The South Korean government is trying to take advantage of this period of transition in the Pentagon between Rumsfeld and Gates in order to get the USFK relocation delayed. Rumsfeld was dead set on the transformation of USFK and now the South Koreans are testing the new Secretary Gates to see if he is as committed to the relocation as Rumsfeld.

The Korean government has never wanted to allow the USFK relocation to Camp Humphreys just like they have never really wanted to take operational control from USFK either. However, Rumsfeld forced the issue on the South Korean government by calling their bluff and demanding the relocation and hand over of operational control. Both the Yongsan and the operational control issues have long served as great cannonfodder by South Korean politicians looking to demagoge the issue to their own political advantage. Plus the Koreans have never wanted to fully fund the move despite all the prime real estate they are gaining from the closed out USFK facilities. Heck they won’t even properly fund the US-ROK Alliance while giving over a billion dollars to North Korea a year!

You also have the Fifth Column in South Korea, organized by North Korean agents that want to stop the move because North Korea wants to keep 2ID and USFK locked into their current locations that are well within artillery range of North Korea which would mean their easy destruction during war time. Plus the South Korean government would like to keep USFK in their current positions as well because it limits the US's hand in dealing with North Korea because 2ID and Yongsan are effectively hostages of North Korean artillery. Additionally the locations of the bases, particularly Yongsan have been completely surrounded by urban cities which has led to accidents and incidents with the Korean public that gets demagoged by the North Korean sponsored anti-US activists groups in order to draw a wedge between USFK and the general Korean public. The consolidation of US forces would remove all US forces out of North Korean artillery range and additionally under the ballistic missile protection of US Army PATRIOT missile batteries. This would create better force protection for USFK forces along with giving USFK commanders more flexibility during war time. Additionally Camp Humphreys is located in a rural farming area of Korea which will improve USFK safety and training ability by not being surrounded by large urban cities.

It will be interesting to see the Pentagon’s reaction to the 2013 timeline. I tend to think that the Pentagon would accept a 2009 relocation time line that would coincide with a 2009 handover of operational control. A 2013 timeline is just an effort to further push this issue down the road and hope the Pentagon gives up on it just like what the Korean government is doing with the operational control issue.

I think it may be close to ultimatum time. Is it too late to bring General Trexler out of retirement?