Tag: USFK

The Moon administration is sending their Foreign Minister to try and lobby the USFK commander on the USFK cost sharing issue:

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will meet with United States Forces Korea (USFK) commander Robert Abrams, Friday, at the new USFK headquarters in Camp Humphreys, to discuss pending security affairs here.

Kang’s visit to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, located about 70 kilometers south of Seoul, is the first since 2017. The visit to the U.S. military base comes at a crucial time when the allies are on the verge of starting their defense cost-sharing negotiations, known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA).

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The suspension of the USFK curfew will continue for another 3 months for all Soldiers except for those in the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team:

 American troops in South Korea received at least three more months without a curfew after Gen. Robert Abrams extended the temporary suspension of the policy on Tuesday.

However, the 1-5 a.m. off-installation curfew has been slapped back on the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, also known as the “Greywolf Brigade,” which began a nine-month rotation in South Korea in early June.

Abrams, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said the temporary reprieve has been going well, but he’s not ready to make it permanent.

“The vast majority of our personnel have conducted themselves appropriately, but I felt it was important to implement an additional 90 days to ensure we are making the correct decision regarding the curfew,” he said in a statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article didn’t say but I assume there must have been enough incidents of misbehavior in the brigade to warrant being subject to the curfew again.

I guess this change really doesn’t matter because the blackmarketers always seem to get what they need regardless of what AAFES and the commissaries do:

 The U.S. military has lifted monthly commissary purchase limits and eased other restrictions on shoppers at base stores in South Korea.

The new policy, which took effect Wednesday, also allows even patrons who don’t have purchasing privileges to enter commissaries and department store-style exchanges, although they’re not allowed to buy anything.

The change came as U.S. Forces Korea, the main command for some 28,500 troops based on the divided peninsula, is trying to make it a more attractive assignment.

However, limits remain as USFK seeks to prevent black market sales of goods sold on base. Alcohol sales, for example, will continue to be restricted.

Authorized shoppers also must show a military ID or ration card at the cash register, according to the new policy that was announced in a Sept. 11 memo signed by Air Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Williams, USFK chief of staff.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but some of the biggest blackmarket schemes in the past have involved AAFES and commissary employees. If it gets too bad I guess USFK could always send in the clowns again.

Great job by all the Soldiers that participated in the ruck this week:

 Servicemembers and civilians participated in the ninth annual 9/11 Memorial Ruck March at Camp Humphreys on Wednesday, marking 18 years since the worst attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor and the prelude to the nation’s longest war.

An estimated 500 people signed up for the 9.11-mile memorial ruck, beating a record set in 2017 when 264 participants signed up and completed a slightly different route.

Many of the participants were mere toddlers on the morning of 9/11, more concerned with putting one foot in front of the other without falling over than shouldering a pack and moving out.

Pfc. Alison Malmborg, a supply specialist for the Eighth Army Wightman NCO Academy, was 2 years old when those tragic events unfolded.

“There are a few sergeants and people we work with that were in the military during 9/11, so it means a lot to spend this time with them and show that we are dedicated,” she said. “Even though I was only 2, I am here today serving alongside them.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is a really good interview from BBC Hardtalk with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-hwa. Hat tip to Korea Sparkling:

I am not used to news commentators asking good and informative questions. Kang made the point that the current trade dispute is about the South Korean court ruling on compensating forced laborers, not North Korea export controls as Japan claims. I think everyone agrees on this point and the Japanese are using the North Korean export issue as its legal cover to put pressure on the ROK government on the forced labor issue.

In my opinion Kang did not explain very well how the 1965 Treaty is no longer relevant in regards to settling compensation claims. She kept saying it was the South Korean Supreme Court that came up with the ruling, not the ROK government. However, it is the ROK government that can settle the compensation issue by paying the compensation claims with the money given to the ROK in 1965 by Japan. If they did that to begin with this current trade dispute would not happen. Instead they want to confiscate Japanese property in South Korea.

I believe the Japanese are responding hard on this issue because they want to prevent compensation claims coming from other countries that they have already had settlement agreements with if they paid the South Korean claims. The ROK government knows that Japan is not going to pay the compensation, but are using the dispute for domestic political purposes to obscure their bad economic policies, corruption, and other issues.

I would have liked to have had Foreign Minister Kang asked if she thinks Chinese property should be confiscated if victims of Chinese aggression during the Korean War demand it.

