Relocation Plan of U.S. Military Bases to Be Announced Within Weeks

A source from U.S. Department of Defense revealed on May 27 that U.S. will announce the results of research concerning the U.S. Global Defense Posture Review (GPR) within weeks.

He said, “Korea is the most sensitive issue in the GPR, and we are focusing on securing military force powerful enough to cope with all sorts of expected threats in this area including the Korean Peninsular, taking long-term view.”

He explained that the key point of GPR is maximization of flexibility and that they had studied the type of military ability which would be necessary in case of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula, taking the threat of North Korea to national security and the geographical conditions between Korea and the U.S. into account.

In regard to the classification of U.S. military bases stationed in foreign countries into four types, Power Projection Hubs (PPH), Main Operating Bases (MOB), Forward Operating Sites (FOS), and Cooperative Security Locations (CSL), the spokesperson said, “When we announce the results of research, we will exemplify the relocation plan of some of U.S. military bases stationed in foreign countries,” adding, “The four classes do not represent degrees of importance or worth.”

He added that the classification is not applied to a country but that each base in a country and Korea itself is not classified into one of four types: it can belong to all or none of the four.

A source from the Korean Embassy at Washington said, “The U.S. has continued research since President George W. Bush formally declared GPR on November 25 last year, and it will revise and complement it for years to come.”

Soon-Taek Kwon maypole@donga.com