Category: USFK

If USFK servicemembers are any indication South Korea may still have a few weeks before they enter into a decline in COVID cases:

South Korea reached a new pandemic high of 20,270 coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the nation wrapped up the Lunar New Year holiday, three days typically marked by widespread travel on the peninsula.

Tuesday’s count was 1,928 cases higher than the previous record of 18,342 infections logged the day before, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Center. Over 6,000 cases were reported in Gyeonggi province, where Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, is located.

Meanwhile, U.S. Forces Korea reported 196 new COVID-19 cases for the week ending Monday, its third consecutive week of declining numbers. USFK confirmed 379 new infections the previous week and a pandemic high of 1,599 between Jan. 4 and 10.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but in Japan USFJ servicemembers are experiencing the same trend of lowering cases while Japan’s daily COVID case rate surged to over 142,000.

In the Stars & Stripes they have an article posted about how the Camp Humphreys garrison commander’s wife is a Korean adoptee who has returned to Korea for the first time since she was a baby:

Tara Graves celebrates her birthday Saturday in South Korea, her first since she was born here more than 45 years ago.

Graves, 46, a personal fitness trainer and the wife of Camp Humphreys commander Col. Seth Graves, is among tens of thousands of South Koreans adopted to families around the world in the decades following the 1950-53 Korean War.

In 2020, the Army sent the Graves family from Brussels to South Korea, where Seth took command of the largest U.S. military base overseas. 

The new assignment hit home for Tara Graves: She had not been in South Korea since she was adopted at 6 months old, she told Stars and Stripes in December.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like it is going to be a tough few weeks for U.S. troops in South Korea as they face nearly a soft lockdown on their off post activities:

 U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Saturday it has decided to toughen social distancing rules for its service members amid the growing number of infections among its troops.

The USFK had confirmed a weekly record high of 682 additional COVID-19 cases among its personnel from Dec. 28 to Tuesday. It did not offer more details, including the number of breakthrough cases or locations of the infected members.

“Due to the continued presence of COVID-19 within United States Forces Korea and South Korea, USFK has increased its health protection condition to ‘Bravo Plus’ peninsula-wide effective today at 12 p.m. until further notice,” the USFK said in a statement.

Under the scheme, the U.S. military will prohibit all personnel from visiting off-base facilities, such as indoor malls and gyms.

Access to bars and saunas will also be banned, though the USFK had previously banned such activities for non-vaccinated personnel only.

Seated dining at restaurants outside the base will also be restricted.

The USFK added it will prohibit its personnel from traveling to Seoul except for official duties or those who live there.

The total number of COVID-19 cases reported among the USFK-affiliated population totaled 3,027 as of Tuesday. The USFK said nearly 90 percent of its affiliated community is vaccinated.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I have said for years that China would not just be a bystander during any conflict on the Korean peninsula and retired USFK General Robert Abrams believes in this viewpoint now as well:

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense on Monday pushed back against remarks by a former commander of U.S. Forces Korea who said wartime plans against North Korea must account for China’s militaristic influence in the region.

North Korea’s weapons testing demonstrates that it persists as a threat, but the Chinese military also has “to be accounted for in the war plan,” retired Gen. Robert Abrams, who led USFK and U.N. Command until July, said on Voice of America on Saturday.

“It’s not a secret that they have increased their presence in and around the Korean Peninsula since 2010,” Abrams said, referring to China’s military.

“These are indications of things that have to be accounted for in the war plan that the current [guidance] does not contain,” he said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is a good news story, great job by all the doctors and nurses involved with helping keep this baby alive:

An extremely premature baby of an American military officer couple has grown healthy enough to be discharged from the hospital and sent to the United States, hospital officials said Monday.

The baby weighed only 720 grams when born on Sept. 10, just over 25 weeks into pregnancy, through cesarean section at Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul. 

The baby, who could not properly breathe due to not having fully developed lungs, was sent to an intensive care unit (ICU) upon birth and received urgent CPR treatment. After that, a team of doctors, including a pediatrician, thoracic surgeon and physiatrist, focused on helping the baby recover. 

After 98 days of hospitalization, the baby was discharged at a weight of 2,510 grams without any neurologic complications. The baby was transferred to a U.S. hospital, as the parents were reassigned to posts in the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

My guess is that Congress is giving the Pentagon flexibility on how to manage troop levels in the Indo-Pacific region without having to focus on maintaining the 28,500 troop level number in South Korea:

The U.S. Congress passed its annual defense budget bill Wednesday with no ban on the reduction of U.S. Forces in Korea, a clause that had been included in the bill for the past four years.  
   
Every year, the U.S. Congress passes the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to determine the funding for military activities under the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.  
   
The bill was passed by Congress on Wednesday to authorize a total of $777.7 billion in spending for the 2022 fiscal year, namely on strategic competition with China and Russia and on disruptive technologies like hypersonic weapons and artificial intelligence, amongst other U.S. defense priorities.   
   
Missing this year, however, was a clause legally restricting the U.S. government from reducing the number of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) from its current level of around 28,500. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Here is the further erosion of Korea’s “Living with COVID” strategy:

The U.S. military command in South Korea on Friday imposed a 10-day quarantine for inbound personnel and did away with the “working quarantine” that allowed individuals to move between their homes and workplaces.

The new policy for U.S. service members, Defense Department employees and their families, regardless of vaccination status, aligns with South Korea’s updated measures as it confronts an increase in new coronavirus cases.

The 14-day “working quarantine” that permitted new arrivals under the status of forces agreement to move between their homes or other quarantine sites and their workplaces is no longer permitted, according to a U.S. Forces Korea announcement Friday. SOFA outlines the rights and privileges of U.S. servicemembers, Defense Department civilians and their families in the host nation.

During quarantine, individuals must take a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, test on the first and eighth or ninth day, according to USFK. Sponsors of newly arrived individuals may travel if their guest or cohabitant tests negative on the first test.

South Korea imposed a 10-day quarantine for all arrivals this week following a surge of new cases in the country. The Korea Disease and Prevention Agency reported 5,266 new cases Thursday, a record high since the pandemic began in March 2020.

In its latest update, USFK reported 36 new cases between Nov. 23 and Monday. Roughly 98% of its service members are fully vaccinated, the command said in November.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.