Text Fwd: USFK Will Return Command Bunker for Nothing

* Image source: Korea Times

"CP TANGO" underground command bunker is seen on the outskirts of Seoul. Gen. Walter Sharp,

commander of U.S. Forces Korea, has proposed South Korea buy facility to use as a wartime control center

to direct war against North Korea. Photo from Military.com

Korea Times
March 23, 2010
USFK Will Return Command Bunker for Nothing
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

Gen. Walter Sharp USFK Commander The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Tuesday that it will return an underground command bunker to South Korea at no cost under the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The response came after The Korea Time reported Monday that the USFK was seeking to sell the “CP TANGO” facility on the outskirts of Seoul to South Korea, when its troops move to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in coming years. As for the proposal by USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense made it clear that it would not buy the bunker. “Under the Status of Forces Agreement, the Republic of Korea grants land and facilities to USFK,” the USFK said in a news release. “The USFK will return SOFA granted land and facilities back to the ROK government when we are done using it for mutual defense,” it said. A USFK official reconfirmed that the bunker will be given to South Korea free of charge when the relocation of U.S. bases is implemented, though the exact timeframe of the base move has yet to be fixed. CP TANGO is the main command and control center from which U.S. military leaders would direct any combat against North Korea. The granite bunker is reputed to be able to withstand even a nuclear blast as well as survive any biological and chemical attack. The center, built on about 30,000 square meters of land, has a war room where top military commanders can receive battlefield situations around the clock and hold video teleconferences. gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr * Related article Korea Times 3-21-2010 17:14 [Exclusive] USFK Command Bunker on Sale to S. Korea Korea Times 03-22-2010 18:40 Seoul Says 'No Need' to Buy USFK Bunker

Key Resolve, US-SK Annual War Exercise Starts in the Korean Peninsula on March 8 and Nationwide Protests against it, as Well

* Image source: Shin So-yeong/The Hankyoreh on March 9, 2010

'Members of Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea hold a press conference to oppose the annual joint exercise between the South Korean and U.S. militaries called Key Resolve in front of the war command post of the
Combined Forces Command located in Sungnam City, Gyeonggi Province, March 8.

Key Resolve, which began on the same day, has received intense criticism from North Korea.
The North Korean army issued a statement in which it ordered its army forces to assume a battle position
in response to the Key Resolve exercise on March 7.

Key Resolve is the name that was given to the exercise in 2008 previously known as RSOI, which stands for
Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, Integration.

The South Korea and the U.S. have called the exercise a defense drill, however,
North Korea has labeled it training for an invasion.'

* Image source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK)
'Let’s stop the war and blossom the flowers'

TANGO, CFC, Sungnam
(reference source: Koh Sung-Jin
image source: Cho Sung-Bong, Tongil News, March 8, 2010)

The civil society organizations including Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea,
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Korea Alliance of Progressive Movements
and Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification (PKAR), South Korean branch, by starting with the press interview
on March 8, in front of Theater, Air, Navy, Ground Operation (TANGO), Combined Forces Command,
in Chungye Mt. Sungnam, South of Seoul, announced that, “By coming 18, we, through ‘the simultaneous anti-war & peace joint actions’ centered in the main USFK bases and cities nationwide,
including Seoul, will urge to sop the invasive war exercise, and will spread our will for the realization of peace that has been longtime wished for.”

image source: Cho Sung-Bong, Tongil News, March 8, 2010
"Let’s stop the war and blossom the flowers"

image source: Cho Sung-Bong, Tongil News, March 8, 2010

Pyeongtaek
( reference/image source: Pyeongteak Peace Center)

About 30 activists from various organizations in Pyeongteak have gathered in front of Songtan branch, Pyeongteak City Hall on March 8, to denounce the Key Resolve exercise and to urge the stop of the additional runway in the Songtan USFK. The Pyeongtaek activists pointing out that the construction for additional runway in the Songtan USFK, which is planned to be completed by 2011, is for the realization of the strategic flexibility in the Korean peninsula, appealed to Pyeongtaek citizens to stop the construction. [The activists also pointed out that the planned return of the war time operation right from the USFK to ROK military has also been conditioned under the strategic flexibility]. The participants decided that they would make the issue of runway by the coming local election on June 2.

Click the image for larger view

"Stop the Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle War exercise and
the 2nd Runway Construction in the Songtan USFK Base!"

-Leaflet distributed to the citizens in Pyeongteak on March 8-

The leaflet was made by Gyunggi-do branch, Korean Alliance for Progressive Movement,
Gyunggi-do headquarter of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and
the Pyeongtaek Area Democratic Organizations’ Council.

