U.S. Considering Moving First Corps Headquarters to Japan

Kyodo News reported on March 2 that the U.S. administration has set down a measure that will move its corps headquarters out of the mainland to Japan and restructure the U.S. Army’s command in Korea and Japan, unifying its headquarters.

In accordance with its the worldwide reassignment agenda, the U.S. government has informed Japan of the measure to move the First Army corps headquarters which is currently stationed at Port Lewis in Washington State to the Jama military base in Kanakawa County, Japan last November at the working-group security talks held in Hawaii.

The First Army corps is in charge of Asia-Pacific region and consists of 40,000 military personnel including an infantry division. It is commanded by a lieutenant general.

Under the US-Japan security agreement, “For the sake of jointly securing the safety of Japanese territory and the peace and safety of the Far-East, Japan can offer the land necessary for the military base.” It has been known that Japan has passed on its negative standpoint as to the military force, which covers the entire Asia-Pacific region.

In addition, if the headquarters is moved to Japan, the U.S. military command in Korea will be unified with the command in Japan in order to be absorbed into the headquarters of First Army corps, reported this newspaper.

Despite disapproval from Japan, the U.S. continues to negotiate with working groups, that considering the reorganization of the First Army corps as critical, reported Tokyo Shimbun.

Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com