Category: US-ROK Alliance

US Marines are busy doing what US Marines do:

South Korea and the United States are conducting joint military drills in the Yellow Sea.

South Korea’s Marine Corps said on Tuesday United States Marines based in Japan have been sent to take part in the ongoing drills, which began last month near South Korea’s northernmost Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands.

About 200 U.S. marines belonging to the third Marine Expeditionary Force stationed in Okinawa and 120 South Korean marines are taking part in the training exercise, named Korea Maritime Exercise Program.

The marines are practicing to defend against various scenarios of possible provocation by North Korea.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

For anyone looking to get a round of golf in before the Lotte Sky Hill Golf Resort is turned into a military base the time to do it is now:

The South Korean military will launch negotiations with Lotte this week to buy a golf course in Seongju County in North Gyeongsang Province, which was announced as the final site to house Terminal High Altitude Area Defense(THAAD) interceptors.

The Ministry of National Defense said it hopes to deploy the U.S. missile shield system as swiftly as possible and is positively reviewing a plan to swap a golf course it owns in Gyeonggi Province with Lotte’s facility.

The golf course in Seongju sits on land spanning one-point-78 million square kilometers, including 820-thousand square kilometers of forest, and the ministry plans to purchase the whole property.

Lotte Skyhill Seongju Country Club, which operates the grounds, issued a statement immediately after the announcement of the new THAAD site last Friday, saying it will positively consider the government’s decision given the gravity of the current national security situation.

It was made known that Lotte will continue the operation of the golf course while it is holding negotiations with the Defense Ministry.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

Here is something interesting, the U.K. is going to take part in a joint military drill with the US and the ROK in November:

To counter the rising threats from North Korea’s intensified nuclear and missile tests, South Korea and its allies – the US and the UK – are gearing up for a joint military drill in November.

Earlier in the week, South Korea and the US conducted a joint naval drill in the Sea of Japan in the Korean peninsula, which was said to be a show of force by the two countries against North Korea. The countries are also discussing imposing tougher sanctions against Kim Jong-un’s regime to stop him from pursuing the banned nuclear programme.

The South Korean Air Force said in a statement that the maiden joint military drill will be conducted between 4 and 10 November at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of the South Korean capital Seoul. The drill, dubbed the “Invincible Shield” will involve a combined aerial exercise, the first of its kind, the statement added.

The UK is planning to send four Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets, Voyager tanker aircraft and C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft to take part in the exercise. F-15K and KF-16 fighters from South Korea will also participate in the drill with the US’s F-16 fighters, the statement added.  [International Business Times]

You can read more at the link.

It has long been suspected that the Lotte Sky Hill Golf Course would be the final site for the deployment of the US THAAD battery and the ROK government has finally made it official:

South Korea selected a golf course in the southeastern part of the nation as the “final” site for an advanced U.S. missile defense system to better counter North Korea’s evolving missile and nuclear threat, the defense ministry said Friday.

The decision comes nearly three months after Seoul and Washington originally chose the Seongsan anti-aircraft missile base in Seongju, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to host the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system by 2017.

“We have conducted a simulation-based evaluation on three alternative sites in Seongju. The test results showed the Lotte Skyhill Country Club is the most optimal site for THAAD in terms of six principles,” Moon Sang-gyun, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, told Yonhap News Agency.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

U.S., South Korea naval forces conduct exercise near North Korea border https://t.co/AiXHz1WcHY

— Elizabeth Shim (@GlobalAsianista) September 26, 2016

This is probably not much of a surprise to people following this issue:

The militaries of South Korea and the United States are expected to announce a golf course as the new site for an advanced American antimissile system this week, a defense official here said Sunday.

According to the defense ministry official, evaluations for three candidate sites to host the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Seongju County, located in the southeastern part of the nation, “are virtually complete.” The announcement will likely be made before the end of September after the military briefs Seongju residents on its decision.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the government still faces two problems before the THAAD site can be established.  First of all, according to the article Lotte wants $90.6 million to hand over the golf course which will require additional funds from the National Assembly.  The second issue they face is that the citizens of Gimcheon plan to launch full scale protests to stop the THAAD deployment.

