USFK Responds to Inaccurate Media Reports
USFK is responding to inaccurate news reports in the Korean media about the hand over of USFK bases to the Korean government:
According to a USFK news release, command officials want to explain the camp return process following a week that saw many inaccurate and misleading articles and editorials in various Internet and print media sources.
USFK has closed more than two dozen bases as part of a plan to consolidate most of its forces at Camp Humphreys. Over the past 19 months, the South Korean government agreed to accept just seven of those bases, citing unacceptable pollution levels at the others.
Fridays USFK release stated that those delays result in lost economic opportunities for the South Korean people and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $400,000 a month to guard closed bases. Neither USFK nor South Korean government officials would comment on news reports early last week that the United States was going to stop guarding those bases this month.
The issue with the delays is the environmental cleanup of the bases before return.
Under the status of forces agreement, the United States is not obliged to restore the facilities and areas to the condition they were at the time they became available to the U.S. armed forces, or to compensate the government of the ROK in lieu of such restoration, according to the Friday news release.
In return, South Korea gets the land for free and doesnt have to pay the United States for any capital improvements such as buildings and other infrastructure.
The end state to this is that the ROK not only receives its land for its use, it receives the utility of billions of dollars of U.S. investment over the years free, at the expense of the American taxpayer, according to the release. This is a very, very good deal for the people of the Republic of Korea.
There is an attempt by some to negate the SOFA agreement as it relates to camp returns and to introduce new environmental standards, according to the release.
The release states that U.S. policy requires USFK to remedy known, imminent, and substantial endangerments to human health and safety.
But USFK has agreed to go above those standards by pulling out selected underground fuel storage tanks, removing heavy metal contamination from firing ranges and hiring a South Korean company to run a high-vacuum pump system that targets groundwater fuel contamination at five camps, according to the release.
Inaccurate news reports in Korea? Say it ain’t so? Yes, I’m being sarcastic because the Korean media is well known for twisting facts and printing blatant lies particularly when dealing with USFK. The camp hand over is another one of these issues being distorted by anti-US hate groups and the media to inflame anti-American sentiment in order to stop the camp consolidation at Camp Humphreys. The consolidation of camps at Camp Humphreys will reduce the US footprint in Korea, in turning reducing incidents from happening between Koreans and Americans. The camps where they are now create incidents and also serve as a reminder to Koreans of the USFK presence in Korea compared to the out of the way Camp Humphreys, which the location definitely has a out of sight, out mind quality for being in Korea.
The anti-US hate groups need to keep USFK right where they are at in order to keep the under current of anti-American feelings in the general Korean public. The camp consolidation will be a huge blow to the anti-US hate groups in Korea and they know it and their North Korean allies know it too. The North Koreans want to keep the US camps where they are at, not only because of the anti-Americanism it creates, but also because it keeps the US forces in the Second Infantry Division within range of North Korean artillery. This enhances their bargaining power when it comes to the six party talks with the US.
However, there is another player in this issue as well, China. If the camp consolidation can be stopped there is the very real chance that the US will dissolve the US-ROK alliance which would be a huge win for the Chinese. China would by default once again become the historical hegemon of the Korean peninsula.
Obviously there is a lot riding on the USFK camp consolidation issue and right now USFK is doing the right things to make the camp consolidation a reality while the whole way fighting off the attacks of those who want to stop it, which are many.
