YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — The agency that manages all Army installations in South Korea soon will have a new commander, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
The Army chief of staff has nominated Col. Harvey T. Landwermeyer, currently deputy director of the Officer Personnel Management Directorate, Army Human Resources Command, to become the new director of the Installation Management Agency — Korea Region Office, or KORO.
In the same announcement, the Pentagon said current KORO director Brig. Gen. John A. Macdonald has been assigned as commander of the Army Community and Family Support Center in Alexandria, Va. The nomination of Landwermeyer, who would become a one-star general, is subject to Senate confirmation. No date has been set for when he would assume command if confirmed, officials said.
KORO, one of seven regional IMA offices created by the Army in 2002, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of some three dozen U.S. installations in South Korea. Among the 95 services provided by the agency are base security, quality-of-life programs, infrastructure and employment.
The IMA was formed, military officials said at the time, to ensure money earmarked for installation use was not switched to operational use.
But earlier this year, IMA officials acknowledged a $2.1 billion budget shortfall, mostly due to unanticipated needs created by the “global war on terror.” The budget shortfall forced IMA leaders in Washington to impose worldwide hiring freezes, terminate temporary employees, weaken environmental standards and delay some force protection initiatives, according to documents issued by the IMA central command to its regional offices.
Garrison commands in South Korea have asked for and received exemptions to some of the cutbacks, officials have said.
KORO also is in the midst of a major restructuring of U.S. bases in South Korea. Under agreements reached in the past year with the South Korean government, at least nine bases will be closed by the end of the year.
Those bases are camps Bonifas, Liberty Bell, Edwards, Garry Owen, Giant, Greaves, Howze, Stanton and Falling Water.
Additionally, the U.S. command base at Yongsan Garrison is set to be shuttered and handed over to South Korea by the end of 2008, with most of the force in Seoul shifted south to an expanded hub in the Pyongtaek area.
