It is pretty amazing that General Paik Sun-yup is now 99 years old and still going strong:
Gen. Paik Sun-yup, in a wheelchair, center, is congratulated on his 99th birthday on Wednesday by a kneeling U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris, second from right, at the Ministry of National Defense Convention Center in central Seoul. [BYUN SUN-GOO]The U.S. Eighth Army held a surprise birthday party on Wednesday for General Paik Sun-yup, one of the most celebrated commanders of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The celebration of Paik’s 98th birthday — or the celebrated 99th by Korean count — was held at the Ministry of National Defense Convention Center in central Seoul with nearly the full roster of American representatives in Korea in attendance, including U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris and the new commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Gen. Robert B. Abrams.
Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Park Han-ki and Commander of the First ROK Army Park Jong-jin were also present to congratulate the general.
Jeong presented Paik with a ceremonial military baton inlaid with mother-of-pearl as a birthday gift. Crouching before Paik, who was in a wheelchair, Gen. Abrams handed him a booklet of congratulatory messages and photographs from all current and former commanders of the USFK.
“You are like the foundation of the U.S-Korea alliance,” Abrams told Paik.
The two men share a unique connection that goes back to the Korean War. Abram’s father was Creighton Williams Abrams, a U.S. Army general who fought in Korea alongside Paik. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I had the chance to talk to General Paik many years ago and got him to sign a copy of his book,From Pusan to Panmunjon (Memories of War). He was fascinating to talk to because his great memory of events that occurred and people he met during the Korean War. If you haven’t read his book I highly recommend reading it because of the ROK perspective it provides in regards to events during the Korean War.
Camp Humphreys, the main U.S. military base in South Korea, closed one of its main access gates this weekend after an incident with a car.
The incident happened about 2 p.m. Saturday and did not involve a gate runner, said garrison spokesman Steven Hoover. He declined to provide more details pending the ongoing investigation.
A photo posted on Facebook showed a four-door car that appeared to have smashed into a raised barrier at the Dongchang-ri gate on Saturday, with the concertina wire and concrete walls that surround the garrison in the background. [Stars & Stripes]
It looks like many servicemembers serving stateside will not be going TDY to Korea for Foal Eagle:
James Mattis
Seoul and Washington will scale back a major annual joint military drill next spring, the Foal Eagle exercise, said U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis Wednesday, a concession to ongoing denuclearization talks with North Korea.
Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon in Washington, “Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy.”
South Korea and the United States have suspended several major joint exercises this year following the June 12 North Korea-U.S. summit, including the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian drills, which would have happened in August.
Vigilant Ace, a massive joint aerial exercise scheduled for December, was also suspended last month after a meeting between South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and Mattis. The United States and South Korea agreed to conduct a review by Nov. 15 and reach a decision on plans for large-scale military exercises next year by Dec. 1.
“We have taken a decision,” Mattis said Wednesday. “We are not canceling exercises. We are realigning one exercise.” He did not elaborate further. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but the article did not state what the way ahead is for the Key Resolve exercise that usually overlaps with Foal Eagle. Key Resolve is a large command post exercise involving senior US and ROK leadership usually held in the spring time. Key Resolve was the last major exercise conducted jointly with the ROK before the current “peace mood” has caused the cancelling of a number of exercises.
So does anyone really think Yongsan Garrison will be completely turned into a park?:
A slide presented to Yongsan Garrison residents during a town-hall meeting at the South Post chapel Friday, Nov. 16, 2018, shows expected changes over the next two years.
Garrison commander Col. Monica Washington said the process of returning the land to the South Korean government isn’t likely to begin until July 2020 at the earliest.
“At that point then we think that we will be ready, of course if everything goes according to plan, to begin to look at some of the return, actually going through some of the returns process, which is actually going to take some time,” she told Stars and Stripes.
The next major milestone will be late next year when the Brian Allgood Community Hospital is due to close as its namesake hospital on Humphreys opens. That will trigger the closure of the commissary, the post exchange, the gas station and other facilities.
“There will be a … very minute footprint here on Yongsan, although we will still have families that we will have to support here,” Washington said in a recent interview in her office near a pedestrian overpass that crosses a busy thoroughfare that bisects the base.
She estimated it will take six or seven months to do the closure process, including moving equipment and turning off utilities, once most of the garrison is vacated in December 2019.
The military plans to maintain a small section for residual forces from the Combined Forces Command, USFK, the garrison and supporting agencies on the side of the base known as South Post. Dragon Hill Lodge, a resort-style military hotel, is planning to continue operations despite reports to the contrary. The U.S. Embassy also has residential housing in the area, although it will eventually build a new compound on a corner of the sub-base known as Camp Coiner. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but the ROK government is sticking with the idea of making a city park. I suspect a park will be built one day over the old Yongsan Garrison, but it will be a smaller park the initially envisioned. The rest of the land I would not be surprised is developed for other purposes around the smaller park.
