From the Donga:

Some 30 tanks belonging to a mechanized unit of the army suddenly stopped all at once on September 4 while moving toward an antitank artillery firing range in Gangwon Province. It was because some 50 local residents blocked the road with their cars, tractors and cultivators in protest against causing damage with accidental firing and noise.

Officers of the armed unit repeatedly tried to convince the local demonstrators, it was no avail. The troops could finally manage to get into their drill field after much ado with the help of the police.

An army unit even had to go back to their camp in mid-June in the middle of shooting exercise from an artillery drill field in Gyeonggi Province due to a fierce demonstration from local residents.

No this is not a US Army unit being hindered by angry locals; it's the ROK Army:

The air-to-ground firing range of the U.S. Air Force in Korea is recently drawing great public attention due to an ultimatum-like remark from Lieutenant General Gary R. Trexler, commander of US 7th Air Force Air. However, the Korean public is showing no interest at all in their own military’s difficulties in securing training areas.

“Although the government decided to spend 300 billion won ($300 million) out of its budget to solve the problem of the U.S. air force’s firing range, training conditions of our military are becoming worse due to shortage of the budget and opposition from local governments and residents,” an official of the military said. “Some residents take very extreme or dangerous measures during a protest. Some just lie down in front of a tank heading towards a firing range or try to enter a range without permission.”

With the US presence down sizing and possibly leaving the peninsula all together, expect locals with an axe to grind and the North Korean sponsored NGOs to turn their attention next on the ROK Army. The problem the ROK Army has, is that they can't make ultimatums to take their forces and go home like the US Air Force had to do to get a piece of training land because they are already home.

When the Korean government allows groups to show no respect for the US military in Korea by storming camps, attacking soldiers, tresspassing on training lands, delaying training, etc.; it shouldn't be a surprise that groups begin to show the same disrespect for the ROK Army as well.

Read More...