Tag: USFK

Fortunately it appears no one was seriously hurt from this emergency landing at Osan AB:

A U.S. pilot escaped from a fighter jet after making an emergency landing during an aerial combat exercise, the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said Saturday.

The USFK said a pilot of F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron successfully escaped from his jet after landing at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m.

The USFK said emergency teams have reached the pilot with authorities trying to determine the cause of the incident.  [Yonhap]

Here is the press release from Osan Airbase that shows that the pilot actually ejected from the aircraft while on the ground:

After landing from a training mission, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot ejected from an F-16 Fighting Falcon

assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron at approximately 5 p.m.

The pilot was taken to the 51st Medical Group clinic and was listed in good condition.

“We are relieved that our Mustang pilot ejected safely, and is now in the good hands of our medical team,”

said Col. Andrew Hansen, 51st Fighter Wing commander. “We are currently focused on thoroughly

investigating the cause of this incident in order to minimize the chances of it happening again in the future.”

A board of officers will investigate the accident as part of a safety investigation board.  [Osan AB]

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo (6th from L, 2nd row) and U.S. Forces Korea’s top commander Vincent Brooks (5th from L, 2nd row) pose for a photo with a group of soldiers as they visit a South Korean-U.S. combined division in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, on Nov. 29, 2016, to check up South Korean and U.S. troops’ joint readiness to better cope with threats posed by North Korea, in this photo released by the defense ministry. The division consists of a brigade from the South Korean Army and the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, with each entity to carry out normal duties in its assigned area during peacetime. (Yonhap)

Via a reader tip comes news that ROK government held a meeting with USFK to address changes they want made to the US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA):

South Korea and the United States on Tuesday had a joint committee meeting to discuss various issues on their agreement governing the legal status of American forces stationed in South Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

The 197th joint committee meeting of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which defines areas of legal responsibility of the 28,000-strong U.S. soldiers here, was held at the foreign ministry in Seoul. The SOFA meeting is held once or twice a year, and this was the first time since last December that South Korea and the U.S. officials convened.

The foreign ministry said Yeo Seung-bae, the foreign ministry’s director-general for North America and his counterpart Thomas Bergeson, deputy commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), touched on issues such as education of American forces on local law and customs, the USFK’s stable employment of South Korean workers and environmental problems near the U.S. bases here.

The ministry added that the two sides also talked about implementation measures taken after a live anthrax sample from a U.S. military laboratory was shipped to a local military base by mistake and caused alarm bells to go off in the country last year.

The meeting took place before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump — one of whose campaign pledges was to have allies, including South Korea, pay more for American troops stationed in those countries — took over the White House.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the ROKs are still complaining about the oil leak issue in the Seoul subway system they have been blaming on Yongsan Garrison for years now.  You would think if the oil leak was coming from Yongsan they would have found it by now.  The other thing in the article that caught my attention was that they are still complaining about GI crimes.  The article even states that the US military crime rate has steadily dropped since 2010 from an already extremely low crime rate compared to the surrounding Korean population.

You can read more about the US-ROK SOFA at the below link:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2008/02/gi-myths-the-unfair-us-rok-sofa-agreement/

I bet these soldiers learned that making kimchi is actually a lot of work:

A group of soldiers got a taste of Korea when they joined local volunteers Thursday to make kimchi for needy people while building community relations.

The 40 soldiers from the Fort Sills, Okla.-based 2-18 Field Artillery Battalion rotated into South Korea last month to join the 210th Field Artillery Brigade, which is stationed near the border with North Korea.

For many, this was their first excursion into the city and their first taste of the traditional fermented side dish made of vegetables and seasonings, not to mention making it.

“It was fun making something new and unique,” Pfc. Billy Stephenson, 20, of Port Arthur, Texas, said before lining up for a hard-earned lunch.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

If you were one of the people affected by Amazon’s glitch preventing some servicemembers in South Korea from placing orders, it has since been fixed:

Most servicemembers can again place orders with Amazon after the online retailer’s website blocked some shoppers from completing their purchases for several days.

With the holidays fast approaching, U.S. soldiers and others who use the military postal system in South Korea were shocked to find themselves unable to order from Amazon.com.

The problem was limited to certain zip codes and appeared to mainly affect South Korea, although problems also were reported in Italy.

Servicemembers quickly formed a Facebook group to share information and coordinate their response. Many reached out to Amazon’s customer service department only to be told repeatedly about the company’s shipping policy and restricted items.

But the online retailer was listening, and the problem was fixed for most on Sunday afternoon. [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the THAAD deployment to South Korea:

Lim Sang-hwan, who has an anti-THAAD banner across the front of his cellphone shop, says he thinks up to 90 percent of his neighbors are worried that the system’s high-powered radar will pose a hazard.

“It’s being deployed too close to where families live,” he says. “I have a 4-year-old son and I don’t want him harmed.”

Since the South Korean government chose the site in neighboring Seongju County in September, it’s created tension in the adjacent communities, says Shin Sang-won, a taxi driver here.

“A lot of people argue about it,” he says. “I don’t talk about the missiles unless my passenger brings it up. I don’t want any problems.”

Shin says he personally supports the new defense system and doesn’t believe speculation about the potential effects of the radar emissions.

Anger over the THAAD deployment, which is expected to take place by the end of 2017, has focused on officials in Seoul. Locals say they feel they were left out of the decision-making process and their concerns have not been addressed.

