By Oh Young-jin
How vulnerable is the new U.S. garrison to North Korea’s attack?
Experts say that it could be vulnerable to a concentrated attack from the North’s missiles and long-range rockets.
The new U.S. garrison in Pyeongtaek will accommodate most of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
They include the Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) headquarters and its mainstay, the 2nd Infantry Division, airfields and their command structure. Thrown in together are dependents and their housing. It can compare to one small American town transplanted onto Pyeongtaek.
Naturally, the question is whether putting all the eggs together in the same basket may invite North Korea to concentrate its attacks on it and how vulnerable it would be to such attacks.
In an opening ceremony for the EUSA headquarters on the premises Tuesday, its commander, Lt. General Thomas Vandal said that it could be protected by the low-tier Patriots missile interceptors.
Experts point out that it all comes down to a matter of chance.
“It is inevitable that some missiles will not be intercepted and land inside the base,” said Yang Uk, an expert at the private think tank, the Korea Defense and Security Forum.
He said that the North is estimated to have about 200 missile launch platforms.
“If one third of them are used for first strikes, the Patriots would more or less handle the incoming missiles but still they won’t make a perfect defense and some missiles are bound to pass through.” If more missiles are fired at Pyeongtaek, the more incoming would penetrate and cause damage.” Right now, no missile interceptors are assigned to protect the new Pyeongtaek base.
Posing a greater threat are the North’s new rockets that can hit the base.
“They can’t be intercepted by Patriots,” he said. “It is easier to concentrate barrages on the base and the result could be devastating.”
In 2003, President Roh Moo-Hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush agreed to consolidate 173 U.S. bases scattered across Korea into one big one for EUSA, 2ID and USFK headquarters. It is assumed that they picked the location because Camp Humphreys was already located there and its location south of Seoul was safe, away from the striking range of tens of thousands of North Korean artillery pieces that target Seoul and the metropolitan area. For Korea, it was related to national pride ― pushing foreign military installations out of sight. For the U.S., it was an ideal method of cost-cutting efficiency.
In the Chinese classic called “Romance of Three Kingdoms,” Cao Cao’s big armada were destroyed in the Battle of the Red Cliffs as he was deceived into linking up all his boats, which went up in smoke in a fire set by fifth columnists. Not seeing this flaw in the Pyeongtaek base is nothing less than a crime for any military officer.