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A new USFK building at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek

The US 8th Army Command at the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul will begin moving to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province this month. This is the first relocation by a major command unit for US troops in South Korea.

“Now that construction on a new building for the US 8th Army command inside the Pyeongtaek Base is complete, an advance party of about 300 people from the US 8th Army command at Yongsan will move to Pyeongtaek from this month until February of next year,” said a document released on May 19 by Defense Ministry USFK Base Relocation Office, directed by Kim Kie-soo.

The bulk of the US 8th Army will be making the move in the first half of next year. Since construction began on Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek in 2013, a number of companies and battalions (including the 94th Military Police Battalion and the 501st Signal Company) have been relocated to the new base and are currently stationed there, but command units such as US Forces Korea (USFK) command and US 8th Army command have remained at Yongsan.

“Currently, about 560 construction companies and around 8,000 workers a day are involved in the construction of the Pyeongtaek base, and we are currently on schedule with 89% of the work already complete,” the Defense Ministry’s project team said. “We are planning to complete relocation for most of the units, including USFK command, by 2017.”

The project of relocating USFK began in 1987 with a pledge by Roh Tae-woo during his successful run for president. As a result, South Korea and the US reached a basic agreement about relocating the Yongsan Base in June 1990. But for various reasons including financial cost, no progress was made until July 2004, during the Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-2008), when the two sides concluded negotiations about relocating the Yongsan base and work began in earnest.

Gyeonggi Province.

The original agreement between the US and South Korea was to relocate the entire Yongsan Base to Pyeongtaek except for a few facilities, including the Dragon Hill Lodge. But when the two sides once again delayed the transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops during the Consultative Meeting in Oct. 2014, they also decided to keep the ROK-US Combined Forces Command at Yongsan, departing from the original agreement.

At present, South Korea and the US are negotiating the size of the Combined Forces Command that will remain at the Yongsan Base. “There is apparently considerable disagreement between South Korea’s Ministry of Defense and USFK. The Ministry wants minimal forces to remain, while USFK wants to leave more troops and facilities,” a South Korean military officer said.

The 210th Field Artillery Brigade, part of the US 2nd Infantry Division, was also dropped from the list of units being relocated to Pyeongtaek. The artillery brigade is stationed in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, for the purpose of countering the threat of North Korea’s long-range artillery. The brigade is supposed to be relocated in the mid-2020s after the South Korean army has strengthened its firepower.

The Pyeongtaek Base is the largest single overseas base operated by the US military. It has an area of 14.68 million square meter, which is equivalent to 2,056 football fields (7,140 square meters in area, according to international standards).

The base is composed of 513 buildings altogether that have been or are being built. These include the USFK headquarters, the US 8th Army headquarters and other command facilities; shooting ranges and other training facilities; schools, hospitals and other support facilities; roads, railroads, water mains and other infrastructure; and barracks.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

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