US military in Korea to reach full normalization of family tours by 2020

The U.S. military in South Korea plans to allow half of the 28,500 troops stationed here to serve with their family members for three years by 2020, a key step for their stable services in the South, an official for the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday.

The USFK has gradually expanded the so-called "command-sponsored tour normalization" program since 2008, allowing married service members assigned to South Korea to bring their families here for one or two years at the government's expense.

Currently, some 4,600 families of U.S. troops stationed in Korea benefit from the program and the USFK plans to increase the number of families to 5,500 to 6,000 by 2015, the USFK official said on the condition of anonymity.

"The full normalization of family tours for the USFK service members will be completed by 2020," the official said.

"By then, about half of USFK service members will serve here with their families for three years," the official said.

To achieve the target, the USFK will speed up the process of building more on-base infrastructures such as schools and housing, according to the official.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved in 2008 the plan to expand the command-sponsored tour normalization program in South Korea.

The USFK official estimated that most of the some 10,000 married personnel still serve here with families on one-year "unaccompanied" tours.

The USFK has been stationed in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War, a deterrent against North Korea.