Photos Fwd: Gyunggi Governor, Hear the Voice of the Ohyun-ri People!

*All the Image source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK)
(Dec. 28, 2009)

The banner says:

'Governor, Kim Moon-Soo, Start on Active Action for the Peaceful Settlement
on the Issue of the Expansion of the Mugeon-ri Military training Field

_ Dec. 28, 2009, at 11am, front gate of the Gyunggi Province Hall, [Suwon, Gyunggi Province)

_’Village People’s Committee against the Expansion of the Mugeon-ri Military Training Field’ and
‘Pan Korea Committee against the Expansion of the Mugeon-ri Military Training Field’

'Governor, Kim Moon-Soo, Start on the Settlement of the Issue!'
'Ohyun-ri Village People Have No Place to Go.'
-Village People’s Committee against the Expansion of the Mugeon-ri Military Training Field-

'Governor, Kim Moon-Soo, Hear the 'Cry' of the 'Ohyun-ri People'!'
-Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK) -

*All the Image source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK)
(Dec. 28, 2009)

* Related blog

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/12/photos-fwd-ohyunri-peoples-500th-candle.html
Monday, December 14, 2009
Photos Fwd: Ohyunri People’s 500th Candle Light Vigil Night

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/02/text-fw-struggle-of-ohyunri-south-korea.html
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Text Fwd: The Struggle of Ohyunri, South Korea

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/search/label/Mugun-ri%2FOhyun-ri

Text Fwd: Seoul may form attack chopper unit

2009.08.03
By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldm.com)

South Korea may be moving forward with plans to form a separate unit of attack helicopters over the next four years for defense reinforcement purposes, military sources said yesterday.

The absence of two U.S. Apache attack helicopter battalions are seen to have accelerated the move.

Further exacerbating the concerns are predictions that the sole remaining battalion of 24 choppers may depart following the 2012 transfer of wartime operational control.

The Defense Ministry, however, said upgrading the current choppers would come first.

"Our priority lies in upgrading our choppers as they are outdated. We may not actually be seeing the formation of a new division of such choppers," said Col. Lee Bung-woo of the ministry's public relations office.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration is in the midst of a feasibility study for indigenously developing helicopters. It is slated to announce the results by late next year.

Another viable plan is to purchase second-hand Apaches from the United States.

Amid concerns of the defense vacuum, the United States Forces Korea is to deploy a dozen F-15E fighter jets here to replace an equal number of F-16s.

"This would most likely be a move to assure South Korea," one military source said.

Washington will station the dozen F-15E Striking Eagle jets at the Gunsan Air Base by Aug. 20 to replace the 12 F-16 Fighting Falcon jets at the Suwon Air Base, sources said.

The deployment is part of a rotation and will last for six months, including a staff of 400 to support the move.

Washington's decision to pull out a second battalion of attack choppers earlier this year had many worried about the weakened defense posture.

Top defense experts are now predicting that the United States may decide to withdraw the remaining 24 Apaches to reinforce its anti-terrorism efforts in the Middle East.

The Apache choppers constitute a powerful combat deterrent as they are designed for anti-armor purposes, meaning their main mission is deterring North Korea's armored division.

The United States afterwards deployed a dozen F-16s, a multirole fighter jet, in the place of the Apaches amid criticism and concerns.

This is because the F-16s, despite thier capacity for conducting varied missions and precision strikes, are void of anti-armor features.

The F-15Es, meanwhile, are said to have superior all-weather ground attack capabilities compared with the F-16s and a greater operational range.

The jets also carry a wide range of munitions including anti-armor and precision guided bombs.

But experts said the distinction was not too significant, as they both are unable to sufficiently replace the Apaches.

The USFK maintains that the multirole jets would adequately fill the gap left by the Apaches.

* Realted
Yonhap News
2009/08/03 16:19 KST
U.S. says no plan to withdraw Apaches in foreseeable future
By Sam Kim

Text Fwd: S. Korea: Pentagon To Base Patriotic Missile Forces Permanently

* Text informed at StopNATO *

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62828
Stars and Stripes, Pacific Edition, May 22, 2009
New missile battalion to stay at Suwon permanently
By Franklin Fisher

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — The newest Patriot missile battalion to move to Suwon Air Base is to be stationed there permanently instead of just staying a year, a change that will allow more soldiers to bring their families to South Korea with official approval, the Army said Wednesday.

At a transfer of authority ceremony set for 10 a.m. Friday, the 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery from Fort Sill, Okla., is to formally take over for the departing 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, which has served a one-year tour in South Korea. The 3-2 ADA will move to Fort Sill.

The incoming battalion will be part of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, headquartered at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek.

The personnel will change but the missiles and other equipment will remain in place under what’s known as a "relief in place." The battalion is headquartered at Suwon Air Base, a South Korean air force installation.

"It’s basically an even exchange of soldiers coming in and out," about 500 in each battalion, said Maj. Albert LaBella, the brigade’s deputy commanding officer.

Since 2007, the Army had rotated Patriot missile battalions to South Korea for one-year tours with the brigade. Such rotations were made as a temporary change of station, or TCS.

But the move of the 6-52 ADA to Suwon is a permanent change of station. It marks a break from those one-year TCS rotations, said the brigade’s operations officer, Maj. Matthew Grady.

Soldiers without families will spend a year in South Korea; those coming to Korea with command-sponsored families will serve two years, Grady said.

"It is supporting the forward-stationing concept," he said of increasing the number of command-sponsored families in Korea.

Previously, troops in South Korea on a TCS rotation did not have the option of bringing their families with command sponsorship, Grady said.

One other Patriot unit, the brigade’s 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery, is slated to end its one-year TCS tour at Camp Carroll in Waegwan in October. It’ll be replaced by a battalion that will also be permanently stationed in South Korea, the 2nd Battalion, 1st ADA, currently at Fort Hood, Texas.

Thereafter, the brigade will not rotate in new battalions each year but will instead replace soldiers individually as their Korea tours expire.

"For the soldiers stationed here," said Grady, "it means they’ll be on the same system of arriving and departing as the soldiers and airmen and Marines and sailors across the rest of Korea. They will arrive and depart individually."

The brigade maintains Patriot missile batteries at Suwon, Osan and Kunsan air bases, and at Camp Carroll.

Patriot missiles are designed to bring down incoming aircraft, cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.
===========================
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