Tag: USFK

For those about to exit service and have served in Korea, this may be an opportunity worth checking out:

“In recent years, the number of Korean companies expanding into the U.S. has increased significantly and demand for local workers has risen rapidly, particularly in advanced industries such as semiconductors and batteries,” Lee told The Korea Times. “But one of the biggest difficulties these companies face is securing local workers.”

That prompted KCCI to look toward U.S. service members who had served in Korea — a group that could offer Korean employers both professional skills and firsthand familiarity with Korean culture and workplace practices.

“They understand Korean culture and the business environment through their time serving in Korea, and their military careers have equipped them with responsibility, leadership and teamwork,” said Lee, who is also a vice chairman of SK Group.

“We saw a clear potential to connect the workforce needs of Korean companies in the U.S. with new career opportunities for service members leaving the military.”

KCCI signed an agreement with the foundation in September last year to support USFK personnel transitioning to civilian careers. The online platform was completed in November and officially launched in March.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This makes me wonder if Trump is trying to get a deal with Kim Jong-un this year in order to get a foreign policy victory before the November mid-term elections?:

South Korea and the United States have agreed to halve the duration of the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise at Washington’s request, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Wednesday.

The allies decided to end this year’s UFS exercise on Friday, shortening the drill to Aug. 17-21 from the originally planned Aug. 17-27 schedule, according to the JCS.

The exercise kicked off Monday as initially planned.

This is the first time a major combined exercise has been abruptly adjusted after getting underway. (…..)

UFS is typically conducted in two phases, with the first focused on defending South Korea against a simulated attack and the second on counteroffensive operations.

“The second phase, which focuses on counteroffensive operations, will not be conducted under the shortened schedule,” a military official in Seoul said. (……)

The reduction comes as Trump seeks to revive diplomacy with Pyongyang. Trump has suggested that Kim has responded to his overtures, although he has not disclosed details of any exchanges.

Trump is also seeking a face-to-face meeting with Kim this year, according to reports, with a possible encounter around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Too many people think missile defense is a magic force field when the fact is that it buys commanders time to disperse assets and go on the offense. Just the disparity in the number of interceptors compared to enemy missiles is evidence enough of this fact:

Seth Jones, president of the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), made the remarks in an op-ed released by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, following reports that the United States is running low on key missile defense interceptors amid the Middle East war.

Noting that advancements in drone and missile warfare have pushed Ukraine and Russia to take extensive steps to protect their bases since their full-scale war began in 2022, Jones argued that the U.S. has been “too slow” to learn from the war and protect its bases and other infrastructure in the Middle East.

“The challenge in the Pacific is much greater. China presents a more serious threat than Iran with a larger and more capable stockpile of drones and cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missiles,” he said.

“U.S. military bases and other infrastructure across the Pacific — from Japan and the Philippines to Guam and South Korea — are highly vulnerable to Chinese and North Korean missiles and drones,” he added.

The expert called on the U.S. to get serious about protecting its critical infrastructure, stressing the need to take an array of steps, including increasing “active defenses,” such as air defense systems that can identify, shoot down or otherwise disrupt incoming missiles and drones.

He also called for the U.S. to ramp up “passive defenses,” such as digging underground facilities for vital infrastructure; increase its use of camouflage, concealment and deception; and disperse its military facilities to make it more difficult for potential adversaries to attack.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but hardening buildings and digging underground facilities is very expensive and Congressmen and Generals would rather buy shiny new F-35s and naval destroyers.

The reason the land hasn’t been handed over is equally the fault of the Korean government. Negotiations on where to put the Combined Forces Command Headquarters and the U.S. embassy housing are still ongoing. Additionally, all the complaining from the environmental groups still has portions of the projected parkland going through environmental mitigation before being turned into a park:

During the briefing session, Lee also zeroed in on delays in reclaiming land that previously housed United States Forces Korea (USFK) facilities, even after U.S. troops relocated to Pyeongtaek, some 60 kilometers south of Seoul.

“We spent more than 10 trillion won (US$7 billion) to build the Pyeongtaek base,” the president said.

“It is a real problem that (land used for former U.S. military bases) is not being returned for one reason or another, and that even after it is returned, it is effectively unusable because of various restrictions,” he said. 

