Tag: Combined Forces Command

This is pretty much the last thing that needed to move off of Yongsan Garrison:

The headquarters of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) will relocate to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, this month, ending a four-decade presence in Seoul’s Yongsan District.    
   
The South Korean Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the relocation of the CFC’s headquarters is expected to wrap up by the end of the month.    
   
“Through the relocation, the CFC plans to establish an even stronger combined defense system based on a strengthened alliance spirit and operational efficiency in Pyeongtaek, the new cradle of the alliance,” the ministry said in a statement. (……)

Approximately 700 South Korean and U.S. personnel currently serving at the CFC’s Yongsan headquarters will begin moving to Camp Humphreys starting early this month, while the CFC plans to hold a ceremony in November marking the end of the command’s era in Yongsan.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

From Yonhap:

President Moon Jae-in on Friday expressed gratitude to the Combined Forces Command (CFC) between South Korea and the United States for helping Seoul tackle the coronavirus pandemic as he congratulated the command on its 42nd founding anniversary.

In a message sent to a ceremony held in Yongsan to mark the anniversary, Moon said that South Korea’s anti-COVID-19 measures could become a role model for the world as all members of the command endured inconveniences to prevent the spread of the virus. 

“Going forward, let’s overcome all obstacles together as we do right now,” Moon said in the message.

The binational entity was established on Nov. 7, 1978, as the warfighting headquarters with a mission of deterring outside aggression against South Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The long debated issue of where to officially put the Combined Forces Command has apparently been settled:

Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) will be relocated from the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek by 2021, defense officials announced Sunday.

The CFC, Korea’s Ministry of National Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff made the announcement jointly on Sunday, adding that a timeline will be finalized in the U.S.-Korea Security Consultative Meeting coming at the end of October or early November.

The move had been forewarned by Washington and Seoul in June, but Sunday was the first time an exact time for the move was announced. 

The move of the CFC will be in time for the expected transfer of wartime operational control (Opcon) over Korea’s military forces from the United States to Korea by 2022.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the ROK was trying to keep the CFC in Seoul and force the Americans to commute every week for meetings. USFK wanted the CFC based out of Camp Humphreys which is what they ended up getting.

According to the article the hand over of operational control is still planned for 2022. 2022 just happens to be of the ROK presidential election so you know that who ever President Moon selects to run for President will take credit for the hand over.

That is what this Yonhap News report is claiming:

South Korea and the United States have agreed to make the Combined Forces Command (CFC) exempt from their plan to relocate U.S. troops until Seoul retakes wartime command of its forces from Washington, sources here said Thursday.

Seoul and Washington had been at odds over whether to move the CFC headquarters and its affiliated forces to Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of the capital, in accordance with their 2004 agreement to move the Yongsan Garrison, the sprawling U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul, and the 2nd Infantry Division stationed north of Seoul to the southern town by the end of 2016.

“The two sides have agreed to maintain the CFC in Yongsan, where it is currently located, until we regain the operational control (OPCON) from the U.S.,” a senior Seoul government source said, requesting anonymity.

The CFC, which has the command over South Korean and U.S. troops stationed here, was to be disbanded upon Seoul’s OPCON transfer in December 2015, but a bilateral agreement to delay the transfer has led the CFC to remain intact.

“Albeit temporarily, we, in fact, accepted the U.S. request to stay them in Seoul. The U.S. has proposed the CFC be an exception for the relocation plan, citing smooth policy coordination between the allies,” the source said.

“Though the U.S. wants to have most of its forces under the CFC stay in Yongsan, we have conveyed our position that it would not be possible. Discussions are under way about the size of the remaining forces,” he added.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the ROK Defense Ministry are denying the report.  If true it will be interesting to see how large of a footprint will remain on Yongsan and will the commissary, PX, and other facilities remain open as well?