Category: USFK

Condolences to all the friends and family of SGT Lott:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier stationed near the border with North Korea died at a local hospital on Sept. 19, the command said in a press release Wednesday.

Sgt. Damionia Lott served as a supply sergeant with the 70th Brigade Support Battalion, 210th Field Artillery Brigade at Camp Casey, according to the release. The command said her death was not attributed to a training incident but declined to provide additional information.

Lott, a Louisiana native, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2016 and joined the Army four years later. She arrived at the battalion in South Korea in July. Her age was not provided.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully no one in the U.S. military had any travel plans to Seoul anytime soon:

The military command responsible for U.S. troops in South Korea has temporarily restricted troops from traveling to 41 districts following a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The updated travel guidelines announced by U.S. Forces Korea on Wednesday reflect a recent increase in coronavirus cases around the country, according to a post on the USFK official Facebook page. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday reported 3,271 new cases, a new daily record in the country.

The surge comes days after Chuseok, the nation’s harvest holiday. South Korean health officials previously said they expected a dramatic increase in cases and warned residents to limit their travel plans during the three-day holiday Sept. 20 to 22. Nearly 33 million people traveled during the holiday week, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

USFK has divided the country into roughly 230 districts to reflect changing rates of coronavirus infection. USFK service members, civilian employees, family members and contractors are prohibited from traveling to districts with 50 or more confirmed COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. The command updates its district guidelines every week.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article states that 80% of Seoul is off limits due to the COVID surge.

It appears this is USFK’s response to North Korea’s recent missile launches:

The U.S. military in South Korea conducted a surgical strike drill simulating targeted attacks on major North Korean facilities, officials said Friday, amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula over the North’s missiles launches.

The Exercise Teak Knife was conducted at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sept. 13, which provided opportunities for U.S. special tactics airmen “to practice skillsets used in special operations across the Indo-Pacific,” the U.S. Special Operations Command Korea said in its recent Facebook post.

The program included “a free fall insert, C-130J tactical landing, and fast rope insertions from three MH-60 Seahawks,” and many garrison units and U.S. Navy members also took part in the exercise, which “maximized unit and individual readiness,” it added.

The U.S. military has carried out the exercise regularly since the 1990s, often together with South Korean troops, but it is unusual for it to make the matter public. The exercise involves simulated attacks on key facilities in North Korea, such as its missile and nuclear installations, according to the officials.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The long negotiated USFK Cost Sharing Agreement has been implemented:

South Korea will spend nearly $125 million more this year to station American troops on the peninsula, according to a new cost-sharing deal that took effect Wednesday.

The Special Measures Agreement between South Korea and the United States determines the cost split for keeping roughly 28,500 U.S. troops in the country and employing South Korean civilians on U.S. military bases.

Seoul is expected to contribute $1.02 billion for 2021, a 13.9% increase to the $896.62 million it spent the previous year. The renewed agreement will retroactively apply to South Korea’s contribution from last year, which was carried over from 2019 after negotiations for the agreement’s renewal became deadlocked during President Donald Trump’s administration.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The COVID spread is getting worse in USFK:

 U.S. Forces Korea on Tuesday announced the fastest surge of new coronavirus cases among its personnel, surpassing a record set in July.

Forty people, including U.S. military family members and South Korean contractors, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and Friday, the command said in a news release. The previous record was 37 infections over a three-day span between July 5 and 7.

Fifty-one USFK personnel tested positive between Aug. 23 and Friday, which is, so far, fewer than the previous record of 58 cases during a weeklong period in July.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but according to the article half the cases are at Osan Airbase. It is unknown if the higher number of positives had anything to do with the maskless party recently held at the Enlisted Club.

I guess we are about to see how the new USFK Commanding General handles those who don’t follow the COVID protocols:

The U.S. military in South Korea is investigating videos showing dozens of people dancing close together, without masks at a club on an air base on Saturday night.

Videos posted to Instagram and TikTok show military personnel drinking and dancing during a club-like event at the Enlisted Club at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, roughly 30 miles from Seoul.

Service members, according to the current policy imposed by U.S. Forces Korea, are required to wear masks in all indoor common areas on military facilities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

USFK spokesman Col. Lee Peters in an emailed statement Tuesday said the command was aware of the event and was still “gathering all the facts and pertinent information.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here we go again with Kim Yo-jong playing the bad cop for the North Korean regime:

Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s sister, lambasted Seoul and Washington Tuesday for their annual summertime joint military exercise and demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.    
   
Through an English-language statement in the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim expressed her “deep regret at the perfidious behavior of the south Korean authorities,” warning that a “a dear price should be paid.”  
   
South Korea and the United States kicked off Tuesday a four-day crisis management staff training as a prelude to their main annual summertime joint exercise scheduled from Aug. 16 to 26.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the Joint CCPT exercise has reportedly already been significantly scaled down; to scale it down anymore would probably turn it into a meeting and Kim Yo-jong would probably still complain.