The interview then goes on to talk about the US-ROK alliance and North Korea. Hardtalk asks Kang if South Korea has been sidelined in the negotiations with North Korea as well as the upcoming US-ROK cost sharing talks. Kang says that is not the case, but does not make a very convincing argument. For the cost sharing issue she says that a reasonable amount needs to negotiated for the upkeep of US troops that can pass through the National Assembly. The reported amount that the US is looking for would not make it through the National Assembly.

The interview is pretty long, but I recommend watching the whole thing. I would be surprised if Foreign Minister Kang appears on the show again considering the grilling that she received.

Here is the slide that lists the dates of when services on Yongsan Garrison will end. The slide is from the recent town hall held at Yongsan Garrison Of particular note is that the PX will close on January 1, 2020 and the Commissary sometime in September 2021. The Post Office is scheduled to be open all the way to August 2022. Considering how the Moon administration is claiming the expedited hand over of Yongsan Garrison this year, these close out dates do not indicate that will happen. It all appears to be political posturing.

It will be interesting to see what the fate of the Dragon Hill Lodge will be as well since the ROK government wants to demolish it, while USFK wants to keep it open after the relocation of Yongsan Garrison is complete.

The long debated issue of where to officially put the Combined Forces Command has apparently been settled:

Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) will be relocated from the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek by 2021, defense officials announced Sunday.

The CFC, Korea’s Ministry of National Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff made the announcement jointly on Sunday, adding that a timeline will be finalized in the U.S.-Korea Security Consultative Meeting coming at the end of October or early November.

The move had been forewarned by Washington and Seoul in June, but Sunday was the first time an exact time for the move was announced. 

The move of the CFC will be in time for the expected transfer of wartime operational control (Opcon) over Korea’s military forces from the United States to Korea by 2022.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the ROK was trying to keep the CFC in Seoul and force the Americans to commute every week for meetings. USFK wanted the CFC based out of Camp Humphreys which is what they ended up getting.

According to the article the hand over of operational control is still planned for 2022. 2022 just happens to be of the ROK presidential election so you know that who ever President Moon selects to run for President will take credit for the hand over.

The long planned for closure of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul will officially happen over the next couple of months:

The U.S. Forces Korea will end all services at a major military base in the heart of Seoul within this year to prepare the return of the land to the South Korean government, military officials said Saturday. 

The U.S. military has been moving its bases from around the country to a refurbished garrison in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, since 2017.

While the USFK headquarters and the Eighth Army have moved to the new headquarters, called Camp Humphreys, the U.S. military has been preparing to vacate Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul to speed up the relocation processes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the return of closed out U.S. military bases in South Korea:

Cheong Wa Dae said Friday it will redouble efforts for the early return of more than two dozen U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) bases.

It was briefing media on the results of a weekly meeting of the National Security Council’s (NSC) standing committee.

The USFK has been moving its bases nationwide mainly to a refurbished garrison in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul. It’s named Camp Humphreys.

The process of South Korea regaining the sites of the affected bases has been going slowly, however, partly due to handling of polluted soil.

In the session, presided over by Chung Eui-yong, director of Cheong Wa Dae’s national security office, the NSC panel members agreed to “push actively for an early return” of the sites of 26 USFK bases, which will be vacant or have already been, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

“In particular, (they) agreed to begin the return process on the Yongsan base (in central Seoul) within this year,” it said.

Top security officials, including the defense minister, especially decided to seek the return of four bases at the earliest possible date, it added.

They are Camp Long and Camp Eagle in Wonju, Gangwon Province, as well as Camp Market in Incheon and Camp Hovey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Those who reside in nearby areas have suffered economic troubles because of a long delay in the return of the bases, the NSC officials noted.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There will probably be more missiles being fired by North Korea next week as the joint exercise between the ROK and South Korea is scheduled to begin:

South Korea and the United States will stage joint military drills as scheduled despite warnings from North Korea, the South Korean military authority said Sunday.

The joint drills will begin Monday with a computer-simulated command post exercise (CPX) to cope with any emergency on the Korean Peninsula and last for half a month, according to the authority.

After the CPX, the allies will spend the remaining 10 days intensively verifying Seoul’s capabilities for its envisioned retaking of wartime operational control (OPCON) of its troops from Washington.

But many watchers say the joint military drills could prompt further provocation from the North.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.