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Gyeonggi Province on July 11

The South Korean media gathered en masse at the US Eighth Army’s Camp Humphreys, in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province for a ceremony marking the Eighth Army headquarters’ relocation there from Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. On a bus tour of Camp Humphreys, Ministry of National Defense (MND) officials involved in the relocation program explained: “Ten additional square kilometers of land have been allocated to the base, giving it a total area of 15 square kilometers. This is 5.5 times the size of Yeouido [a neighborhood in Seoul], which measures 2.8 square kilometers.”

Construction is still in progress in some parts of the base. Primary, middle, and high schools have already opened. But construction workers are still at work completing family housing and barracks for soldiers. Among the infrastructure projects that are already finished is a rail line connecting the base to Pyeongtaek’s Sukseong Station, but the line going from Sukseong Station to Pyeongtaek Port is still under construction, an MND official said.

The MND plans for the USFK’s move to Pyeongtaek to be completed by next year. A South Korean Army source said, “As of this June, 94.4% of the project is finished, and by the end of this year, most of the construction will be completed. Everyone will be moved here by the end of 2018.”

However, whether the move can actually be done by that time remains to be seen, because the MND’s calculations do not jibe with those of the USFK. At the opening ceremony of the new Eighth Army headquarters, Commander Thomas Vandal said, “The completion of the project in 2020 will reflect the enduring commitment of both South Korea and the US governments to this great alliance.”

An aerial view of Camp Humphreys US military base in Pyeongtaek

This puts the completion two years later than the MND’s estimate. At a press briefing in the afternoon, Commander Vandal noted that about 80% of the construction was already finished, which is considerably less than the MND’s assertion the 94.4% is done. An MND source said, “The 94.4% figure is based on the usual methods of reckoning used by domestic construction firms and differs with the US Army’s figure only because we use different methods of calculation.”

Nevertheless, the divergent estimates could actually stem from a different understanding of how the project should progress. The South Korean government wants to avoid the extra financial burden of delays in construction while the USFK, regardless of the expense involved, just wants the job to be done in the best way possible even if that means postponing some of the move. In fact, there have already been numerous delays. Originally, the plan was for the Eighth Army to move to Pyeongtaek by 2008, but glitches in the progress of the project have led to one postponement after another.

Though the era when US forces will be consolidated in Pyeongtaek is approaching, the Combined Forces Command will remain in Yongsan. In the press briefing, Commander Vandal said that the US side and the South Korean Defense Ministry were currently negotiating about leaving a very small contingent in Yongsan. North of the Han River, the 210th Field Artillery Brigade in Dongducheon, the Rodriquez Training Ground in Pocheon, and the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom will also remain.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer in Pyeongtaek

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