My theory on the current US-ROK cost sharing negotiations is that this will ultimately be tied to a successful second Trump-Kim summit and US dropping sanctions on North Korea. If the Trump administration drops sanctions I suspect that the Moon administration will cut a favorable US-ROK cost sharing deal to pay back President Trump. If sanctions are not dropped the Moon administration will likely continue to play hardball on this issue:
South Korea and the United States failed to reach a deal on sharing the cost of American troops stationed on the peninsula in formal negotiations last week, a government official here said Monday.
Senior diplomats of the two sides had three-day talks on the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) to set the amount of Seoul’s financial contributions for the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was the ninth round of bargaining, as the existing accord, which took effect in 2014, is to expire at the end of this year.
“There was some progress, but no final agreement was reached,” the foreign ministry official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Differences remain over how much Seoul will pay and some other issues, although the work to draw up a joint statement moved forward in general, he added. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link and draw your own conclusions.
Three South Korean companies have agreed to plead guilty and pay some $236 million in criminal and civil penalties for a “decade-long bid rigging conspiracy” involving contracts to supply fuel to U.S. military bases on the peninsula, the Justice Department said.
The companies — SK Energy Co. Ltd., GS Caltex Corp., and Hanjin Transportation Co. Ltd. — also agreed to pay a total of about $154 million to the United States for antitrust and false claims violations in separate civil claims, according to a statement.
The Justice Department said the criminal charges were the first to be announced in the investigation, which involved allegations that the petroleum and refinery companies and their agents conspired “to suppress and eliminate competition” during the bidding process for contracts from 2005 to 2016.
“Such a conspiracy is no less illegal for being hatched in South Korea, and as this case shows, federal law enforcement authorities can bridge the distance,” said Benjamin Glassman, U.S. attorney of the southern district of Ohio. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but does anyone think this is the only big rigging going on for USFK contracts?
One more thing shutting down further signaling the imminent closure of Yongsan Garrison:
U.S. elementary, middle and high schools on Yongsan will close at the end of this school year as the military population shifts to its new headquarters south of Seoul, officials said Friday.
Seoul American Elementary School and Seoul American Middle High School have been run for decades to serve the children of soldiers and others stationed in South Korea.
But Yongsan’s population has declined sharply as U.S. Forces Korea and the other commands moved to Camp Humphreys, which has its own schools, as part of a long-delayed relocation plan.
“The decision and request by the command to no longer operate schools in Seoul is based on the pace and requirements of the Yongsan transformation efforts,” the military said in a press release. [Stars & Stripes]
I have been saying this for quite some time now, expect every petty USFK crime to now receive attention from the Korean media:
Two United States Forces Korea soldiers were caught stealing clothes from a shop in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, police said Saturday.
They entered the shop at 11 p.m. Friday, and fled with a jacket priced at 60,000 won ($54), according to Gwangju Dongbu Police Station. Officers, called by the shop’s manager, traced the two and apprehended them.
The two suspects, from an air base in Gyeonggi Province, remained tight-lipped, refusing to answer questions from investigators.
Police are reviewing CCTV footage to help them in their investigation. [Korea Times]
This is not something that should make national news, but like we saw during the 2000-2008 timeframe every USFK petty crime made the news to help create the perception of out of control GI crime. It was common for Koreans to think USFK personnel could commit crimes and fly away back to the US. This caused protests and demands for SOFA revisions.
I long ago showed the problems with the anti-US activists complaints about the US-ROK SOFA and I am still awaiting for one person to point out an example of a crime committed by a GI off duty and the USFK refused to hand him over? The anti-US activists keep complaining about GI’s getting away with crimes and can’t point out a specific example of when this happened.
Gen. Robert Abrams (R), the new commander of U.S. Forces Korea, shakes hands with retired Gen. Paik Sun-yup, a Korean War hero, during a ceremony at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul on Nov. 9, 2018, to open an exhibition celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Seoul-Washington alliance. (Yonhap)
Condolences to Sergeant Aguon’s friends and family:
A 1st Armored Division soldier died after being found unconscious at a base in South Korea, the Army said Wednesday. The cause was under investigation.
Sgt. Marcos John Aguon, 28, was a cannon crew member with the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, which rotated to South Korea last month.
He was found unconscious at Camp Hovey and pronounced dead Sunday at Joongang St. Mary’s Hospital in the surrounding city of Dongducheon, which is near the border with North Korea. [Stars & Stripes]