Incheon
( reference/image source:
Incheon branch, Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea)

The Incheon activists, having the protest in front of Incheon City Hall criticized that the Key Resolve
that has been with the advanced weapons, was not for the defense exercise but for the attack against North Korea,
and was the illegal war exercise, a violation of constitution that pursed the peaceful unification.
They also said that, if the United States and South Korea truly want the dialogue with North Korea,
both authorities of them should stop the Key Resolve war exercise,
as they had stopped the Team Spirit military training in 1994 for the talk with North Korea.
Saying that the western sea in front of Incheon is always in tension including the military clash,
they denounced the war exercise that threatened the peace and heightened tension
in the Korean peninsula.
Finally activists appealed to the citizens to abolish the US-SK war alliance with anti-war peace actions.

Chungnam-do (province)
Image source: SPARK
In front of Chungnam Province Hall (original source: Ohmynews)

Kunsan
Image source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK)
In front of Kunsan AFB (original source: Newsis)

Busan
Image source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK)
In front of the United States Consulate (original source: Voice of People)

Text Fwd: The United Nations Command Informed the North Korea of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian

* Image source: Solidarity for Reunification of Korea(SPARK)
Protest against the UFG exercise in front of the TANGO( Theater, Air, Navy, Ground Operation), War Command Center, Seongnam, South of Seoul, Aug. 18, 2008

Below is the unofficial translation of the Tongil News(meaning 'Unification News') and needs proofreading.

The United Nations Command Informed the North Korea of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a Joint Military Exercise between the United States-South Korea,
next Month [August] 17 to 27:
Emphasizing It is a “Defense Exercise Not A Provocative Action”
July 24, 2009, Friday, Tongil News, Jung, Myeong-jin, mjjung@tongilnews.com

The 2009 Ulchi Freedom Guardian(UFG), a joint military training is practiced during the next month, 17 to 27.

The Combined Forces Command(Commander Walter Sharp) revealing as above on [July] 24, said that “The United Nations Command informed the North Korea of the 09 Ulchi Freedom Guardian that it is for the defense-related military readiness exercise, not the provocative actions in any aspects.”

Next, he repeatedly emphasized that “ Like any exercise, the 09 UFG is a common defensive exercise to make progress of the abilities of the US-SK alliance to protect the South Korea from the foreign invasion.”

The characteristic of the exercise this time is that the new US-SK joint operation plan is applied instead the existing ‘Operational Plan 5027’. The military has driven this with the aim of completing the US-SK joint operational plan by July, which has been renewed following the plan of the transfer of the wartime operational control right in 2012.

Since last year, the UFG has been processed with the lead by Korean Joint Forces that is the Korean combat command headquarter and with the support by the United States Forces Korea Command(KORCOM). So to speak, it is exercising the ‘Korean Forces leading-United States Forces supporting system’.

It is to intend to apply the OP 5027 to the Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle in every March, exercising the current ‘combined defense system’ and to apply the new operational plan to every August, exercising the ‘joint defense system’, preparing the transfer of the operational control right.

The Unchi Freedom Guardian, renamed from the existing Ulchi Focus Lenz(UFL), this time is the biggest exercise with 10,000 United States Forces of Korea, 56,000 Korean Forces and 400,000 people from 4,000 institutes, including the public officers from the central government and the regional autonomy groups.

The repulsion of the North Korea against the US-SK UFG exercise is expected. In last August, the North Korea has revealed its criticizing position against the exercise through the spokesperson of the Panmunjeom representative committee of the DPRK military, of the Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Father Land, DPRK, of the Department of the Foreign Affairs, DPRK, last August.

At the time, the spokesperson of the Panmunjeom representative committee has said the UFG exercise was “the new North Korea-invasion exercise, aimed to strengthen the ground operational ability, having the South Korean puppet military as cannon fodders and to increase the effects of the mid-long range precision attack and rapid maneuver attack by the U.S.A. imperialism invasion force against out strategic points.”

Otherwise, the Combined Forces Command (CFC) added that “ Because there is no field maneuver exercise in the 09 UFG, there will no reporting chance related to the exercise.” The UFG exercise is commonly composed of the CPX exercise being utilized with computer simulation.

ⓒ 통일뉴스(http://www.tongilnews.com)


* Photos of Protest against the UFG, in 2007, 2008(Source: SPARK)

Aug. 20, 2007
Aug. 18, 2008 Aug. 19, 2008 Aug. 20, 2008 Aug. 21, 2008 Aug. 22, 2008


* Related blog

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/07/text-fwd-us-forces-have-plans-for.html
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Text Fwd: U.S. Forces 'Have Plans' for N.Korea After Kim Jong-il


* Related English articles

StopNATO
US, South Korea To Hold Annual War Simulation Exercises, July 24, 2009

Yonhap News
S. Korea, U.S. notify N. Korea of joint war game plan, July 24, 2009

KBS World
S.Korea, US to Hold Joint Defense Exercise in August, 2009-07-24


* Related Korean article

http://minbyun.org/?document_srl=6160
(original site: SPARK (Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea)
작전통제권 전면 환수 및 유엔사 해체 촉구 각계인사 선언
Statement from the Various Fields Regarding the Whole Returning Back of the Operational Control Right and the Dissolution of the United Nations Command
June 29, 2007