Not only is the Korean government committed to delaying the Camp Humphreys relocation as much as possible now they want to keep it as expensive as possible:
A government review committee on Wednesday dismissed a proposal by a Defense Ministry office to implement what it claimed to be cost-saving changes in the construction of a new U.S. military base to reposition frontline troops here, ruling to stick with the original plan instead.
The change of plans, proposed by the ministry’s U.S. Base Relocation Office, could have helped save up to 100 billion won (about US$100 million) in a currently evaluated 550-billion won construction project to raise the ground level at the site of the new U.S. base in Pyeongtaek, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul. [Yonhap]
So why would Seoul want to keep the relocation as expensive as possible you may wonder? It can be deduced that it is because they are trying to keep expenses high so what little cost sharing money USFK does receive from the Korean government, it will not be enough to pay for the relocation. Remember the Korean government is now even trying to reduce the actual cost sharing money to USFK by offering USFK goods instead of cash which would further reduce USFK’s abilities to pay for the relocation.
Popularity: 2%
1:56 pm on July 24th, 2008 1
Time out…
I don’t know the details, but is it possible that the “reduction of costs” ploy deals with an old ROK plan to NOT fill in areas at Camp Humphreys because they would have to chop down mountains for fill and transportation costs would run into the millions. This was part of the demand of the USFK to have flood control improvements. The Ministry of Defense was NOT convinced at the time and for a while took a position to simply not make a decision on the item.
Sure it would speed up construction and save a lot of money, but I’m sure the USFK would not be happy especially if their training area was flooded during the rainy season turning it into a large lake fishing area.
All I’m saying is that we need more details before we can condemn this as good or bad.
4:47 pm on July 24th, 2008 2
And what’s wrong with a large lake fishing area? I’m all for it
5:40 pm on July 24th, 2008 3
8:38 am on July 25th, 2008 4
That’s $100 million of money to be pocketed in bribes!!
What politician in their right mind would cut that “pork” out of this plan?
3:42 pm on July 25th, 2008 5
I forgot to mention to try not to be too hard on the ROK Ministry of Defense. They have fallen on hard times and have had to make some severe cutbacks in training — use of simulators over actual flight time; simulators for tank training instead of actual range time; etc. As a result, they are looking for any way to save moneys — and the Pyeongtaek project is just one of many.
Don’t you GIs reading this dare say, “So what?” You all are going through the same things too with budget cutbacks. Have some compassion in your hearts before you try to stab the ROK guys.