Tag: USFK

Here is the latest from the Stars & Stripes on the closing of Camp Red Cloud:

The Indianhead Division officially moved its headquarters to Camp Humphreys, some 40 miles south of Seoul, last week, becoming the last major command to do so, after the Eighth Army and U.S. Forces Korea. The grand opening of its new headquarters building, which will also be called Freeman Hall, is scheduled for next month.

Camp Red Cloud is on the northwestern edge of Uijeongbu, which was home to the real-life unit that inspired the popular TV show “M.A.S.H.” The base was originally known as Camp Jackson but was renamed in 1957 in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud Jr.

But the shuttering of facilities is only the start of a lengthy transition process, including the capping of utilities and fuel tanks, negotiations over environmental cleanup requirements and other issues related to the status of forces agreement between the two countries.

“It’s estimated that the earliest that CRC will be able to be returned to the [South Korean government] is sometime in January/February 2020 if all of that process goes through and there are no issues,” said Paul Hubbard, the garrison’s lead base-closure analyst.

Hubbard said it has taken between three and 15 years to hand over other bases that have been closed due to disagreements over obligations for environmental cleanup and other issues.

The land will be turned over to the Defense Ministry, but city officials say they’re hoping it will be developed as a security-themed park.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I seriously doubt that Camp Red Cloud will be handed over by 2020 because I really think the anti-US left in South Korea will claim all kinds of environmental pollution like they have done in the past to delay closing vacated US bases and try to get more money out of USFK.  However, their biggest goal this time will be to cause antagonism in the US-ROK alliance.

Here are a couple of prior articles I wrote about Camp Red Cloud that I recommend everyone read if you haven’t already:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2005/05/profile-camp-red-cloud-south-korea/

https://www.rokdrop.net/2012/10/the-true-story-of-how-camp-red-cloud-south-korea-got-its-name/

I hope the US pushes back hard on this proposal because this is a total concession to North Korea which has few aircraft to fly along the DMZ compared to the US and ROK.  USFK should be respond by saying that North Korea should withdraw all of their artillery 80 miles away from the DMZ if they want this no fly zone.  Now that would be a more equitable agreement:

Last month, North and South Korea signed an agreement that is designed to de-escalate tension at the demilitarized zone between the two nations, which have technically been at war since the 1950s. One major feature: a no-fly zone over the border.

At the time, some South Korean government officials called the agreement the “equivalent to declaring an end to the Korean War.” But the call for a no-fly zone over the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) is facing pushback from the South’s biggest backer, the United States.

Last week, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told reporters that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed “discontent” with the agreement during a phone call. This week the pushback seemed to escalate as unnamed officials told Reuters that U.S. military commanders are specifically unhappy with the no fly zone, which is to begin on November 1.

So why is the U.S. so upset?   [Popular Mechanics]

You can read the rest at the link, but the reason for the displeasure is because US helicopters and fixed wing aircraft routinely train in the border areas.  The proposed no fly zone would extend any where from 25-50 miles from the DMZ making this training impossible and further eroding the readiness of US forces.

This proposal gets back to what I have been saying for months, the Moon administration will not openly say they want US forces to leave, but will create conditions that will make US forces withdraw on its own accord.  If this agreement is implemented this is just another example of this strategy

The important thing to remember is that this concession is easily reversible:

North and South Korea and the UN Command agreed on Monday (Oct 22) to withdraw firearms and guard posts in an area within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) this week, Seoul’s defence ministry said, the latest move in a fast-improving relationship.

The three sides held their second round of talks at the village of Panmunjom to discuss ways to demilitarise the border in line with a recent inter-Korean pact reached at last month’s summit in Pyongyang.

The US-led UNC, which has overseen affairs in the DMZ since the end of hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, was not immediately available for comment, but it said on Friday it supports the two Koreas’ efforts to implement their military deal.

The announcement comes amid US concerns that the inter-Korean military initiative could undermine defence readiness and comes without substantial progress on North Korea’s promised denuclearisation.

The neighbours are looking to withdraw 11 guard posts within a 1km radius of the Military Demarcation Line on their border by the end of the year.

They also plan to pull out all firearms from the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom and cut to 35 each the numbers of personnel stationed there and share information on surveillance equipment.  [Strait Times]

You can read more at the link, but I would think the American JSA battalion commander will have a well rehearsed battle drill ready to issue weapons at a moments notice in response to this.  Does anyone really think the North Koreans will not have weapons stashed on their side of the border?  Will the UNC be allowed to conduct no notice inspections to verify?  I doubt it.

This is an issue I hope at some point the Trump administration confronts the Moon administration on because this blockade of the THAAD site is ridiculous and could be ended at any time by the Korean government:

“The buildings we have weren’t built to house soldiers,” she said. “It’s not unlivable, but it’s not nice.”

She says the protesters not only force her troops to fly in and out every week via helicopter, but also stop U.S. vehicles from shipping in goods and supplies.

