Arbor Day diary

By Lee Sun-ho

During a rainy day on April 5, a bus carrying 45 members the Korean-American Association (KAA) spent the day at the United States Army Garrison Humphreys (USAG-H or simply Camp Humphreys), located in Pyeongtaek, 88.5 kilometers south of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. The party, headed by KAA Chairman Park Jin, was composed of some retired military generals, several young women and a few Americans, aged all the way from their 20s to 80s.

It was an instructive excursion for all participants to ponder many ongoing defense tasks at this juncture of precarious armed confrontation between the two Koreas, under the continued North Korea threats of a series of provocative missiles and nuclear bomb tests against the South and America, in the midst of the belated (due to the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang) joint Korea-U.S. military drills codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, being conducted at the southern East Sea coast of the Korean Peninsula, starting April 1 and lasting for a month or more.

A U.S. Army public relations officer gave a briefing on valuable on-site information and the ambitious garrison relocation plans in the multipurpose room of the Collier Community Fitness Center. The camp's name, formerly K-6, was changed to the current title in honor of Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin K. Humphreys who died in a helicopter crash in 1962.

USAG-H has an area of 3,454 acres (six times larger than Yeouido in Seoul) and cost $11 billion. The large U.S. overseas military base houses 500 buildings and other amenities. Upon completing a majority of the 28,500 U.S. troops' relocation to this site south of Seoul, with another regional hub in Daegu, USAG-H will eventually be transformed into the largest U.S. Army garrison in Asia.

In accordance with the Korean and American governments' plan to expand USAG-H to make it the main base for most U.S. troops in Korea, compensation for village residents averaged 600 million won (about $600,000) in 2006.

A ground tour of USAG-H gave us insight into its strategic location. The Anseong River flows from east to west toward the West Sea. It was interesting to confirm the relocation layout of the base would be similar to that of Washington, D.C., reminding us of the flowing of its Potomac River. As a city, the new base USAG-H is not entirely out of range of North Korea threats. It is home to numerous units, and is hard to enumerate them all. Among them include the Eighth U.S. Army, 2nd Infantry Division Forward, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade and 65th Medical Brigade, plus their various subordinate units, and even two elementary schools and a high school.

A buffet luncheon at the Tap Room of the Flight Line Restaurant gave each visitor a taste of the refined military foodstuffs. Shrimps served for visiting KAA members were said to be caught at Anseong River, which passes 4.8 kilometers northwest of the garrison, geographically protecting USAG-H from any northerly enemy assault.

Despite the rainy weather, all participants, Koreans and Americans alike, were encouraged to plant two commemorative trees donated by the KAA inside the USAG-H compound on the occasion of Korea's Arbor Day (since 1949) not only in anticipation of their growing bigger and greener but also expecting continued strengthening of the mutual bond of the 65-year-old longstanding Korean-American military alliance, forged in blood as a bulwark against communist expansion in Asia, in the foreseeable years to come. No doubt, it was a worthy outing to USAG-H on the rainy Arbor Day, quite memorable and informative for all 45 KAA participants, with respect to the ultimate targets and goals for together attaining security nationwide and peace worldwide.

Lee Sun-ho (kexm2@unitel.co.kr) is an ombudsman columnist for The Korea Times.