Defense chief meets residents near THAAD candidate site https://t.co/Dr7ridqujr

— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) September 1, 2016

Just as I predicted the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) complaints if the THAAD location does move would just shift from one location to another:

The Ministry of National Defense said it will begin to evaluate candidate locations which are being mentioned for an alternative site for THAAD as soon as possible. Candidate sites being mentioned include a country club owned by Lotte Group located in Chojeon Township of the county, Mt. Yeomsok in Geumsu Township and Mt. Kkachi in Suryun Township.

The ministry’s acceptance of the county’s request seems to have resolved the mounting conflict in Seongju to some extent, but at the same time is causing fresh protests from residents living in Gimcheon County as residents there are close to the Lotte Skyhill Country Club, which has been mentioned as the most prominent alternative site.

The Lotte golf club has emerged as an alternative location to host THAAD as it is located at an altitude of 680 meters above sea level, which is higher than the Seongsan artillery unit, located at an altitude of 380 meters. The golf course is also located 18 kilometers away from any residential areas, while the Seongsan artillery unit is only 1.5 kilometers away. Those conditions seem to be better to resolve controversy over the safety of the radar.

Right after Kim’s news conference, Gimcheon residents formed a protest committee that is planning to stage a large-scale rally Wednesday with around 10,000 residents.

Gimcheon City Council also issued a statement, saying, “The Lotte golf club is very close to Gimcheon, which means Gimcheon will suffer the damage of the THAAD deployment. We are opposed to the deployment at the golf club.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the Sky Hill Golf Resort is not 18 kilometers from residential areas.  On Google Earth I measure downtown Gimcheon as being 7 kilometers away from the golf resort and smaller villages outside of the city are even closer.

The article also discusses the other point I brought up earlier this week in regards to the need to purchase private land from the Lotte Group.  It seems to me to get this system deployed as quickly as possible leasing the land would be the fastest solution until a longer term agreement can be reached.

For the residents of Seongju they will need to decide if they still care about the THAAD deployment if its moved to the alternate site that is no longer in their backyard:

Residents living near a government-chosen site for a U.S. anti-missile system failed Saturday to discuss whether to review an alternative location due to opponents’ protest.

Residents of the southern county of Seongju held a meeting to discuss whether they can consider picking an alternative site for the government’s move to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) inside the county.

But they failed to reach a consensus over whether to review the alternative location as some of them insisted that the government should scrap its plan to deploy a THAAD battery on their county. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but here is a Google Earth image I put together that shows the two proposed THAAD locations:

As the image shows the problems with the THAAD deployment moves from Seongju’s backyard to Gimcheon’s.  So will the people of Gimcheon now complain about the deployment?  I guess time will tell, but that is the problem with THAAD in South Korea it will always be radiating over someones backyard.

One thing for sure is that the cost of the deployment of THAAD is going to skyrocket by having to purchase or lease the Lotte Sky Hill Golf Resort land from the Lotte corporation compared to deploying the THAAD on government owned ROK Air Force land at the first THAAD site outside of Seongju.

No matter where the THAAD radar is located it will be radiating over somebody so I don’t see what moving the site really gains the government other than a large construction bill and an extended deployment timeline:

The government is facing growing doubts over whether it will can allow the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile battery by next year after President Park Geun-hye raised the possibility of choosing an alternative location within Seongju County in North Gyeongsang Province.

Park said this during a meeting with ruling party lawmakers, Thursday, in an effort to calm the fears of Seongju residents over the safety of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. However, military officials say it will take considerable time to find a new site and build a base for an artillery unit, which means deploying the system by next year would be almost impossible.

On July 13, the Ministry of National Defense announced that the anti-missile battery will be set up in Seongsan-ri, which is currently home to the South Korean Air Force’s air defense artillery unit that operates a Hawk ground-to-air missile battery. The ministry said THAAD will be fully deployed by the end of next year as threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile program are growing.

“The reason why the two countries can be sure that the deployment will be done by next year is that the artillery unit already exists in Seongsan-ri, meaning that the military does not need to build a site,” a military official said on condition of anonymity.

Finding a new suitable place and building another site from scratch would take at least four to five years and tens of billions of won as the military needs to remove the top of a mountain and purchase adjacent privately owned land. In this case, the deployment is impossible within Park’s tenure and will be handed over to the next government as she completes her term in office in February 2018. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.