“Currently, the only way on and off of the site is by helicopter,” she said. “A week at a time at least, every single one of my soldiers is away from their barracks room, their family.”

She said if the gates weren’t blocked they wouldn’t require the extended rotations and could keep more people at Carroll, which is only a 25-minute drive away.

Spc. Josiah Welch, a THAAD operator, said conditions have improved since he started at the site in November.

“There was pretty bad mold initially,” said the 25-year old from Winter Park, Fla. “There was a week where we didn’t have running water – we had baby wipe showers.”

Now they have air conditioning and showers, he said.

The military finally began shipping fresh food three times week last month, reducing some reliance on pre-prepared field rations, Theilacker said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

The big test is going to be if the Key Resolve exercise that happens every March is cancelled.  I would think by then we would have a good idea of which way the whole denuclearization negotiations is going to go:

The United States and South Korea have canceled an annual air exercise scheduled for December, the Pentagon announced Friday, emphasizing ongoing diplomatic discussions with North Korea.

The Pentagon and South Korea’s military will not conduct Exercise Vigilant Ace as the two nations negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear program, said Dana White, a Pentagon spokeswoman. It’s at least the fourth military exercise that the nations have canceled since President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced he was suspending military “war games” on the peninsula after his June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Another year and yet another article claiming the at Filipinas working in bars in South Korea were tricked into working there.  In today’s age of the Internet a simple Google search can inform Filipinas what they are potentially signing up for by applying for one of these visas.  What is ironic this article from the Korea Times is very similar to one written in 2012 by the Korea Times and they are still saying these girls don’t know what they are getting into coming to South Korea on these visas:

Bargirls, mostly Filipinas, working in the entertainment district near United States Forces Korea’s Camp Casey in Dongducheon hardly go a day without alcohol. With bars opening after 6 p.m. and not closing until the last patrons leave, usually in the early morning, the girls treat customers to whatever they want ― from canoodling and lap dancing to oral sex. Some customers suggest heading out for the night-off, which is not so good for the girls, but good for the bar owners because a customer must pay a bar fine to take out a bargirl.

These migrant women’s desperate business depends on about 2,000 soldiers from the camp, about 60 kilometers north of Seoul. The soldiers’ curfew is 11:30 p.m., previously 1:00 a.m. When they return to camp, migrant workers replace them, but there are not so many.

Job agencies have told the bargirls, working with a Hotel and Adult Entertainment Visa, or E-6-2 visa, they would find work as singers, with most of the girls unaware they would end up in red light bars.

“There are about 200 foreigners in prostitution working at some 70 clubs in Dongducheon,” Joyce Kim from Durebang, a NGO dedicated to helping bargirls working near USFK camps, told The Korea Times. Having watched over the migrants for more than five years, she said bargirls, some of whom are Russians, live above the bars with only one day off every month. The visa allows them to stay in Korea for two years if they do not quit and keep their working contracts valid.

The bars are owned and managed by Koreans, who do not hesitate to threaten the girls and push them to earn more money, forcing them to work through until as late as 10 a.m. This affects their girls’ health, including their menstruation cycle.

Bargirls are paid based on a monthly quota. All Dongducheon bars use this system, which requires the bargirls to collect 300-350 points every two weeks.

“Otherwise the bar owners cannot earn enough,” Kim said. “Owners use points to humiliate the girls with poor sales records by comparing them to girls who earn more points.”

The system works like this: a $10 glass of “juice” that a girl sells to patrons is worth one point. To complete the quota, each girl must sell $3,000-$3,500 worth of juice in two weeks. If girls reach their quota, they get paid a bonus called “drink back” worth around $300-$350 in addition to their regular monthly wage of 400,000 won ($354).   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but every USFK soldier knows that participating in prostitution is illegal and has extreme consequences if caught.  This is not a USFK problem, this is a South Korea problem.  If South Korea really wants to stop the human trafficking of Filipinas they should just end the entertainment visas for them.

Of course the Moon administration is going to continue to say USFK will stay after the signing of any North Korean peace treaty:

As the ongoing peace gestures from North Korea cast doubt on the future of the United States Forces Korea (USFK), a group of U.S.-allied countries ― such as South Korea and Japan ― are on track to underline the need to maintain U.S. troops here.

The controversy surrounding the USFK started making headlines here in June when U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his strong desire to withdraw or at least reduce the U.S. military presence here, saying South Korea does not properly pay for its maintenance cost.

For South Korea and Japan, however, the possible withdrawal of the USFK is a worst-case scenario to weaken their security readiness and generate a potential crack in their long-term defense posture.

The USFK here has for decades served as a war deterrent, preventing North Korea from staging large-scale military provocations against the South since 1953 when the Korean War ended in an armistice.

But starting this year, North Korea has urged the South and the U.S. to declare an end to the war as soon as possible, in what critics view is the regime’s apparent move to pull out the potentially threatening U.S. troops.

