Here is a photo and caption of movement on the Pyongtaek base expansion front.

You might have caught the talk the last couple of months where the Korean government announced the base expansion would be delayed several years beyond what was agreed, and the USFK commander came out shooting back, as if he was not informed the Korean government was going to say this in public, by adding that he would "fight" delays, and his boldness caused a stir in the Korean press and government...

yada yada yada...

I have learned over the years watching Korea to let mere words pass. I try to focus on concrete movement.

The image and message the last two weeks is concrete movement.

The citizens agreed to move and the government is preparing for the major construction.

And thus, a window of opportunity has opened again for the anti-US/USFK groups.

I am not going to make any predictions, because I thought 2006 was going to be a very eventfull year on the anti-US front in Pyongtaek and beyond, and almost nothing like I expected happened. It was very suprising to me.

But, again, now that construction trucks will start to roll something in the near future, the anti-US groups could make moves to hamper construction greatly.

I've always said it should not take much effort, money, or manpower to be a big thorn in the actual construction effort.

It doesn't really matter if the villagers and squatters are still on the land or not.

We will see what happens, but I haven't really seen anything that indicates the anti-US groups are gearing up for a prolonged offensive.

There were signs of that in 2006, but the offensive never materialized really.

But, these days, I haven't been checking the anti-US sites much at all, because I have been monumentally busy student-teaching here in the US and doing grad school courses at night.