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U.S. Forces Korea to start major realignment next year

by Spc. Bill Putnam

WASHINGTON (Army News Service June 9, 2003) - The Army will be moving from bases located near the Demilitarized Zone and the South Korean capital to "hubs" farther south, and that massive shift could start as early as next year, according to a joint document released by the South Korean and U.S. governments June 5.

The move is a sweeping change of policy, according to some reports in the media last week. They say it's a change from the current policy which has used the 14,000 soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division and 7,000 soldiers stationed at Yongson Army Garrison in Seoul as a de-facto trip wire to guarantee U.S. involvement to help defend South Korea from a potential invasion from the north for the last 50 years.

"This is a time to move beyond outmoded concepts or catch phrases such as the term 'tripwire,"' said Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy U.S. defense secretary, in Seoul June 2.

Although no time line for the move has been established, said Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, U.S. Eighth Army public affairs officer in an e-mail interview, the move south and opening of newer facilities will take years and doesn't mean the alliance between South Korea and America is flagging.

"We are committed to the alliance and will not weaken that alliance by these plans," Boylan said.

Some South Korean officials initially resisted the move earlier this year saying it would give North Korea the impression of the U.S. pulling out of the peninsula. They agreed after guarantees that the U.S. will still maintain a presence north of the Han through training at the Korea Training Center, located near Camp Casey.

Boylan also said that there will be no immediate affect to the soldiers currently stationed in Korea or those that are being assigned to 8th Army units in the near future.

The 2nd ID at 15 bases north of South Korea's Han River and just south of the DMZ will be the major unit moved south of the Han River in two phases that will take place over the next few years, the statement said.

About 6,000 of the 7,000 soldiers stationed at the U.S. Forces, Korea Headquarters at Yongsan Army Garrison, and located in downtown Seoul, Korea, will also move south, the statement said.

The first phase of the move will probably start as early as this year when the 2nd ID begins to move from those 15 bases to camps Red Cloud and Casey.

After the South Korean government procures land south of the Han River next year, the division and the Yongson Garrison will move to major "hubs" south of the river that also bisects Seoul, the statement said. The land now used by the Army will be handed over to the South Koreans at that point.

The U.S. has also offered to pay about $220 million for the new facilities, said Boylan.

Moving those forces south wasn't the only thing discussed by the two governments. The U.S. government is also planning "a substantial" investment of $11 billion over the next four years on 150 projects to upgrade the combined defenses of South Korea, the statement said.

That money will go toward upgrading the Army's Patriot missile battalion on the peninsula to the newer PAC-3 capability, fielding of unmanned aerial vehicles and the upgrading of the 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Brigade to fly the Army's most advanced Apache helicopter, the AH-64D Apache Longbow, Boylan said.

South Korea officials also said it would upgrade it's "military capabilities to strengthen the Alliance" and that the two countries would proceed with an "implementation plan for the transfer of certain missions."

The South Korean and U.S. governments worked out the details of the plan in two meetings held April 8-9 and during last week's visit to South Korea by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. They agreed to a third round of talks in July 2003.

North and South Korea signed a ceasefire in July 1953, but they are still technically at war. Most of North Korea's 1.1-million man army and South Korea's 650,000-man army are located near the 2.5- mile-wide DMZ that separates the two countries.