For this reason, there is a lingering concern that the ongoing peace mood and the possible declaration of the technical state of war here may result in the withdrawal of the USFK in the end.

South Korea is in a position that the USFK withdrawal will never turn into reality at least for the time being.

Park Han-ki, the nominee for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said last week the potential declaration of the end to the war has nothing to do with the existence of the United Nations Command (UNC) and the USFK.

“Even if the two Koreas declare an end to the war, the Korean Armistice Agreement (signed in 1953 between the North, China and the UNC) will remain in effect,” Park said in a National Assembly confirmation hearing, dispelling concerns over the possible withdrawal of the USFK.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in also recently called the USFK a peacekeeper here, saying the U.S. troops will continue to play a role for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.  [Korea Times]

What the ROK government is saying now about USFK is intended to convince the Trump administration and US politicians to go along with signing the peace treaty.  At a time to be determined in the future the South Korean leftist activists will then be unleashed on USFK to protest every car accident, oil spill, etc. in effort to make life difficult for the US military presence in South Korea.  It will essentially be the 2002-2004 timeframe all over again.

In addition to the protests the ROK could also play hardball on funding the US-ROK alliance and make environmental compensation demands over the closing of Yongsan Garrison.  The Moon administration’s goal will be to convince the Trump administration to withdraw US troops on its own accord and not at the request of the ROK government.

Very sad news to share that the recently retired and former 8th Army Commander Lieutenant General Thomas Vandal has passed away from cancer:

A former commander of the Eighth Army and 2nd Infantry Division died over the weekend, according to a message posted Tuesday on Eighth Army’s official Facebook page.

Retired Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, who oversaw the highest Army headquarters unit on the Korean Peninsula from February 2016 until his retirement earlier this year, died Sunday, officials told Stars and Stripes. No other details were provided.

“LTG(R) Thomas S. Vandal … you were a tremendous leader and a charismatic mentor,” the Facebook message said. “You were the epitome of the Eighth Army Motto: “Fight Tonight!” The hearts and prayers of the Eighth Army go out to the family and friends of LTG Vandal.”

The 1982 West Point graduate served prominently as one of the Army’s top generals in South Korea this decade, first taking the reins of 2nd ID in 2013 before becoming the Army’s top general in South Korea a few years later. He retired shortly after handing command to Lt. Gen. Michael Bills in January.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but first of all condolences to LTG Vandal’s friends and family.  It is shocking how quickly cancer can kill someone, even someone as fit as LTG Vandal was.

Besides being highly involved in completing 8th Army’s move to Camp Humphreys LTG Vandal was also a key player in the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea.  These were definitely two major legacy efforts he was part of during his time at 8th Army.

Rest in peace LTG Vandal.

The 1st Armored Division is the next rotational unit to come to Korea.  The division did not participate in the Korean War and according to the division’s history it made no rotational deployments to Korea either over the years.  So this is likely the first time that the “Old Ironsides” patch will be in Korea:

Tracked vehicles and other equipment for a new U.S. unit on a 9-month rotational mission here will arrive in South Korea next week, the U.S. Eighth Army said Thursday.

The equipment from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division based at Fort Bliss, Texas, will arrive in the country’s southeastern port city of Busan, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, early next week.

The new team is set to replace the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, which is completing its rotational deployment in support of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, a forward-deployed unit in Korea.

Aside from the equipment, approximately 490 troops of the new team have already arrived. The Eighth Army refused to elaborate on the total number of its personnel.

Unlike previous rotational deployments, the outgoing team will take some of their equipment, including M1 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, back to the United States, while the new team will bring in some of their own equipment.

In the past, equipment stayed in Korea while rotational troops moved on and off the peninsula.

The exchange of equipment is aimed at ensuring “proper maintenance” and service of the old equipment and aligning deployed forces with current U.S. Army-wide modernization and readiness efforts, the Eighth Army said.

“The noticeable difference this time is the movement of tracked vehicles,” Col. Joseph R. Morrow, the Eighth Army logistics chief, said. “This added complexity gives our soldiers the opportunity to maintain skills in shipping and safely moving large-scale equipment.  [Yonhap]

It will be interesting to see if the ROK government gives into Trump administration demands on the cost sharing issue in return for concessions on the North Korean issue:

South Korea and the U.S. are narrowing their differences over the cost, contract period and annual increase rate in regards to sharing the cost of stationing American troops on the Korean Peninsula.

An official from the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Monday the two sides are negotiating thorny issues and ways to improve the system as a package for the new Special Measures Agreement set to take effect next year.

Under the current five-year contract which will expire in December, Seoul’s cost-sharing for stationing the 28-thousand-500-member U.S. Forces Korea for this year is set at around 960 billion won or 856 million dollars.

As for Washington wanting Seoul to include costs for “operational support” of deploying strategic assets from outside the peninsula against North Korean threats, the official said he can not answer whether the U.S. continues to make such demands.  [KBS World Radio]