Korea : Status of United States Forces and Early Signs of Changes

Good Afternoon, everyone.

I'm keeping this OP somewhat short because it's one of two I am producing today. This is the practical knowledge and useful information side of it though. Right now, for most, the Media is the best source of changing events in Korea. No harm there, when no better options exist or are known about. Well, I hope to give everyone a few more ways to independently verify what is happening in the Republic of Korea and North Korea. First,

United States Forces: Korea / Force Protection Levels.

This is a bit of a recap as I've posted some of this before. However, not the central display or some of the additional context. The purpose here is to bring it all into one thread and one place for quick and immediate reference.

This is the current (Check thread date/time) status of U.S. Forces across the Republic of Korea (South Korea).



Force Protection Levels Briefly Explained:

FPCON NORMAL: Applies when a general global threat of possible terrorist activity exists and warrants a routine security posture. At a minimum, access control will be conducted at all military installations and facilities.

FPCON ALPHA: Applies when there is an increased general threat of possible terrorist activity against personnel or facilities, the nature and extent of which are unpredictable. The increased measures during FPCON Alpha must be capable of being maintained indefinitely.

FPCON BRAVO: Applies when an increased or more predictable threat of terrorist activity exists. Sustaining FPCON Bravo measures for a prolonged period may affect operational capability and military-civil relationships with local authorities.

FPCON CHARLIE: Applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating that some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely. Prolonged implementation of FPCON Charlie measures may create hardship and affect the activities of the unit and its personnel.

FPCON DELTA: Applies in the immediate area where a terrorist attack has occurred or when intelligence has been received that terrorist action against a specific location or person is imminent. FPCON Delta is usually declared as a localized condition and is not intended to be sustained for an extended duration.

(Source)

There is more to the levels and specifics but I'm giving the critical highlights and not necessarily every minor detail in manuals which people stationed at these places need to know.

This is what those mean in real terms of who is where for bases among those designations:

Area 1
Casey
Red Cloud
Stanley

Area 2
Yongsan

Area 3
Humphreys

Area 4
Carroll
Camp Mujuk
Walker
Chinhae Naval Base

Area 5
Osan Air Force Base
Daegu Air Base
Gwangju Air Base

Area 6
Kunsan Air Base

(Source for updated versions of Protection Levels)

For those needing more specific information, I've included these:

US State Department Information and Fact Sheet : Republic of Korea
State Dept Travel Warning for the DPRK - March 14, 2013
State Dept. International Travel Warning Index

Warnings and Watches are important because the role of the U.S. Embassy and State Department in other nations is, in part to keep American citizens abroad up to date and informed of changing situations with LOCAL context and detail. These are available from RSS and other real time updating feeds and used that way by Americans overseas quite often. Hence, updates are very likely to appear across the Warning/Watch feeds and quite possible with more detail than global MSM would consider worth reporting to the larger audience.

If reliance on updating feeds and other official lines of data are not enough, there are webcams to glance at, which I always recommend people do in a dynamically changing situation. Just as many average people don't think of it....nor do many who might otherwise think better of such things showing live feed. (If they ALL go down at once? ...I'll leave everyone to draw their own conclusions but I'd not think it would need much more confirmation)

Webcams in Korea
Jongno-gu District, Seoul
Seoul Plaza
Namsan Park, Seoul

Finally, a couple maps to help place where all this is located.

Map of US Camps near Seoul and the DMZ

(Source)

US Presence in South Korea w/ Airbases

(Source)

Overall Map of South Korean Cities and Areas of Interest

(Source)

It's a 'just the facts' one this time and I hope this gives everyone a few more options to check for themselves as this crisis seems to be building and worsening. Hopefully the real and near-real time links don't become critical to have. However, it's always better to have it and not need it ...than need it and not have it, right?

First, BUMP.

So it has come to this, looking for the first signs of the ball coming down the crease!. Well it's just not cricket, but as we say.

About that time ey chaps?.............

Right o!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

that was not that short !
I do not believe that USA is going through a military conflict with North Korea. as I know USA does not involve in such wars and with these situations.
as you are familiar with it's history, do you really think that would happen ?

reply to post by maes2


You are aware of the Korean war right? and that the US currently has 25,000 troops in South Korea for this exact event?

You are? good, I just wanted to check.

Originally posted by maes2
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

that was not that short !
I do not believe that USA is going through a military conflict with North Korea. as I know USA does not involve in such wars and with these situations.
as you are familiar with it's history, do you really think that would happen ?

Regardless of how many troops the us has there including navy etc... please, do tell me about history.

reply to post by maes2

Another member asked me something very similar in a U2U after I posted the above.

I hate to tease, but I'm really not going to mix content between threads and you'll see why when the second one goes up later today or tonight. (This one was only part of one page...It's VERY small by comparison to #2) I have custom graphics to produce and several other things to get together, aside from the pure chore of distilling years of Government and intelligence type reports down to just a few pages to share with meaning for everyone.

