for the opposition bloc, said Tuesday that South Korea should pay less of the defense-cost sharing with the United States, clashing with calls by President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to get Washington’s allies to contribute more.

“South Korea’s defense-sharing cost should be on par with that of Japan,” Lee said during an interview with CBS Radio.

“Germany and Japan pay 18 percent and 50 percent, respectively, while South Korea shares stand at 77 percent,” he claimed.

Lee said the U.S. military presence in the country reflects Washington’s own interests and not that of South Korea. The mayor added the U.S. will suffer a great loss if it pulls its military out of South Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but Japan pays 74.5% of US defense costs, not 50%, while South Korea pays about 50%. Mayor Lee is either blatantly lying for votes or is completely uninformed.  Either way it does not reflect positively on him.  I wonder if Mayor Lee wants to return to the old days when the Korean government paid the North Koreans more money to fund their nuclear and weapons program than what they spent funding the US-ROK alliance?

UPDATE:

From the Korea Times comes further information on how Mayor Lee came up with his 77% number:

Korea and the United States hold negotiations on cost-sharing for the upkeep of 28,000 American troops every five years under the Special Measures Agreement (SMA). Seoul pays about half the cost — 944.1 billion won ($782 million) and 932 billion won in 2016 and 2015, respectively. The last SMA was made in 2014 and the next negotiations for 2019 through 2023 are likely to begin later this year, according to the foreign ministry.

However, Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, a liberal presidential hopeful, claimed Tuesday that South Korea is actually paying more than Japan and Germany, both of which have a U.S. forces presence.

According to him, Germany and Japan pay 18 percent and 50 percent of the total costs, respectively, while South Korea share stands at 77 percent.

His calculation includes indirect costs such as providing land for bases and firing ranges for free along with an exemption from taxation and benefits such as cheaper electricity and telephone charges — things not included in the SMA negotiations.

In addition, civic groups also insist that the SMA should include the nation’s support such as providing police to guard bases and troops under the Korean Augmentation to the United State Army (KATUSA) program. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but if Mayor Lee wants to play the game of including costs not in the cost sharing agreement than the US side can play that game to.  So how much does the use of the US military’s stealth bombers and B-52’s cost?  Better yet what about the cost of using the US space based satellites and sensors in support of South Korea?  What is the cost of all the US troops that would come to the peninsula in case of a crisis?  I could go on and on with costs the US military can add to the cost sharing agreement that right now the ROK is not paying for.

The next cost sharing negotiations to begin this year could end up being really interesting if a committed left wing candidate like Mayor Lee is elected and insists on South Korea paying less.

It seems the Blue House wants to get the THAAD missile defense system in place before the race to replace impeached President Park begins to make it a non-campaign issue:

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Wednesday that an advanced U.S. anti-missile system has to be deployed to South Korea as soon as possible to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats.

Hwang made the remarks amid calls from opposition parties to delay the planned deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the Korean Peninsula given the lack of public consensus and China’s vehement opposition to it.

Seoul hopes to install a THAAD battery in the southern county of Seongju, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul, by May next year.

“For security, (we) have to deploy (THAAD),” he said during a parliamentary interpellation session. “As we cannot wait even for a moment to cope with North Korea’s nuclear provocations, we have to do what we can do first.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This issue of pollutants found at a Seoul subway station has been going on for years and it is amazing that no one has yet to figure out where it is coming from:

The Seoul city government said Monday that contaminants detected in underground water tables near a U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) garrison in the capital city were 500 times higher than normal standards.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said an average of 0.532 milligrams per liter of benzene was found around Noksapyeong Station, located near the U.S. Army base in Yongsan, central Seoul in 2016. The base has long been suspected as the source of oil leaks that have polluted both water and land.

The figure went as high as 8.811 milligrams per liter, which is some 587 times higher than the allowable level of 0.015 milligrams per liter, it said.

The total amount of petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) found near Camp Kim, within Yongsan Garrison, was 20.4 milligrams per liter on average and reached up to 768.7, which is some 512 times higher than the standard of 1.5 milligrams per liter, according to the city government.

Municipal authorities have been conducting a water table purification project since 2003, but petroleum-based contaminants have still been detected in water near the U.S. base, it said.

“Considering that the base will be returned (to South Korea) at the end of 2017, we need to establish plans on how we will clean up the pollutants,” the city government said in a press release. “But at the moment, we are not even fully aware of the circumstances surrounding the pollution.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo (R) and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent K. Brooks exchange opinions on the post-impeachment security situation at the Defense Ministry in Seoul on Dec. 13, 2016. (Photo courtesy of Defense Ministry) (Yonhap)

I am not sure what else the Pentagon is supposed to say other than they plan to continue to move forward with the THAAD deployment unless told otherwise:

The U.S. Defense Department said Tuesday that the planned deployment of a U.S. advanced anti-missile system to South Korea will move forward regardless of President Park Geun-hye’s possible resignation or impeachment over the corruption scandal.

“Our Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment continues,” said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook at a briefing. “Those remain ongoing, and the alliance continues to move forward with that plan.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes news that ROK government held a meeting with USFK to address changes they want made to the US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA):

South Korea and the United States on Tuesday had a joint committee meeting to discuss various issues on their agreement governing the legal status of American forces stationed in South Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

The 197th joint committee meeting of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which defines areas of legal responsibility of the 28,000-strong U.S. soldiers here, was held at the foreign ministry in Seoul. The SOFA meeting is held once or twice a year, and this was the first time since last December that South Korea and the U.S. officials convened.

The foreign ministry said Yeo Seung-bae, the foreign ministry’s director-general for North America and his counterpart Thomas Bergeson, deputy commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), touched on issues such as education of American forces on local law and customs, the USFK’s stable employment of South Korean workers and environmental problems near the U.S. bases here.

The ministry added that the two sides also talked about implementation measures taken after a live anthrax sample from a U.S. military laboratory was shipped to a local military base by mistake and caused alarm bells to go off in the country last year.

The meeting took place before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump — one of whose campaign pledges was to have allies, including South Korea, pay more for American troops stationed in those countries — took over the White House.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the ROKs are still complaining about the oil leak issue in the Seoul subway system they have been blaming on Yongsan Garrison for years now.  You would think if the oil leak was coming from Yongsan they would have found it by now.  The other thing in the article that caught my attention was that they are still complaining about GI crimes.  The article even states that the US military crime rate has steadily dropped since 2010 from an already extremely low crime rate compared to the surrounding Korean population.

You can read more about the US-ROK SOFA at the below link:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2008/02/gi-myths-the-unfair-us-rok-sofa-agreement/