Category: USFK

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.

Apparently the homes on Yongsan Garrison that were handed back to the Korean government are now a popular location for the Korean public to go and take pictures at:

These brick townhouses were once home to American officers and their families, but South Korea has gained control of this tract of land on the southeastern tip of the Army’s Yongsan Garrison, nearly two decades after the U.S. and Korea set in motion a plan to relocate the bulk of America’s troops in the country to a location south of Seoul and return the property to the government. 

The village, which consists of 18 buildings, is now open to the public, and it is crowded with people who came to get a glimpse of the inside of the garrison and to snap selfies against the backdrop of American-style, two- and three-story townhouses.

Korea Times

According to the article kids were going to the CDC sick which is what likely caused the outbreak:

Thirteen people, including nearly a dozen children, linked to an on-base children’s center recently tested positive for the coronavirus respiratory disease, an official at the center said Tuesday. 

At least 11 children and two staff members from the Capt. Jennifer M. Moreno School Age Center on Humphreys tested positive within the past week, center coordinator Tiffany Harris told Stars and Stripes by phone. Around 178 children in grades one through five are enrolled in the center, which employs 24 people.

The center, which provides children with after-school programs, was closed Friday for cleaning and sanitizing; it reopened Monday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but if we learned anything from this pandemic it is to not send your sick kid to school or if you are sick don’t go to work.

It was only a matter of time before USFK aligned themselves with the Korean government’s new “Living with COVID” strategy:

Americans affiliated with the U.S. military in South Korea were free to move about the country as of Friday, when U.S. Forces Korea lifted its coronavirus travel restrictions.

USFK, the command responsible for roughly 28,500 American troops on the peninsula, said in a news release its troops and other personnel are no longer subject to travel restrictions meant to curb the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease.

Looser restrictions for U.S. personnel, including Defense Department civilian employees, contractors and family members, “better align with the [South Korean] government’s ‘Living with COVID-19’ initiatives,” according to USFK.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

No details on what happened, but condolences to SGT Haflei’s friends and family:

 A U.S. Army infantryman died at a South Korean army base on Oct. 17, the 2nd Infantry Division announced in a news release Wednesday.

Sgt. Joe Haflei, 33, of Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, served as a team leader with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. 

The command said his death is under investigation but no foul play is suspected.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is terrible:

An Eighth Army soldier who died with his wife and their 16-month-old child in a car crash in South Korea earlier in the week was identified by his command on Wednesday.

Army Spc. Luis Taveras, 27, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., his wife, Lisbeth, 30, and their son, Luis, were killed when their vehicle collided with a tow truck around 11 p.m. Monday near Camp Humphreys.

Taveras was a quartermaster and chemical equipment repairer with the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command. He served four years in the Army and arrived in South Korea in June.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link, but condolences to all SPC Taveras’s friends and family.

Though cases are dropping nationally in South Korea there has been a slight uptick in cases in Seoul which has led to this decision:

U.S. Forces Korea put four districts in Seoul and three in adjacent Gyeonggi province off-limits following a rise in COVID-19 cases there, according to an announcement Wednesday.

Only mission-essential visits are permitted to the Jongno, Yeongdeungpo, Guro and Geumcheon districts in Seoul and the Gwacheon, Dongducheon and Ansan districts in Gyeonggi, according to USFK’s weekly travel restrictions update. The command placed 10 districts off-limits Wednesday.

The Jongno district includes the U.S. Embassy, Seoul City Hall and the presidential Blue House. Camp Humphreys, the headquarters for USFK and the U.N. Command, and Osan Air Base are in Gyeonggi province.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

All Koreans that work for USFK will have to receive the COVID vaccine by next month:

 All Korean civilians employed by the U.S. military in South Korea are required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Nov. 22, according to a U.S. Forces Korea memo obtained by Stars and Stripes.

The Oct. 13 memo, signed by foreign labor program director Lebanon Spann, cites President Joe Biden’s executive order last month requiring all U.S. federal employees to be vaccinated “to ensure the health and safety of the federal workforce and members of the public with whom they interact.”

“The health and safety of the federal workforce, and the health and safety of members of the public with whom they interact, are foundational to the efficiency of the civil service,” Biden’s executive order said, adding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “has found that the best way to do so is to be vaccinated.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.