Asia Times on US bases in Japan and Korea
Asia Times has two excellent articles if you are interested in what is happeneing to the military alliance between the US and Japan, as well as the rapidly deteriorating relationship between Washington and Seoul.
Key words:
Japan: "Realignment" of US bases in Japan, agreement to move 8,000 US marines from Okinawa to Guam, concerns about the huge costs (Japanese tax payers will fork out $US 6.1 Billion for the Guam move, and another estimated $US 26 Billion for the rest of the "realignment"), Yokosuka Naval Base as a home for a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and what the US calls the "arc of instability" stretching from Northeast Asia to the Middle East via Southeast and South Asia. Number of US troups in Japan: 47,000.
Korea: nuclear weapons, counterfeiting and human rights concerns at the industrial park at Gaesong just across the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, refugee issues, and American command over South Korean military forces in case of war. Number of US troups in South Korea: 29,500.
(South Korea has also recently agreed to pay US$ 68 Billion to move a US garrison in central Seoul and other American bases as part of a plan to consolidate US bases outside of the capital by 2008, according to Yonhap News)
Key words:
Japan: "Realignment" of US bases in Japan, agreement to move 8,000 US marines from Okinawa to Guam, concerns about the huge costs (Japanese tax payers will fork out $US 6.1 Billion for the Guam move, and another estimated $US 26 Billion for the rest of the "realignment"), Yokosuka Naval Base as a home for a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and what the US calls the "arc of instability" stretching from Northeast Asia to the Middle East via Southeast and South Asia. Number of US troups in Japan: 47,000.
Korea: nuclear weapons, counterfeiting and human rights concerns at the industrial park at Gaesong just across the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, refugee issues, and American command over South Korean military forces in case of war. Number of US troups in South Korea: 29,500.
(South Korea has also recently agreed to pay US$ 68 Billion to move a US garrison in central Seoul and other American bases as part of a plan to consolidate US bases outside of the capital by 2008, according to Yonhap News)
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