Tag: USFK

Look who visited Osan Airbase:

Comedian Jon Stewart and a host of other celebrities that included a country music singer and a TV chef entertained troops Monday evening at the home of the 51st Fighter Wing.

Servicemembers packed Osan’s Enlisted Club for the USO show, which kicked off with a monologue by Stewart followed by a one-on-one basketball lesson from former Detroit Piston Richard “Rip” Hamilton.

Things shifted into high gear when chef Robert Irvine challenged anyone in the audience to knock out 100 pushups before he could grill a steak. Irvine easily won, and later gave Stars and Stripes some tips on how to beat him.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes news that the ROK military may finally be the ones to end the ridiculous blockade of the THAAD site in Seongju:

South Korea’s defense ministry said Thursday it is mulling an alternative to dialogue with activists and residents near the U.S. military’s new missile defense base on the peninsula.

They have been blocking the transport of construction materials and equipment into the THAAD site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, for months.

They are concerned that the military will expand helipads and other facilities associated with military operations in the compound.

The Ministry of National Defense stressed that it’s urgent to improve the living conditions of hundreds of American and South Korean troops there with no adequate amenities.

“In connection with the deployment of the THAAD system, we have tried to respect residents’ opinion as much as possible, abide by democratic procedures and maintain transparency,” the ministry’s spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said at a press briefing.

However, it’s believed to be difficult to resolve the issue through dialogue, she said, adding that the military plans to seek a “necessary measure.”

The statement was a de facto ultimatum, although no deadline has been set publicly.

It heralds a police operation to disperse the protesters and clear the way for the delivery. A fierce physical clash is expected.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Pyongyang’s goal might be to negotiate away our missile defenses, air power & nuclear umbrella while keeping plenty of American targets in range as hostages. It wd give S Koreans a false sense of security as their gov't gives in to NK’s political demands. https://t.co/WLLlno5U8L

— (((Joshua))) Stanton (@freekorea_us) April 19, 2018

This seems like a long time after the fact to be complaining to the ROK Defense Ministry to clean up soil pollution:

The city government of Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, has demanded the defense ministry conduct an examination into soil contamination at a former U.S. military base site in the city, officials said Tuesday.

The Uijeongbu city government bought the former Camp Sears site from the defense ministry in 2012 after the land was returned to the ministry in 2007 under a base consolidation and relocation plan, known as the Land Partnership Program (LPP).

Nine oil tanks had existed on the base to supply oil to other American bases north of Seoul. When the site was returned, most of the land was contaminated, with total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) levels up to 73 times the maximum permissible levels.

The ministry commissioned the Korea Environment Corporation to clean up the site from 2009 and 2012 before the Uijeongbu city government purchased the land as part of a project to establish an administrative complex housing public and government agencies.

Last month, the city broke ground at the site to build a fire department headquarters.

But the construction was halted recently as oil residue was found at the site. Tests were conducted on samples taken from four locations at the site, and two of them had TPH levels of 836 mg per kilogram and 585 mg/kg, which is higher than the permissible 500 mg/kg, officials said.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but the ROK Defense Ministry wants tests to be done to prove the pollution is from military activity and not from someone dumping it there after the handover.  Camp Sears was closed all the way back in 2005 and it was no secret that fuel tanks were on the base.  Here is a 2011 picture of the fuel tanks from after the closure of Camp Sears:

You would think that the city would have done a thorough inspection for pollution around the old fuel tanks.  On the old site of Camp Sears a number of government offices were built after its closure and maybe the ROK Defense Ministry is concerned that construction companies were dumping waste on that side of the camp?

I wonder what the backstory to this relief of command is?  It seems when colonels get relieved it is because of infidelity or getting arrested for something:

The commander of a support unit at America’s largest air base in South Korea has been relieved of her duties, an Air Force statement said.

Col. Kerry Proulx, commander of the Osan-based 51st Mission Support Group, was relieved Friday due to a loss of confidence in her ability to effectively lead, the statement said.

“This was a tremendously difficult and unfortunate decision to make, but it’s the right direction for the 51st Fighter Wing,” Col. William Betts, the wing’s commander, said in the statement.

Officials wouldn’t give specifics as to why Betts lost confidence in Proulx, who had been overseeing 2,600 personnel in the support group’s five squadrons, including security forces since July 2016.  [Stars & Stripes]

Here is the latest on the US-ROK cost sharing talks:

The United States has demanded South Korea share the cost of deploying U.S. strategic assets around the Korean Peninsula during recent talks to renew their cost-sharing agreement for American troops stationed here, a foreign ministry official said Friday.

Seoul rejected the request saying the issue should not be part of the negotiation.

“Our basic stance on this matter is that the agreement deals with how to share the upkeep cost of stationing the U.S. troops,” the official told a group of reporters on condition of anonymity.

The two sides held their second round of the talks on the southern island of Jeju earlier this week. The first round was held in Hawaii last month.