What my second one is covering will show the history of the entire situation back to the 90's in detail and further in general context of current events. Not history lessons ..not my intent. What is directly relevant though? It's all in there. Thats in addition to all folks want, need or could have been curious to know about Missile, Rocket, Warhead and general ordinance development/deployment. I found several lines of research yesterday and on into this morning that exceed what I've seen done on any of this yet..and in context, very important to share.

(BTW... You guys are getting it all first, here. It's also going up to my college with full MLA citation sheets to support everything ...so it's fair to note, these long hours I'm putting in aren't 100% just for forum info..though it's my first stop when I'm done. )

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I know its off topic, but if that is the case, be careful of plagiarism software. My uni uses a similar system at is would most likely pull up the threads here. But thank you for the first info.

Originally posted by FraternitasSaturni

Originally posted by maes2
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

that was not that short !
I do not believe that USA is going through a military conflict with North Korea. as I know USA does not involve in such wars and with these situations.
as you are familiar with it's history, do you really think that would happen ?

Regardless of how many troops the us has there including navy etc... please, do tell me about history.

I am not an expert in US history. but I know that if USA had wanted to involve in wars without any strategy and enough carefulness it would have not survived the world wars. and it would have gotten ruined like EU.
so USA has a wise military machine. first weakens it's targets enough then it may attack. like Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan .....
but North Korea is in hand of China. and it has nukes. and it can reach US's mainland.

(BTW... You guys are getting it all first, here. It's also going up to my college with full MLA citation sheets to support everything ...so it's fair to note, these long hours I'm putting in aren't 100% just for forum info..though it's my first stop when I'm done. )

You know that's considered plagiarism if you submit it to a college after posting it in public. Even if your the author.

Originally posted by maes2

Originally posted by FraternitasSaturni

Originally posted by maes2
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

that was not that short !
I do not believe that USA is going through a military conflict with North Korea. as I know USA does not involve in such wars and with these situations.
as you are familiar with it's history, do you really think that would happen ?

Regardless of how many troops the us has there including navy etc... please, do tell me about history.

I am not an expert in US history. but I know that if USA had wanted to involve in wars without any strategy and enough carefulness it would have not survived the world wars. and it would have gotten ruined like EU.
so USA has a wise military machine. first weakens it's targets enough then it may attack. like Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan .....
but North Korea is in hand of China. and it has nukes. and it can reach US's mainland.

Well... Its not really US history, its World History.

As for the rest... its really too complicated to explain when you mention ww1, ww2 and iraq and afghanistan in the same paragraph.

Because none of those cases have anything even similar to what it can happen in North Korea. And no... I'm not talking about nukes... please stop talking about nukes.

reply to post by Hopechest

I appreciate your concern. Rest assured that I never put serious time into things I submit up to my instructors or department heads which haven't been explained and are being awaited before I begin it. This is no exception and those who would be concerned are well aware of what I'm working on and the extent of it.

It's important to note in general, since you bring it up though, it can be a rude if not devastating thing to be wrong about. Students can be kicked clear out and are these days, over a single charge of it. Hence....it's always critical for folks to pre-screen at least the general outline and concept with academic authority before digging in.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Nice work Wrabbit, appreciate the info and maps. Smart to think of the webcams too bro. ~$heopleNation

Great post and good info!
Thanks for all the work put into this . Looking forward to the next post as well.

I think those at the US bases are relying on their commanders information rather than looking up ATS for military standby information

STATE OF WAR DECLARED BY NORTH KOREA ON SOUTH KOREA!

North Korea has entered a “state of war” against its Southern neighbor, stating that from now on any issues between the two countries will be resolved in a "wartime manner."

RT.News

its getting a bit crazy!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I have a legitimit question. Would US premptively strike in case of an on-comming attack or would the US take the first hit before they unleashed the war-machine?

SnF and thanks for a great informative post

Those attached maps really help to understand why the nuke equation is not out.
Seoul is a goner no matter who shoots first.

well, the usa attacked iraq in the name of pre-emptive measures, so i would say thats a yes

Originally posted by THEBEARDEDGOAT
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I have a legitimit question. Would US premptively strike in case of an on-comming attack or would the US take the first hit before they unleashed the war-machine?

Actually.... I was just watching the news and I noticed the parade and there was a giant red banner and I could read "if you attack us you die" or something really close... just a detail I noticed

So... maybe kim just painted a big bullseye there.

reply to post by radiotracker350


I don't think it would serve the US in the same way to pre-emptively attack Korea. Antagonize until they attack and then respond? Yes. That being said, China is very much a part of all of this (holding the backs of NK), so who knows what this administration might do?
Wars often go hand in hand with an economic crisis and wars are often fought as a distraction and to gain more control. hmmmmm.........