The Marmot’s Hole

Lt. Col. Paul E. Snyder, left, commander of United Nations Command?????s Security Battalion at the Joint Security Area in the truce village of Panmunjom, shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Shim Donghyun, deputy commander of the battalion, Monday to mark the transfer of patrolling duties at the area to South Korean forces for the first time in half a century. The U.S. handed over its last outpost in the Demilitarized Zone to South Korea and reduced its troops there to 40 as part of a deal to give Seoul more responsibility for guarding the border with the North./Korea Times

Monday marked the handover of patrolling duties in the Joint Security Area (JSA) from the United Nations Command Security Battalion - Joint Security Area (UNCSB-JSA), a move that was first mentioned in April. With the move, Korea takes over USFK’s last outpost in the DMZ. — Outpost Ouellette — and with, the honor of exclusively defending Freedom’s Frontier for the first time in half a century.

At which point, I second the Lost Nomad — amazing, and about time.

However, if I might express some concern — concern that wouldn’t make me desire sticking Americans back on the DMZ, mind you, but concern nevertheless — it’s that with South Korean and North Korean troops operating in such proximity without the odd U.S. soldier there to possibly to take a bullet and blow any particular incident into a big fat international mess nobody wants, I do worry that the North Koreans may decide to occasionally test their brothers to the South in much the same way they do with Northern Limit Line in the West Sea (a line that got tested yet again today in an foray that prompted the South Korean Navy to fire off 10 warning shots). Back in April, when plans to hand over the JSA to the South Koreans were announced, Pyongyang hinted it might regard such a move as a violation of the Armistice Agreement (Seoul, after all, was not a party to the agreement) and “comprehensively examine the issue of security in the joint security area and all the provisions of the Armistice Agreement related to security.” This is probably something worth watching.

One thing is certain, though: if Seoul wants to restart the beer and pizza parties USFK reportedly used to throw for the troops in the JSA — including the North Koreans — Uncle Sam won’t be supplying the provisions. Korean beer is better, anyway.