Tag: Yongsan Garrison

This issue of pollutants found at a Seoul subway station has been going on for years and it is amazing that no one has yet to figure out where it is coming from:

The Seoul city government said Monday that contaminants detected in underground water tables near a U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) garrison in the capital city were 500 times higher than normal standards.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said an average of 0.532 milligrams per liter of benzene was found around Noksapyeong Station, located near the U.S. Army base in Yongsan, central Seoul in 2016. The base has long been suspected as the source of oil leaks that have polluted both water and land.

The figure went as high as 8.811 milligrams per liter, which is some 587 times higher than the allowable level of 0.015 milligrams per liter, it said.

The total amount of petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) found near Camp Kim, within Yongsan Garrison, was 20.4 milligrams per liter on average and reached up to 768.7, which is some 512 times higher than the standard of 1.5 milligrams per liter, according to the city government.

Municipal authorities have been conducting a water table purification project since 2003, but petroleum-based contaminants have still been detected in water near the U.S. base, it said.

“Considering that the base will be returned (to South Korea) at the end of 2017, we need to establish plans on how we will clean up the pollutants,” the city government said in a press release. “But at the moment, we are not even fully aware of the circumstances surrounding the pollution.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting read from the LA Times about a soldier stationed at Yongsan Garrison that was being charged with the manslaughter of his best friend:

The men were U.S. Army mechanics, and they had arranged to be deployed at the same time in South Korea. Pfc. Royal, 22, was based at the Yongsan Garrison, a major U.S. military base near Itaewon. Pfc. Anderson, 20, was stationed at Humphreys, a rural garrison 55 miles south, and he was visiting for the weekend.

They drank; they played pool; they wrestled like muscle-bound, army-trained puppies, grappling into chokeholds until one or the other cried uncle. They got matching tattoos — “friends forever” swirling down their forearms in blue Korean script.

Chrissy — an energetic young woman from Royal’s North Carolina hometown — went home early, and just after midnight, Royal and Anderson decided to go home too. A taxi dropped them off near Royal’s apartment. Royal and Anderson began roughhousing. Royal pushed Anderson with two hands — a shove to the chest — and Anderson fell backwards.

Thus began the first in a tragic series of unpredictable events that would leave one friend dead, the other on trial, and the military justice system forced to grapple with complex questions about responsibility and punishment in a case whose primary villain seemed to be fate.

It happened in a matter of seconds. Just as Anderson tumbled into the street, a car veered around a corner and blazed through a red blinking light, plowing suddenly over Anderson with both axles — bump, bump. The car stopped. The police arrived. And 12 days later, Anderson died in the hospital, hooked up to a mechanical ventilator.

The Army charged Royal with manslaughter.

The hearing that would determine whether Royal would have to face a full court-martial began on a crisp day in October.  [LA Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that the person most culpable for the accident is the driver that ran the red light in the first place.

United States Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Vincent Brooks (L) shakes hands with Maj. Gen. David Puster, the outgoing deputy commander of USFK’s Eighth Army, in a change of command ceremony held at the USFK headquarters in Yongsan, central Seoul, on July 7, 2016. Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith replaces Maj. Gen. Puster. (Yonhap)

I like school uniforms considering some of the people I see now a days dressed like slobs going to school.  School should be a professional learning environment which school uniforms help create.  Really the only issue I see is the cost.  Whatever uniform is selected should not cost parents more than it does to buy regular school clothes:

Seoul American High School is considering a new dress code that would require students to wear uniforms.

The draft proposal prompted heated debate, with supporters saying more needs to be done to rein in students who dress inappropriately and critics calling it too strict. Many on both sides complained the uniforms would be expensive and get little use since most students will likely be moving soon as part of the relocation of most U.S. forces in Korea.

Students would have to wear collared polo or button-down dress shirts in a choice of three colors — blue, white or black — with chino-style pants, according to a draft copy obtained by Stars and Stripes.

The policy would ban shorts, skirts and jeans, as well as flip flops, shoes with wheels and headgear. The principal reserved the right to make exceptions based on a student’s religious beliefs or documented medical conditions.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Kerry visits Yongsan Garrison in Seoul

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (C, rear) poses for a photo with children of U.S. troops and U.S. Embassy personnel during a visit to Seoul’s Yongsan Garrison on May 18, 2015. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

If your kids go to middle or high school over Yongsan Garrison expect your kids to have a different school schedule next year:

Department of Defense Education Activity middle and high school students in Seoul will attend classes on a “hybrid” schedule next year that combines traditional seven-period days and block-scheduled days within a single week, officials announced last week.

The change will mean more time in the classroom and fewer mix-ups at Seoul American High School over which classes students should be attending on a given day, principal Kathleen Reiss said.

The school now operates on a block schedule, with “A” and “B” class schedules alternating daily.

“It’s constant confusion now,” Reiss said. “There’s not a day that goes by that somebody doesn’t ask me, ‘Is this A day or B day?’ ”

Under the hybrid schedule, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays will be seven-period days. Wednesdays and Thursdays will be block-scheduled days, with a built-in seminar period used for assemblies, makeup tests and other instructional purposes.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I love the picture the S&S decided to add to the article.

Unfortunately for those that liked going to the Navy Club on Yongsan Garrison it is now closed as part of the USFK relocation plan:

The Navy Club ended the final chapter of its long four-decade run at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan on Thursday.

Rear Adm. Lisa Franchetti, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea, spoke to more than 100 military and civilian guests at a closure ceremony focused on the club’s history.

“Today, we salute the Navy Club employees, past and present, for their faithful service to generations of servicemembers and their families stationed in Seoul,” Franchetti said.

The closure is due to the relocation of U.S. Naval Forces Korea headquarters to Busan in July and the move by other naval personnel further south to Camp Humphreys.

The restaurant was established in 1969 as Parker’s Place. In 1975, it became an official U.S. Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation outlet and was rechristened with its current name.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

If you are going to Yongsan Garrison you better leave your drones at home:

The U.S. military stationed in South Korea has introduced stricter security rules banning all civilian drones and remote controlled model aircrafts from flying over the main military base in Yongsan in central Seoul, a South Korean military source said Thursday.

The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) issued a total ban in late December on all unmanned aerial vehicles or radio-controlled model aircrafts equipped with a camera or other types of information-gathering devices on the entire premise of the Yongsan Garrison. “The flight ban involves all computer- or radio-controlled civilian drones and toy model aircrafts, except for military drones authorized by the U.S. military,” a military source in Seoul said.

According to the source, those who own radio-controlled model aircrafts can fly only in extremely limited zones after registering them with the U.S. military for permits. Under the stricter rules, only those at age 13 or older are allowed to fly model aircrafts in authorized zones to a maximum altitude of 100 feet above ground. The USFK said violators would be “dealt sternly” in accordance with the military and civilian legal procedures. [Donga Ilbo via reader tip]

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes news that Yongsan Garrison will have some visitors looking to find evidence of oil leakage from Yongsan Garrision:

South Korea and the United States agreed Tuesday to allow local environmental experts to conduct a field study on a U.S. military base in central Seoul suspected of polluting groundwater and its nearby land.

The Yongsan Garrison is suspected of being the source of leaking oil that has polluted at least 12,000 square meters of land and more than 7 million liters of underground water since 2001 when the first oil spill was reported.

The agreement was reached at the latest Joint Committee meeting on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) aimed at discussing an array of issues governing the legal status of 28,500 U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry.

To address the suspected oil leakage, both sides formed a joint working group consisting of officials from Seoul’s environment ministry, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the Seoul Metropolitan Government in June last year.

“The two sides agreed to allow Korea’s environmental experts to visit the garrison in the near term for a field inspection into possible pollution sources,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “They shared the view that the move will contribute to the fundamental resolution of the matter.”

Seoul has made repeated requests to the U.S. for its cooperation with the inspection of the garrison, which have been long ignored by the U.S. Under the SOFA, the South Korean government can investigate USFK bases only if permission is granted.  [Yonhap]

This inspection is really nothing unprecedented because when the camps in the 2nd Infantry Division closed out almost ten years ago the environmental ministry and NGO types visited those camps as well.  What is going on with Yongsan is that there has been oil found dripping in the subway lines, but no one has been able to confirm where it is coming from and the Korean government believes it is coming from Yongsan Garrison.

Anyway here is how the article ends with a topic that has absolutely nothing to do with the oil spill issue:

Concerning crimes committed by U.S. forces stationed here, South Korea asked the U.S. to tighten discipline among its soldiers at end-year, the ministry said.

Crimes committed by U.S. servicemen have declined, but sex and drug-related crimes rose between 2011 and 2013, the ministry added. In response, the U.S. said it will sternly deal with any kinds of sex crimes, vowing to cooperate with Seoul over crimes by U.S. soldiers.

South Korean authorities have often failed to take legal action against U.S. soldiers as the SOFA regulations allow the suspects to be handed over to U.S. authorities.

Having compiled these stats in the past I do not trust any GI crime statistics put out by Koreans which are often inflated.  With that said that I am sure that drug crimes have risen because of the crackdown the ROK has done on inspecting US mail.  There has been plenty of idiot soldiers caught in the past few years sending drugs through the mail.

Via a reader tip comes news that the Korean left is trying to re-stoke this old issue to bash USFK with:

The city estimated that polluted water near the Yongsan Garrison and Camp Kim came to 1,870 tons and 100 tons, respectively.

City officials noted that benzene, toluene and xylene among other chemicals were found in the underground water system.

Despite the capital pumping nearly 2,000 tons of contaminated water since 2001, pollutants were found to have remained in drainage water from the bases.

The discovery of pollutants is increasing concerns about waste disposal at U.S. bases, already heightened by concerns of possible Agent Orange contamination at camps in Korea.

Officials reiterated the urgency of preventing pollutants from entering the Hangang River. (Korea Herald)

You can read more at the link but the so called environmentalists are also bashing camps that are no longer even being turned over like Camp Casey and Camp Hovey. First of all there is going to be pollution on camps that are decades old and housed military equipment. This is not news. Secondly these studies in the past have been sensationalized by including lead contamination from rifle ranges and oil from new asphalt as pollution. They even claimed that people had to wear decontamination suits to go on Camp Kyle which I proved was false.

A lot of this issue comes down money.
When the base handover agreements were completed by the Roh Moo-Hyun government, they agreed to take the land including all buildings and infrastructure at no cost. Further cleanup efforts beyond what the United States already has done is supposed to be handled by the ROK. So on this issue the left gets to bash USFK again while the government can use this issue to get more money from the U.S. To pay for base clean up.