Posted on 06/05/2008 8:05:50 AM PDT by Ebenezer
The United States is considering moving the 8th Army headquarters to Hawaii by 2012, when wartime operational control is handed over to South Korea, military sources here said yesterday.
Fighting units under the Yongsan-based headquarters, such as the 2nd Infantry Division and the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, are to remain on the Korean Peninsula, they said.
The relocation of the 8th Army headquarters to Hawaii, where the U.S. Pacific Command has its headquarters, is intended to revamp the military command structure here, according to the sources.
Some critics are concerned that moving the headquarters outside the Korean Peninsula may undermine the war- deterrent capabilities of the U.S. Forces Korea.
Washington and Seoul vow that the relocation would have the opposite effect by introducing newly enhanced operational capabilities to the remaining 8th Army forces.
Serving as a major combat unit during and in the immediate wake of the 1950-53 Korean War, the 8th Army headquarters now plays a largely administrative role for the USFK.
Therefore, changes in the headquarters have long been anticipated by both the American and South Korean governments, especially as Washington seeks global realignments to create smaller, more mobile forces, experts say.
Seoul, for its part, hopes to take a leading role in its military defense, with the United States eventually having a supporting function.
The ministry yesterday said that, while that there will inevitably be changes to the 8th Army, the U.S. and South Korean governments have yet to work out the details.
"It is true that the 8th Army will undergo changes as the United States seeks to realign its ground troops, but no decisions have been made yet," Jeon Jei-guk, the ministry's top policymaker, told reporters.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates this week had hinted at potential changes to the USFK, saying that there will "clearly be fluctuations in personnel and units" of the USFK, during a press conference in Seoul.
The two allies in 2006 agreed to implement "strategic flexibility" to the USFK to allow U.S. troops to freely move in and out of the Korean Peninsula as expeditionary forces to more effectively engage in regional conflicts.
Washington has pledged to improve the combat capability of its troops by deploying more sophisticated military systems on and near the Korean peninsula.
U.S.-South Korean defense dynamics are expected to undergo further changes when Seoul receives wartime operational control from Washington in 2012.
In particular, the U.S.-ROK Combined Forces Command and the USFK -- the main pillars of the war deterrent against North Korea -- will be significantly changed.
The CFC will be separated into U.S. and Korean commands after the transferal of wartime operational command. The Korean the Joint Chiefs of Staff will become an independent command.
By Kim Ji-hyun
(jemmie@heraldm.com)
How many troops/employees will this import to the US State of Hawaii?
In other news, transfer request to join the 8th Army headquarters jump 300%...
South Korea ping
In short some General would prefer an assignment in Hawaii than Korea.
Since it seems that our soldiers will now be under South Korean command, would it be too much to ask the South Koreans to pay all the costs of maintaining them there?
I doubt there is any general that has the clout to move the entire army from Korea to Hawaii just because he wants to move.
There are certainly Generals with enough clout to influence that decision.
That won’t happen. The ROKs are cheap, they want the U.S. to pay for everything.
Probably, but not just because they want to move to Hawaii.
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