The official said that there are “big differences” to be ironed out in the amount of money proposed by each side, which he said requires more discussion going forward. He didn’t provide specific numbers.

With regard to another potential issue of how to share the cost of operating the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system that was installed here last year, he said it was not mentioned in the meeting.

He noted, however, that the matter could be discussed as the cost of the THAAD operation could be dealt with in line with the “logistical support” part stipulated in the agreement.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I feel bad for workers being laid off because of the planned relocation of the 2nd Infantry Division, but this is something that has been known for many years and should not be a surprise to anyone:

DONGDUCHEON, South Korea, April 8 (Yonhap) — Many South Koreans working at a major U.S. military base in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, are likely to be laid off within the year due to its planned relocation to the southwestern city of Pyeongtaek, their union said Sunday.

The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division notified the union of its plan to dismiss South Korean workers at Camp Casey in the city last month, according to official sources.

But the U.S. Force Korea (USFK) has yet to disclose the scale or timing of the declared layoffs, the union said. It added that the USFK is reportedly to maintain the total number of workers at U.S. bases across the nation at some 8,000 by September and cut this to some 7,750 in the latter half of the year.

Most of the workers are doing odd jobs like cleaning, with a considerable number of them being the breadwinners of four-member families and receiving just under 40 million won (US$37,418) per annum, the union said.

The USFK has not given any prior account of whom will be fired thus far as South Korean workers belonging to the USFK are not subject to the domestic labor law but come under the jurisdiction of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed between the two nations, the union said.

According to the SOFA, the USFK are only required to give notice 45 days in advance before dismissals, with no explanations needed, it added.  [MSN via reader tip]

You can read more at the link.

This may cause some to wonder if the weather was just good excuse to not provoke North Korea prior to President Moon’s summit?:

The United States and South Korea canceled plans to conduct a Marine amphibious assault exercise as part of joint war games this week due to bad weather, the Combined Forces Command said Wednesday.

The announcement comes days after the allies began annual military drills known as Foal Eagle amid a diplomatic push with North Korea that has sharply eased tensions on the divided peninsula.

The allies are keeping this year’s exercises low-key due to the developing detente with the North after months of saber rattling and missile tests as it made progress in its nuclear weapons program.

The U.S.-led command said the changes to the Ssangyong exercises, which are part of Foal Eagle, were due to bad weather.

The assault exercise, which evokes memories of the World War II invasion of Normandy, had been scheduled for Thursday.

“U.S. and (South Korean) leadership canceled the amphibious landing portion of the training exercise … after weather assessments indicated unsafe landing conditions for servicemembers,” the CFC said in a press release.

Participating units in the air and sea portions will continue training as planned, it said, adding the routine drills are held twice a year to build and maintain fundamental military readiness.

“This was a good call by the on-scene commanders, who must balance readiness and risk — even in a training environment,” said Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of the CFC and U.S. Forces Korea.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

The long awaited joint military exercise has finally begun:

A combined field training of South Korean and U.S. troops got under way Sunday as scheduled, defense officials said amid a nascent peace mood on the divided peninsula.

More than 11,500 service members, including thousands based outside of Korea, plan to participate in the four-week Foal Eagle training, along with around 300,000 South Korean soldiers.

The allies often kick off their largest annual military exercise in late February or early March for a two-month run. This year, however, they waited until the end of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games here.

The duration of Foal Eagle has been shortened to a month, with no major U.S. strategic assets such as supercarriers and nuclear subs expected to show up.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes this update on the status of the THAAD site in Seongju:

The setup of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. in southwestern Korea has been on hold since September last year as locals and activists block access to the site.

“There’s been no progress in the construction of THAAD facilities, as well as the quarters for U.S. troops,” who are to operate the battery, a military spokesman told reporters Monday.

Seoul and Washington agreed in September 2016 to deploy THAAD interceptor launchers at a former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The U.S. Forces Korea brought two launchers last April and four more last September.

A USFK source claimed the South Korean government appears to be neglecting the deployment, which has been widely unpopular.

A steel barricade set up by activist groups and locals last April still blocks the road near the THAAD deployment site.

According to police, about 10 locals check passing vehicles in tag teams of two around the clock to block any USFK vehicles or trucks carrying equipment.

Although this is highly illegal, police seem to have done nothing .

“We’ll resolutely clamp down on illegal demonstrations,” a police spokesman said. “But it’s our principle not to stoke upheavals.”

Police have drastically reduced their presence at the site. About 300 troops from four police companies were deployed last September, but now only some 80 are on standby some 4 km away.

The USFK is reduced to running the THAAD battery as if in a field maneuver, on generators fueled by diesel flown in by helicopter.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but resupplying the site by helicopter seems to me to be riskier than by a ground approach.  If a helicopter was to crash I wonder if that will change the situation on the ground any?