Tag: USFK

The leading conservative daily in Korea, the Chosun Ilbo is not happy with the announced changes to the Yongsan Garrison relocation plan:

Korea and the U.S. have agreed to keep the Combined Forces Command in Seoul even after the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters moves to Pyeongtaek in 2016. The CFC compound accounts for between eight to nine percent of the total area of the U.S. garrison right in the middle of Seoul.

If the housing compound for American Embassy staff is included, the total area of the base that the U.S. will continue to use rises to 17 percent. A Defense Ministry official claimed relocating the CFC further south would make it “difficult” to establish a smooth command system in conjunction with South Korean top brass in an emergency.

The official claimed that it would cost an additional W400 billion (US$1=W1,058) to relocate the CFC to Pyeongtaek. These are all valid reasons.

But Korea and the U.S. are in the process of building a new military base in Pyeongtaek at a cost of almost W9 trillion. Supporters say the move would help the U.S. military’s capabilities. The CFC was to be among the facilities being relocated, and the budget had taken that into account. Now the military is saying that the CFC should stay in Seoul. That is an absurd reversal.

The government hopes to build a 2.64 million sq.m park at the Yongsan site that rivals New York’s Central Park. The relocation of the U.S. garrison is also a highly symbolic event that signifies the return of land back to the Korean people after being used by foreign armies for around a century.

When Seoul and Washington agreed in 2004 to relocate the Yongsan base to Pyeongtaek, then U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it was absurd to have a foreign military base sitting in the middle of a nation’s capital. Seoul agreed to shoulder the entire cost of the relocation because the Korean public agreed with Rumsfeld’s view.

But now, the symbolic significance of the relocation is about to lose its luster although trillions of won in taxpayer’s money have been spent. (Chosun Ilbo)

You can read more at the link, but the Chosun thinks the land should be developed into a park with some land sold to make apartments to offset the cost.

Below are the USFK Court Martial and ROK Criminal Prosecution Results for September 2014 that were posted on the USFK website.  Of interest in September was that a Captain refused to take the breathalyzer test and was convicted of this crime.  He received a 5,000,000 won fine which is steeper than the usual 3,000,000 won fine DUI convictions usually receive.  However, he doesn’t get a DUI conviction on his record.  Is that worth 2,000,000 won?  Probably if refusing the breathalyzer doesn’t get him kicked out of the Army. Then 1-38 FA had three soldiers get convicted of obstruction to include one soldier for also performing an indecent act and had to register as a sex offender.  I wonder what that soldier did to the KNPs to get that punishment?

Apparently a number of on-post housing for US servicemembers in Korea are not up to standard:

An Inspector General’s report has cited hundreds of potentially dangerous housing code violations, ranging from missing sprinkler systems to exposed copper wiring, in U.S. military housing in South Korea, although only 11 were considered serious.

Most of the violations were related to inadequate upkeep of housing facilities, according to the Oct. 28 report, which found that “housing visits and inspections were not being conducted in accordance with established instructions and procedures.”

Twelve percent of the occupied buildings at 13 U.S. Forces Korea military installations — ranging from family housing to barracks and dormitories for unaccompanied servicemembers — were reviewed during the IG’s March 10 to April 24 inspections. The checks found 646 deficiencies in 277 units, mechanical rooms and common areas.

The 11 “critical” deficiencies included an out-of-service fire alarm system at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, which left the occupants of one building with no means of fire detection. Furnaces in two other buildings at the Seoul base were leaking heating oil onto an electric blower motor, posing a fire hazard.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I have lived in quonset huts and crackhouses in Korea before so what servicemembers have to day is much better than just a decade ago.  With that said the real concern I have is how come the fire departments are not doing regular inspections of these facilities to ensure they are safe?  If they are then why did they not catch these issues beforehand?  Why did it take an IG inspection to find these deficiencies?

Below are the USFK court martial and ROK criminal prosection results for August 2014 that were posted on the USFK website.  The court martial results have a number of sex offender cases with a couple of people actually found not guilty of the crimes.  Then in the ROK criminal prosecution there is a major that was convicted of an indecent at and has to take sex offender classes and register as a sex offender.  He looks like a candidate now for officer cuts, but I wonder if the sex offender label in Korea follows him to the US as well?  That would be worse punishment than being discharged from the Army in my opinion.

Via the USFK website I was able to get a copy of the actual policy letter signed by USFK commander General Scaparrotti.  Here is the text of the policy letter:

Some in the Korean government are concerned that a secret deal for the release of Jeffrey Fowle was reached with cutting USFK as one of the bargaining chips:

There is speculation about secret talks between Washington and Pyongyang, especially given the abrupt release of Jeffrey Fowle, one of three Americans detained in the North.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Roh Kwang-il here struggled to downplay the issue. Roh said Kerry “made the remarks to urge the North to implement denuclearization in a substantive way. As far as I know there is no discussion at present about whether to cut the size of the USFK or maintain its current size.”

