Tag: Robert Abrams

It looks like General Abrams has had enough with civilians putting troops at risk by spreading the coronavirus and has declared a public health emergency:

“In order to ensure I possess the necessary authorities needed to enforce compliance and protect the force, I have declared a Public Health Emergency for all U.S. commands and military installations” in South Korea, Abrams said in a video announcement.

He said the new designation applies to all service members, family members, U.S. and South Korean civilian employees, contractors and Defense Department retirees who have access to U.S. military installations.

Violations will be subject to punishment including barring individuals from installations, he added.

The overall number of confirmed infections in South Korea has been on a downward trend in recent days, but health authorities have warned that the threat remains due to cluster outbreaks and imported cases.

Commanders also have expressed increasing concern about complacency, particularly among civilian employees who cannot be forced to follow the same orders as service members to avoid nonessential travel and off-post social activities.

In General Abrams’ remarks he say that he believed the GSOMIA showed that Japan and the ROK had put aside their historical differences. I think it is more accurate to say that the Korean right under the prior Park Geun-hye administration were able to put aside the historical differences, but the Korean left never did. They fought this and other political arrangements with Japan from the beginning. It was clear that when ever they regained power they would reverse all gains made politically with Japan which is what they are doing. The GSOMIA is just the latest change they are making:

The looming termination of the military information-sharing pact between South Korea and Japan, if realized, could send the wrong message that the U.S. and its two Asian allies are not strong enough to ensure security in the region, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Robert Abrams said.

The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) is set to expire on Nov. 23, following South Korea’s decision in August to terminate it after Japan imposed export curbs on Seoul in a row over wartime forced labor.

“The fundamental principle of the information-sharing agreement was a clear message to the region that the ROK and Japan put aside perhaps the historical differences and put at the forefront stability and security of the region,” Abrams said in a press interview held on Tuesday to mark his first year in office. ROK is the acronym of South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea. 

“Together, we are much stronger for providing for stable and secure Northeast Asia. And without that, there is a risk of sending the wrong message that perhaps we are not as strong,” he said during the interview held at his office at Camp Humphreys, a sprawling U.S. base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the real people benefitting from the end of GSOMIA is China and North Korea.