The first step to return to locals in this southern port city a 134-acre (54-hectare) site with a history of 76 years of foreign occupation begins today with the official closing of a U.S. military installation.

Before the US "occupiers" - there were the Japanese who colonized Korea.

I wonder how all the GIs like being compared to that?

In 1930, the Japanese colonial government requisitioned the site, located in central Busan, for a horse racetrack. From 1941-45, Japanese soldiers used the site as their training and camping ground. After Japan's defeat in World War II, the U.S. army set up a base on the site in 1945. In 1948, the site was used for offices of the U.S. Consulate and United Nations agencies. In 1949, the South Korean government briefly returned the land to farmers.

During the Korean War, the U.S. military began using the site as its primary receiving point for equipment, supplies and goods destined for other U.S. bases in Korea.