Tag: USFK

Trump has brought back up the issue that South Korea should pay more for defense from U.S. troops however with the cost sharing deal recently concluded that extends to 2030, this seems like campaign rhetoric at this point. Trump is once again using a lot of hyperbole to make his greater point that allies should pay more for international security provided by U.S. troops:

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that America “cannot be taken advantage of any longer in trade and in the military,” reinforcing speculation that he could demand renegotiation of a recent defense cost-sharing deal with Seoul if he returns to office.

The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks during a televised town hall event hosted by Fox News, falsely claiming that South Korea does not pay for the stationing of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

“40,000 soldiers and we never get paid. South Korea, they don’t pay,” Trump said, apparently referring to 28,500 USFK service members.

“I made them pay. Everyone raised hell, and Biden took the deal, and he said they don’t pay anymore, and they’re a rich country. No … we have to start. We cannot be taken advantage of any longer in trade, in the military,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The equipment for the next rotational unit in support of the 2nd Infantry Division, the 1-2 Stryker Brigade out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord has arrived to Korea:

The first batch of equipment for a new American rotational force employing the Stryker fighting vehicle arrived at a southern port over the weekend, the U.S. Army in South Korea said Wednesday.

Stryker vehicles and other pieces of equipment belonging to the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team were unloaded in Gwangyang, 291 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sunday to replace the current 3rd Cavalry Regiment as part of a regular rotation, according to the Eighth Army.

“We welcome the Ghost Brigade to the Republic of Korea to enhance the interoperability of the Combined Division and strengthen our alliance with our ROK partners,” Maj. Gen. Charles Lombardo, commander of the 2nd Infantry Division/ROK-U.S. Combined Division, said in a release.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Usually I do not have much sympathy with taxi drivers in Korea when they try and rip off Soldiers. But in this case a $50 fair for a ride from Seoul to Dongducheon is actually a pretty fair price:

Police plan to recommend assault charges against a U.S. soldier accused of throwing a 73-year-old taxi driver to the ground after complaining his fare was too high. On Sept. 1, a 21-year-old enlisted soldier from Camp Casey hailed a taxi with three other people in Seoul’s Map district, a Dongducheon police officer told Stars and Stripes by phone Friday.

South Korean officials customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity and typically do not identify individuals suspected of crimes until they are formally charged. The taxi driver dropped the soldier’s companions off before heading to the final destination near Casey in Dongducheon, the officer said.

The soldier slept during the ride and was woken up by the driver upon arrival. After being asked for the $50 fare, the soldier complained it was too high and threw the driver to the ground by his neck, the officer said. The driver immediately reported the incident to police and said he suffered an orbital fracture and scratches to his face.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Basically what this ruling is telling everyone is that if you are a service member in USFK and are charged with child porn, just defect to North Korea and the charges will be dropped if you make it back:

Pvt. Travis King on Friday was sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty to deserting to North Korea. But he walked out of the courtroom a free man. “With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home,” said Frank Rosenblatt, an attorney for the soldier. Military Judge Lt. Col. Rick Mathew also sentenced King to reduction in rank to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge in a court-martial that lasted most of the day.

During the trial, King, 24, sat in his dress uniform between his attorneys and said it was his decision on July 18, 2023, to join a tour of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea and then bolt into North Korea. The soldier did so because he was “dissatisfied with work,” he told the judge. King also pleaded guilty to three counts of disobeying an officer on Oct. 7, 2023, and another charge of assaulting a noncommissioned officer the following day.

He pleaded not guilty to additional charges related to child sexual abuse material and making false statements. The judge dismissed the remaining charges.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but King played the predictable race card saying everyone in the Army is racist. I have seen people in the Army get more jail time for doing far less than what King did and yet prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that let King walk free after less than a year in jail.

The USFK commander nominee has just stated the obvious:

 The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander nominee on Tuesday described North Korea’s “rapid” advancement of its nuclear and missile capabilities as the “single greatest” challenge facing the Korea-based command, vowing to maintain a “constant” state of readiness if confirmed.

During a confirmation hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lieut. Gen. Xavier Brunson, currently the commander of First Corps, also voiced concerns over growing military exchanges between Pyongyang and Moscow, noting his commitment to mitigating risks associated with their military alignment.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Three medal of honor recipients from the Korean War were recognized with three housing towers named after them:

Keeble, Kyle and Vera, the three new housing towers that opened at this Army installation last week after five years of construction, bear the names of Medal of Honor recipients from the Korean War. The 12-story towers near Humphreys East Elementary School hold semi-furnished apartments for up to 216 noncommissioned and commissioned officers and their families, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Combined, the towers contain 144 three-bedroom, 54 four-bedroom and 18 five-bedroom units, according to a Corps of Engineers Far East District fact sheet.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This looks like some good training:

 South Korea and the United States will begin their large-scale amphibious landing exercise in the southeastern city of Pohang and the eastern coast this week to build up the allies’ combat readiness posture and interoperability, the South’s Navy and Marine Corps said Sunday.

This year’s Ssangyong (double dragon) exercise, which runs from Monday through Sept. 7, will mobilize division-level landing forces and some 40 vessels, including two amphibious assault ships, the ROKS Dokdo and the ROKS Marado, as well as the USS Boxer, according to military officials.

The drills will also bring together some 40 aircraft, such as F-35B radar-evading jets, and around 40 amphibious assault vehicles, the Navy and Marine Corps said in a joint release.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise is here again. Any bets on what provocations that North Koreans will launch in response?:

South Korea and the United States kicked off a major combined military exercise for its 11-day run Monday to bolster their joint defense readiness amid advancing North Korean military threats.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, which runs through Aug. 29, got under way in the face of growing concerns over Pyongyang’s continued weapons development, highlighted by its launches of 37 ballistic missiles this year alone and heightened cross-border tensions from the North’s recent trash balloon campaign.

Based on an all-out war scenario, the UFS features main computer simulation-based command post exercise, concurrent field training and civil defense drills, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

While the exercise will be similar in scale to the previous year, involving around 19,000 South Korean troops, it will include 48 field training events, such as amphibious landing and live-fire drills, up from 38 field events conducted last year. The number of brigade-level exercises will also increase to 17 this year, compared with four from the previous year.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Some Army MOS’s will soon have longer tours in South Korea which makes sense considering how much quality of life has improved in recent years at Camp Humphreys. It is not like Soldiers in South Korea are living in quonset huts any more. Two year unaccompanied tours brings South Korea in line with other Army overseas locations:

The U.S. Army has doubled the tour length for single soldiers serving in certain roles on the Korean Peninsula. Unaccompanied soldiers, or those who serve without a spouse or dependents on location, are expected to serve in South Korea for two years starting Aug. 1, according to an Army Publishing Directorate memo that day.

The policy applies to soldiers within seven career fields: air traffic control operators, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter repairers, working military dog handlers, counterintelligence agents, signal intelligence analysts, and enlisted and warrant officer special agents in the Criminal Investigation Division.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.