He added that the two countries agreed in 2008 to maintain the size of the USFK at the current level of 28,500 troops. “And this has been reaffirmed continuously through the annual Seoul-Washington Security Consultative Meeting.”

Roh ventured that Kerry “may have meant that this is an issue that can be discussed when the North is denuclearized.”

On a visit to Washington, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se tried a similar line. “The reduction of the USFK will be discussed in the distant future when the denuclearization is realized,” he said.

“Despite Pyongyang’s release of Fowle, it’s too soon to conclude that there’s been a sea change in the attitude of the North. And U.S. officials also maintain that there’s no change in the U.S. policy,” he claimed.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but everyone knows North Korea is not going to denuclearize and any promises of reducing USFK to get Fowle released was probably a demand from North Korea to try and create a rift between the two allies. It seems like having to answer questions about a rift between the two allies was a small price to pay to get Fowle released if that is what happened.

Now can we please take efforts to keep these idiot tourists out of North Korea to prevent having to deal with these detainee negotiations in the first place?

Considering all the attention given to sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military it was only a matter of time before USFK did this because if they didn’t one of the activist groups would have exploited this issue to bash USFK with:

U.S. Forces Korea has banned servicemembers from buying drinks for workers in “juicy bars,” which have long been suspected of involvement in prostitution and human trafficking.

While the military has maintained a zero tolerance policy toward both practices and some commands have taken their own steps to shutter juicy bars, the prohibition on buying “juice” in exchange for female company is USFK’s latest country-wide effort to close the establishments, which used to cluster by the dozen outside some bases.

“Paying for companionship directly supports human trafficking and is a precursor to prostitution,” USFK commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti wrote in an Oct. 15 policy letter announcing the change. “This practice encourages the objectification of women, reinforces sexist attitudes, and is demeaning to all human beings.”   [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link, but like I have always said the easiest thing to have done was to put all juicy bars with third country nationals in them off limits.  It is much harder to human traffic Korean women when they understand the culture, language, and do not have to worry about having passports held from them.  This latest ban pretty much has the same effect.  It will be interesting to see what new business model the juicy bar owners come up with to get money from troops.  Anyone have any ideas?

Is anyone that has been paying attention to this issue surprised by this announcement?:

The United States on Thursday agreed to maintain wartime control of South Korean troops in the event of an attack by North Korea for the foreseeable future, delaying the transfer of authority to Seoul that had been scheduled for 2015.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that delaying the handoff “will ensure that when the transfer does occur, Korean forces have the necessary defensive capabilities to address an intensifying North Korean threat.”

The agreement to delay the transfer has been discussed for more than a year and comes at the request of the Seoul government. There is no longer a deadline for the transfer; instead, it will be based on the progress of the South Korean military and the ongoing situation there, including tensions with North Korea and its ongoing nuclear ambitions.  [Associated Press via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but the only thing I am surprised about is that it took this long to reach this conclusion.  One down side I see with this is that the ROKs now have less incentive now to purchase equipment to replace capabilities the US is providing for them.  Anyway this whole OPCON issue had little to do with military strategy and more to do with being a reactionary response to Korean nationalism.  I had reach way back in the archives, but ROK Heads can read how this whole issue began from this 2005 posting.

Going by John Kerry’s statement it appears that US troops will remain in South Korea for decades to come because the North Koreans have no intention of ever denuclearizing.  Why would they?:

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se has played down U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks about the possible downsizing of the U.S military in South Korea.

“Any discussion on reducing the number of U.S. troops in South Korea should be dealt in the future when the denuclearization of North Korea is realized,” he told reporters during a visit to Washington D.C., Wednesday (local time.). “I think he meant to urge North Korea to step forward promptly for denuclearization.”

Yun and Defense Minister Han Min-koo are in the U.S. to attend the-called “2+2 meeting” with their U.S. counterparts, Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in the U.S. capital, Thursday.

Kerry made his remarks before flying back to Washington from Berlin where he held a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“We’ve said from day one that if North Korea wants to rejoin the community of nations, it knows how to do it. It can come to the talks prepared to discuss denuclearization,” Kerry said, according to a transcript provided by the State Department. “And the U.S. is fully prepared ― if they do that and begin that process, we are prepared to begin the process of reducing the need for American forces and presence in the region because the threat itself would then be reduced.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

So it appears the Koreans are still hoping to turn Yongsan Garrison into a giant city park:

Yongsan, along with other U.S. Forces Korea bases in and north of Seoul, will eventually be turned over to South Korea as part of a long-planned relocation of most Army forces on the peninsula to regional hubs in Daegu and Pyeongtaek. Although a handful of buildings at Yongsan are expected to remain under U.S. control, South Korea plans to turn the 635-acre base into a massive Central Park-like green space. (Stars and Stripes)

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if a good chunk of that land becomes apartment buildings.