South Korean police block protesters on a road leading to Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Thursday, July 27, 2023. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — Thousands of demonstrators converged outside Camp Humphreys on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, prompting a response by hundreds of police officers and snarling traffic on the U.S. Army installation.
Activists — some opposed to the U.S. presence on the Korean Peninsula, some in full-throated support — arrived in dozens of buses throughout Thursday, some coming from as far as Busan, about 150 miles south of the U.S. base in Pyeongtaek.
The atmosphere outside the gates resembled a music festival: Whistles, chants and techno music blared from speakers mounted on parked cars as delivery trucks hauled digital billboards scrolling “Support U.S. alliance” slowly past the crowd.
Around 8,000 people gathered near at least two of the base’s six gates, the largest assembly in the area since South Korea ended COVID-19 social distancing restrictions in April 2022, according to an email Friday from Erick Crudup, operations officer for the base Directorate of Emergency Services.
Speakers mounted on a truck play political speeches and music during a demonstration near Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Thurday, July 27, 2023 (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
Activists on both sides of the road leading to Yoon Gate — the main entrance to Humphreys — chanted “USA” while waving American and South Korean flags. U.S. service members driving past the scene honked their horns and waved in support.
No arrests were made and no property damage was reported as of 6 p.m. Thursday, a Korean National Police squad leader told Stars and Stripes at the site.
About 100 demonstrators from the Pyeongtaek Human-chain Roundtable Group drove with signs and banners around the base perimeter calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea. Wearing pink ribbons to symbolize non-violent protests and the feminist movement, they parked next to a barbed wire fence and demanded that police allow them onto the base.
“Seventy years of division is long enough,” said group organizer Koeun Kwang-soon.
The presence of U.S. troops hinders peace negotiations with North Korea, she said.
“If war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, Washington has been telling Seoul that it would defend South Korea by using its [military] power and by even working with Japan,” Koeun said. “This is not a solution but a confrontation.”
A vehicle driven by a protester who opposes the U.S. military presence in South Korea is blocked by police in front of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Thursday, July 27, 2023. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
A demonstrator who supports the U.S. military presence in South Korea was the national flag at cars exiting the main gate at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Thursday, July 27, 2023. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
‘Allies by blood’
Hundreds of Korean National Police officers, some dispatched from Seoul, managed the crowds. When demonstrators and onlookers spilled from the narrow sidewalk outside Yoon Gate and into the road, police erected fences that split the four lanes of traffic into two.
Joung Suzie, a Christian pastor who drove from Yeosu city, roughly 160 miles south of Pyeongtaek, said she attended the rally to show support for the U.S. military.
Joung said she appreciates the U.S. role during the 1950-53 Korean War and believes the two countries are “allies by blood.”
However, the time may have come for U.S. forces to leave South Korea in the interest of reunifying the Korean Peninsula, she said.
Inside the base, a half-mile-long stream of cars idled along the road leading to Yoon Gate, where U.S. military police directed traffic to other, quieter exits.
Demonstrators who support the U.S. military presence in South Korea cheer as cars exit the main gate at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Thursday, July 27, 2023. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
Army spouse Alma Fazaldin, who lives five minutes from Humphreys, said was driving to the base gym for her evening workout when she was rerouted because of the crowds near the gate.
“I was going through one of the gates, but it was closed because there was a lot of traffic in the area,” she said outside the base commissary Thursday. “I had to turn around a little bit; I came through another gate, but there were also people there.”
Ha Chan Geun, who said he belongs to a South Korean veterans group composed of retired special forces troops, attended the rally wearing an olive-colored jumpsuit adorned with military patches.
Standing on the sidelines and watching the crowd through his sunglasses, Geun said he came, if needed, to help police prevent protestors from entering the base.
The activists dispersed by 7 p.m., after cleaning up their banners and trash.
South Korean police form a line to keep protesters from entering the main gate at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Thursday, July 27, 2023. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
Public support
Recent public opinion polls suggest most South Koreans view the alliance favorably.
The Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification between April and May found 62% of 1,001 respondents trust the U.S. policy on the Korean Peninsula.
The Federation of Korean Industries in April 2022 found 87% of 1,000 respondents believed South Korea should develop closer economic, foreign and security policy ties with the United States.
South Korea marked the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice with military ceremonies throughout the week.
President Yoon Suk Yeol in a televised speech at a ceremony Thursday in Busan thanked Korean War veterans in the U.S. for defending “the freedom of a country they did not know.”
South Korea “will stand in solidarity with liberal democracies and strive for freedom, peace and prosperity not only in the Indo-Pacific region but around the word as well, with the [U.S.-South Korea] alliance as its core foundation,” Yoon said. “[South Korea] will forever remember its great heroes.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
