Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

U.S. mechanized battalion to be rotated into North-Gyeonggi, Korea

A U.S. army mechanized battalion armed with tanks and armored vehicles is going to be rotated into the North-Gyeonggi region of Korea.

 

On January 7, MND confirmed the news reports that a mechanized battalion would be added to the U.S. forces in Korea, responding to reporters who requested information about some media reports, but MND did not mention the time, saying it was early to tell the exact time of arrangement. 

 

   “The U.S. Department of Defense has been regularly promoting and reviewing the rotation of U.S. forces’ capability around the world to meet the requirements of current combat commanders. The rotation of the mechanized battalion, more precisely, the combined arms battalion, into Korea is one of those plans,” said an MND official. 

 

To the question of whether the scale of U.S. forces, whose current level is 28,500, would be increased in the long term in accordance with this rotation, the MND official answered that it would be increased as of today but as to whether the entire number of the U.S. forces would increase permanently, nothing at all was decided.

 

 Meanwhile, MND made it clear that this action had nothing to do with the current situation of North Korea or matters of U.S. forces staying north of the Han River. A MND official said, “This rotation-related agreement has been discussed for some time. It is irrelevant to the current situation of North Korea such as the execution of Jang Seong-taek.

 

” An MND official explicitly denied the media report that some U.S. forces would remain north of the Han River, saying that there was no agreement between Korea and the U.S., besides, the U.S. forces relocation project, such as YRP (Yongsan base Relocation Project) or LPP (land partnership plan), would be promoted normally as a plan.

 

Prior to this, ROK-U.S. combined forces commander Curtis Scaparrotti said, “We believe that the U.S. forces staying is necessary up to a certain point of operational aspect north of the Han River that we call ‘Section 1.’" Meanwhile, an MND official explained that there was no official agreement between Korea and the U.S. related to that, saying commander Curtis’s mention was limited to the view of the military operation.

 

By Byung-Lyuen, Kim < lyuen@dema.mil.kr >
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