Both the U.S. and South Korean militaries have tried to calm local concerns. They’ve said the THAAD system’s radar emissions meet safety standards and there won’t be any adverse effect on the surrounding communities.

Still, local farmers don’t want their produce to be known as THAAD grapes or plums, according to Kim Hee-soo. The supermarket manager, 45, has joined recent demonstrations against the missile shield system, which so far have been peaceful.

“If these missiles are brought to the area, I expect the protesters might turn aggressive,” she said.  [USA Today]

You can read more at the link, but the protesters vow to demonstrate and block the roads of the identified THAAD site when the missile defense system arrives.  With a politically weaken Park Geun-hye it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out next year.

The 2nd Infantry Division headquarters will move to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year which means Camp Red Cloud will be closed and redeveloped:

A U.S. military base in Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province will be turned into tourist facilities after U.S. forces there move to Pyeongtaek, the city government said Wednesday.

The U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) stationed at Camp Red Cloud (CRC) is scheduled to be moved to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year in accordance with Seoul and Washington’s plans to relocate the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). Pyeongtaek is located 70 kilometers south of the capital.

“We will come up with detailed plans by February 2018 to turn CRC into a tourist complex,” the city said in a release. “Toward that end, we recently commissioned a study to a private, specialized company.”

Once the 628,000 square meters of land are vacated, the city is planning to create a complex in which visitors can learn about Korea’s modern and contemporary history as well as the importance of national security.

The city is also considering using records related to the Korean War, World War II and the Vietnam War, currently stored in a CRC war museum.

After detailed plans are prepared and a feasibility and profitability study is conducted, the city will ask the central government to lead in the construction.

The city expects the envisioned complex will be especially attractive to tourists, together with another cultural complex there whose construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The cultural complex will host a Pororo theme park, featuring the popular animated character, and family hotels as well as YG Entertainment’s YG Global K-Pop Cluster. [Korea Times via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but a history complex and a Pororo Theme Park to me seems like it does not go together very well.  Plus Korea already has so many museums that another one in Uijongbu will not drive tourism to the city.  The government should turn the whole thing into a giant Pororo Theme Park which would drive tourism to Uijongbu and further develop that part of the city.  As it is right now Koreans really don’t have a reason to go to Uijongbu and a Pororo Theme Park would give Korean families a good reason to visit.

According to Victor Cha, under a Trump Presidency expect the OPCON issue to come back again:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could try to complete the postponed transfer of the wartime operational control of South Korean forces from Washington to Seoul in an effort to reduce American security burdens, a top expert on Korea said Wednesday.

South Korea handed over control of its forces to the U.S. during the 1950-53 Korean War to defend against invading troops from North Korea. Peacetime control of its forces was returned in 1994, but the wartime control, known as OPCON, still rests with the U.S.

The two countries agreed in 2007 to transfer OPCON to Seoul by 2012. But the planned transfer was postponed twice amid growing threats from North Korea, first until 2015 and then indefinitely until the South becomes more capable of coping with the North’s threats.

“Trump’s guiding principle has been to put American interests first. In this regard, it is entirely plausible that a Trump presidency may seek to complete OPCON transfer and put these responsibilities in the hands of Koreans,” said Victor Cha, Korea chairman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if Trump uses the OPCON issue as a negotiating chip to get South Korea to pay more for the upkeep of USFK.

This photo taken from the website of the 8th Army of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) on Nov. 7, 2016, shows families of U.S. troops boarding a C-130 transport plane during the recent Courageous Channel noncombatant evacuation exercise at an undisclosed military base here. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed here as a deterrent against North Korea, while there are more than 150,000 civilians with the USFK, including U.S. government noncombatants, and private American citizens and their families. (Yonhap)

Here is an interesting read from the LA Times about a soldier stationed at Yongsan Garrison that was being charged with the manslaughter of his best friend:

The men were U.S. Army mechanics, and they had arranged to be deployed at the same time in South Korea. Pfc. Royal, 22, was based at the Yongsan Garrison, a major U.S. military base near Itaewon. Pfc. Anderson, 20, was stationed at Humphreys, a rural garrison 55 miles south, and he was visiting for the weekend.

They drank; they played pool; they wrestled like muscle-bound, army-trained puppies, grappling into chokeholds until one or the other cried uncle. They got matching tattoos — “friends forever” swirling down their forearms in blue Korean script.

Chrissy — an energetic young woman from Royal’s North Carolina hometown — went home early, and just after midnight, Royal and Anderson decided to go home too. A taxi dropped them off near Royal’s apartment. Royal and Anderson began roughhousing. Royal pushed Anderson with two hands — a shove to the chest — and Anderson fell backwards.

Thus began the first in a tragic series of unpredictable events that would leave one friend dead, the other on trial, and the military justice system forced to grapple with complex questions about responsibility and punishment in a case whose primary villain seemed to be fate.

It happened in a matter of seconds. Just as Anderson tumbled into the street, a car veered around a corner and blazed through a red blinking light, plowing suddenly over Anderson with both axles — bump, bump. The car stopped. The police arrived. And 12 days later, Anderson died in the hospital, hooked up to a mechanical ventilator.

The Army charged Royal with manslaughter.

The hearing that would determine whether Royal would have to face a full court-martial began on a crisp day in October.  [LA Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that the person most culpable for the accident is the driver that ran the red light in the first place.