Text Fwd: General James Thurman to head USFK

Hankyoreh News Briefing
General James Thurman to head USFK
March 3, 2011

The United States has appointed the head of the US Army Forces Command, General James Thurman, as the new head of the US Forces in South Korea.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates appointed Thurman on Tuesday, replacing General Walter Sharp who is set to retire after assuming his post in 2008. Thurman has responsibility for more than 700-thousand soldiers in the continental United States and has experience in combat, including a stint as a division commander in Iraq.

South Korea’s military will soon deploy light attack helicopters on islands near the Yellow Sea border with North Korea as part of its efforts to bolster defense capability there, following North Korea’s deadly artillery attack, an official said Wednesday.

The planned deployment of 500MD helicopters is aimed at countering a possible hovercraft infiltration by North Korea’s special forces into one of the border islands, the official at the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co. will deliver the first of four airborne early warning aircraft to South Korea’s Air Force in July, a company official said Wednesday, a move that would beef up the South’s surveillance capabilities over North Korea.

Boeing won a US$1.6 billion order in 2006 to sell four Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) planes to South Korea. The three remaining aircraft are expected to be delivered to South Korea by the end of 2012　 (Yonhap News Agency)
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See also
Kyunghyang
US Says, "Regime Change in North Korea Is Not Our Goal"; Bosworth Hints at Food Assistance to North Korea
March 3, 2011