This is pretty bad and he wasn’t the only KATUSA to use the Camp Humphreys relocation to go AWOL:
A Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA) soldier allegedly went absent without leave (AWOL) and spent the last five months of his service at his home, but the Korean military authorities were unaware of this until another soldier made an anonymous complaint, sources said Wednesday.
The former KATUSA sergeant, who was stationed at the U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) in Yongsan, central Seoul, was to be relocated to USAG Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, early this year. However, he did not follow the relocation order.
Currently, over 90 percent of U.S. forces and KATUSAs who were stationed in and around Seoul have moved to the recently expanded USAG Humphreys, according to a U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) official.
The deserter took advantage of lax personnel management at the time when soldiers were being continuously relocated to Humphreys in large numbers and only a small batch of KATUSAs were left behind at Yongsan.
“The suspect allegedly told Korean Army officers in Pyeongtaek that he was part of a handful of KATUSA and U.S. troops left working in Yongsan, but they did not cross-check this with officers stationed in Yongsan,” a source told The Korea Times.
The man allegedly stayed at home while he was AWOL.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but he wasn’t the only KATUSA to use the relocation to go AWOL. Other KATUSAs did so as well, but when one of them got caught he blew the whistle on the KATUSA that went AWOL for five months.