The Marmot’s Hole

I know, it seems that not a day goes by without the US and Korea agreeing to move the American garrison at Yongsan out of Seoul (one of the reasons I’ve grown tired on blogging on this issue), but regardless, the Chosun Ilbo reports that, yes, the US and Korea have agreed Saturday to move the American garrison out of Seoul. Reports the Chosun:

The Yongsan Garrison will be moved completely to the Osan-Pyongtaek area. During the Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative talks held in Hawaii on Saturday, the two negotiating teams, headed on the Korean side by Assistant Defense Minister Cha Young-koo and the American side by Deputy Assistant U.S. Defense Secretary Richard Lawless, agreed to a comprehensive Yongsan Garrison relocation agreement and implementation plans.

The two sides agreed to move both the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command to a new headquarters site south of the Han River. The Munhwa Ilbo reported that it seems the costs of the move, originally calculated to be around US$9.5 billion according to American estimates, will be directly regulated by the Korean government and may fall as low as the US$3 billion level.

It is known that the Korean side initially offered 200,000 pyong of land in Yongsan in an attempt to persuade the Americans to leave the Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command in Seoul. The Americans, however, insisted on moving the Yongsan Garrison completely out of the city. It is known that the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, taking into account anti-American feelings in South Korea, order the move to be carried out regardless of land offers from the Korean side. He asked whether Americans would accept a foreign army camped out in New York’s Central Park.

Apparently, the Korean MoD isn’t happy about this:

But in a choice of words that could suggest Seoul is still not reconciled to the relocation, General Cha told reporters, “Unless the United States changes its position, the conclusion is that the UN Command and the Combined Forces Command are moving south.” He was speaking after having met with Mr. Lawless for about an hour.

The Joongang Ilbo also reports that our beloved leader, President Noh, may face a backlash as a result of the move:

The looming withdrawal of U.S. troops from Seoul is expected to have domestic political repercussions. A majority of lawmakers has already objected to the withdrawal, saying it could lead to a security crisis on the peninsula.

When South Korean and U.S. negotiators finish working on the details of the U.S. move to Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, the government will ask the National Assembly to ratify the change. But 147 legislators in the 271-seat Assembly have signed on to a resolution opposing the relocation of the U.S. military headquarters out of the nation’s capital.

“In order to minimize the public uneasiness prompted by the relocation of the Combined Forces Command and the UN Command, we will consult closely with the United States,” said Lieutenant General Cha Young-koo, assistant minister for policy at the Ministry of National Defense. General Cha was the chief Korean negotiator at the defense policy talks in Hawaii.

Actually, Noh’s going to have to take a lot of crap from quite a few directions, because the “pro-American” conservatives aren’t the only ones who are going to bitch about this deal. The Hankyoreh is predicting quite a bit of righteous anger from the Korean Left as well:

One can foresee that since Korea was completely unable to correct the 1990 agreement that left Korea with the burden of paying the entire cost of the base move, despite the United States’s strong desire to move the Yongsan Garrison south of the Han River in connection with the U.S. military’s global redeployment plans in the wake of the 9.11 terrorist attacks, this will become the subject of public controversy.

Refuting this, one U.S. Defense Department official said, “Since it has been the Korean side that has persistently asked for the Yongsan Garrison move since before the 9.11 attacks, it’s only logical that that the Koreans take on the entire cost of the move.”

As one can see during these talks in which the intention to move the Combined Forces Command and other facilities was finally achieved, however, the U.S. inwardly wished to move the Yongsan Garrison, and it doesn’t appear that it will be able to avoid criticism that it used Korea’s request that the U.S. move its bases to the outskirts of Seoul as an excuse to saddle Korea with the entire burden of paying for the Yongsan move, a move that will require more than US$3 billion.

In fact, certain citizens’ groups hold the view that for Korea to pay the entire cost of the base move, despite the fact it’s clear that USFK is deployed on the Korean Peninsula in order to actualize American interests in Northeast Asia, is actually an expression of ‘flunkeyism.’

The sad thing about this is that the move out of Yongsan make so much sense, it hurts. Rummy’s absolutely right on this one — the presence of a huge, foreign military encampment in the middle of Seoul (and based in a location that was previously occupied by the Japanese and Chinese militaries) is unhelpful diplomatically, useless militarily, and an big friggin’ irritant emotionally for the locals. As for Korea getting stuck with the bill, well, tough shit — if you want those troops IN Korea but OUT of Seoul (and this appears to be the position of the current Blue House Administration), then you can’t be surprised when Washington tells you to pay up.

UPDATE: The Rathbone Press explains (in exemplary fashion) why USFK’s move out of Seoul is the greatest idea since sliced bread: