Category: US-ROK Alliance

The long disclosed location for the THAAD site in South Korea is one step closer to becoming a reality:

South Korea’s defense ministry reached a tentative land-swap deal Wednesday with a major conglomerate to acquire the planned site for an advanced U.S. missile defense system aimed at countering the growing threat from North Korea.

The agreement brings Washington and Seoul a step closer to their goal of deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, next year.

The Ministry of National Defense said it agreed to give the Lotte Group, one of South Korea’s largest family-run conglomerates, state-owned military land near Seoul in exchange for the Lotte Skyhill Country Club in the southeastern Seongju area.

After appraisals of both sites, the board of directors of golf club’s operator, Lotte International, will meet to consider the deal, which will be adjusted if there’s a large gap in value, the ministry said in a statement.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the THAAD deployment to South Korea:

Lim Sang-hwan, who has an anti-THAAD banner across the front of his cellphone shop, says he thinks up to 90 percent of his neighbors are worried that the system’s high-powered radar will pose a hazard.

“It’s being deployed too close to where families live,” he says. “I have a 4-year-old son and I don’t want him harmed.”

Since the South Korean government chose the site in neighboring Seongju County in September, it’s created tension in the adjacent communities, says Shin Sang-won, a taxi driver here.

“A lot of people argue about it,” he says. “I don’t talk about the missiles unless my passenger brings it up. I don’t want any problems.”

Shin says he personally supports the new defense system and doesn’t believe speculation about the potential effects of the radar emissions.

Anger over the THAAD deployment, which is expected to take place by the end of 2017, has focused on officials in Seoul. Locals say they feel they were left out of the decision-making process and their concerns have not been addressed.

Both the U.S. and South Korean militaries have tried to calm local concerns. They’ve said the THAAD system’s radar emissions meet safety standards and there won’t be any adverse effect on the surrounding communities.

Still, local farmers don’t want their produce to be known as THAAD grapes or plums, according to Kim Hee-soo. The supermarket manager, 45, has joined recent demonstrations against the missile shield system, which so far have been peaceful.

“If these missiles are brought to the area, I expect the protesters might turn aggressive,” she said.  [USA Today]

You can read more at the link, but the protesters vow to demonstrate and block the roads of the identified THAAD site when the missile defense system arrives.  With a politically weaken Park Geun-hye it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out next year.

According to Victor Cha, under a Trump Presidency expect the OPCON issue to come back again:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could try to complete the postponed transfer of the wartime operational control of South Korean forces from Washington to Seoul in an effort to reduce American security burdens, a top expert on Korea said Wednesday.

South Korea handed over control of its forces to the U.S. during the 1950-53 Korean War to defend against invading troops from North Korea. Peacetime control of its forces was returned in 1994, but the wartime control, known as OPCON, still rests with the U.S.

The two countries agreed in 2007 to transfer OPCON to Seoul by 2012. But the planned transfer was postponed twice amid growing threats from North Korea, first until 2015 and then indefinitely until the South becomes more capable of coping with the North’s threats.

“Trump’s guiding principle has been to put American interests first. In this regard, it is entirely plausible that a Trump presidency may seek to complete OPCON transfer and put these responsibilities in the hands of Koreans,” said Victor Cha, Korea chairman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if Trump uses the OPCON issue as a negotiating chip to get South Korea to pay more for the upkeep of USFK.

Does anyone think permanently deploying US bombers and Aegis ships will do anything to change the behavior of the Kim regime?:

South Korea and the United States have officially begun discussions on the permanent deployment of strategic weapons such as nuclear-capable bombers on the Korean Peninsula.

This was at the top of the agenda in the “two plus two” high-level security talks among Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Defense Minister Han Min-koo, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Washington, Thursday.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told reporters after the meeting that the two defense chiefs will discuss details about how to deploy U.S. strategic assets in South Korea during the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM).

“The permanent deployment of U.S. strategic assets will be discussed at the defense chiefs’ talks,” he said.

U.S. strategic assets include nuclear-capable B-52 and B-1B bombers, F-22 stealth fighter jets, nuclear-powered attack submarines and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Military sources here said that working-level officials of the two nations have already been talking on permanently deploying B-1B Lancers or Aegis destroyers to South Korea. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but this article from Yonhap says the US is unlikely to station strategic assets in South Korea due to cost and concerns of upsetting China:

The scholar said as the U.S. has gradually reduced its defense budget, it will be financially burdensome to deploy its strategic assets on or near the Korean Peninsula.

“The U.S. prefers to operate those assets on a rotational basis to flexibly respond to conflicts in the Middle East, the South and East China Sea, if necessary,” he pointed out.

China remains another major obstacle as the North’s closest ally will be “definitely irritated” by permanent deployment of any U.S. nuclear-armed weapons in South Korea, said Kim Dong-yeob, a professor at Kyungnam University’s North Korean studies school.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest exercise held between the ROK and the United States to further deter North Korea:

The flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was bustling with sailors and planes Friday to demonstrate air flight operations to dozens of South Korean reporters who arrived on board after an hour-long flight from a U.S. air base near Seoul.

The first thing that greeted reporters was pilots in the cockpits of their Super Hornet fighter jets getting ready to take off and the flight deck crew assisting in the operations in waters some 240 kilometers from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, and north of Jeju Island.

Before the planned demonstration, Rear Adm. Charles Williams, commander of the carrier battle group of the U.S. 7th Fleet, delivered a short briefing on the ongoing joint exercise between South Korean and U.S. navies amid ever-growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

“Our operations on the Korean peninsula are part of the ongoing partnership with our Republic of Korea Navy counterparts that has been around for more than 5 decades now. The work we have done with our counterparts has proven to strengthen our alliance,” the flag officer said.

As for the meaning of the combined exercise, Lt. Commander Aaron V. Kakiel, a spokesman for Carrier Strike Group 5, which the nuclear carrier is a part of, said, “This exercise has been planned for a very long time. We’ve been working with our Korean counterparts to exercise our interoperability in this area. It is not a direct response to any (provocative) actions (by any country). It is meant to be training for us to work together for a stronger alliance.”

During the 30-minute demonstration, nine fighter jets took off and 15 fighter jets made landings. Most of the fighter jets were FA-18 Super Hornets. Others were the E-2C Hawk Eye early warning plane and the EA-18G Growler, the fleet’s electronics warfare plane.

U.S. and South Korean navy officials said the joint exercise will further improve interoperability to be fully ready to strike back against any military attacks by North Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

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