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the USFK has been passive on the issue and that Seoul is urging it to make progress.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the details on what happened with Drone-gate a few days ago:

The inspection revealed that a working-level soldier with the 1st Corps had received a text message from the U.S. military notifying the unit of its drone flight plan and firing altitude the day before the exercise.

The U.S. military had also attached an image of its written advance notification, which included the expected flight altitude, suggesting the Korean soldier likely overlooked the detail and failed to report it up the chain of command, assuming the drone would fly within the altitude range governed by the Army Ground Operations Command.

In fact, the drone flew higher than expected, at an altitude that would have required prior notification to and approval from the South Korean Air Force.

Upon spotting the drone, the South Korean military had briefly activated Durumi, a military alert system issued in the event of an enemy drone incursion.

The JCS official’s remarks indicated that the customary practice of allowing an advance notice to be put through text messages may have led to such procedural shortcomings from both sides.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I am surprised that official business like this is being conducted over text messages. It appears that is going to end due to this investigation.

It is looking less likely troop reductions will be coming to South Korea if this NDAA gets signed into law:

The $1.15 trillion defense policy bill passed by the House last week places further restrictions on the use of federal funds to reduce the number of U.S. service members stationed on the Korean Peninsula. The House on July 22 approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2027, which authorizes appropriations for the Pentagon, military construction and defense-related Department of Energy activities. The measure squeaked by, 216 to 212. The bill’s provision on U.S. military posture in South Korea amends language from the current fiscal year’s version to further limit the use of federal funds to reduce the U.S. military presence on the peninsula.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like someone majorly screwed up this warning to local police that turned into a mass evacuation around Osan Airbase:

Emergency crews established a 1,000-foot safety perimeter here on Tuesday after an apparent white phosphorus leak prompted local authorities to briefly order nearby residents to evacuate. The 51st Fighter Wing described the event as an isolated “ground mishap” and did not confirm that white phosphorus was involved.

Wing spokesman Master Sgt. Eric Flores told Stars and Stripes by email at 8:52 p.m. Tuesday that the incident occurred within an isolated munitions storage area inside the base. He said there is no threat to the public, and no base-wide or off-base evacuation was required. He said an “incorrect evacuation message” was issued at 5:08 p.m. via At Hoc, the emergency mass messaging system.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see if USFK has any issues with this:

South Korea is proposing to relocate a military air base used by the South Korean and U.S. air forces and build a semiconductor manufacturing complex on the site. Gwangju Air Base, roughly 190 miles south of Seoul, serves as a South Korea-U.S. Air Force collocated operating base. It shares the airfield with Gwangju Airport, which operates commercial flights.  The U.S. Air Force may rapidly deploy assets at the base during a conflict without permanently stationing a large force there.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like missile defenses for USFK are back in place and may have never have left the country in the first place:

All six launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system deployed in the southeastern county of Seongju have returned to base following their relocation in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, sources said Sunday.

The truck-mounted launchers were reported to have moved from Seongju to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul, in March, fueling speculation the U.S. military was planning to transfer THAAD missile interceptors to the Middle East to support the war.

The launchers and other parts of the THAAD battery, however, were believed to have remained in South Korea, as some of the trucks were later seen returning to Seongju.

U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson told a Senate hearing in April that THAAD remained in South Korea. 

“Currently, we are sending munitions forward, and those are sitting right now waiting to move,” he said at the time, without elaborating.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Ironically the Japanese historically have thought the same thing that the Korean Peninsula is a dagger pointed towards Japan. This is partly why past Japanese Imperial governments have tried to control the peninsula. Is General Brunson hinting that China will be the next Imperial power that will try and control the Korean Peninsula?:

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson has said that South Korea is a “dagger in the heart of Asia” if seen from China’s east coast, a remark that apparently underscored the strategic location of the Asian ally amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.

Brunson made the remarks in a recent podcast interview hosted by the U.S. Army War College on Friday, amid lingering speculation that the United States would seek to leverage USFK assets to help deter an increasingly assertive China or address other regional challenges beyond the Korean Peninsula.

“When they (the Chinese) look out from the east coast of China, what they see is there’s Korea, the dagger in the heart of Asia,” he said, according to a transcript posted on the website of the Strategic Studies Institute at the Army War College.

“(Then) there’s Japan again, sort of that shield that’s sort of a backstop, if you will, for them trying and their ambitions beyond that into the South China Sea and then down to their southeast is the Philippines,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.