PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Officials at Camp Humphreys will correct an official Web site that incorrectly lists weekend curfew hours within the Army’s Area III, an Army spokeswoman said Thursday.
Weekend curfew hours actually begin at 1 a.m., said Susan Barkley, chief spokeswoman for the Area III Support Activity. The unit is headquartered at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.
Area III Support Activity’s Web site — http://area3.korea.army.mil/ — listed curfew hours as beginning at midnight and ending at 5 a.m. seven days a week.
“The Web site is incorrect,” Barkley said. “And we obviously need to update that. … But our curfew is exactly the same as the other areas” in which the U.S. military has troops in South Korea.
The curfew is midnight until 5 a.m. Sunday night through Friday morning and 1 to 5 a.m. on Saturday, Sunday and U.S.-observed holidays, according to U.S. Forces Korea Policy Letter #7. Observed holidays include U.S. national holidays, USFK training holidays and U.S.-observed South Korean holidays.
During curfew, USFK personnel must be either on a military installation, in a private residence or in their place of lodging for the evening, which may include a hotel room off the installation.
Contention over the Area III weekend curfew flared this week as local South Korean merchants demanded the resignation of Army Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr., Area III Support Activity commander at Camp Humphreys.
A merchants group from the Anjung-ri bar district outside the post accused Taliento of being overzealous in enforcing a USFK policy that allows military commanders to declare a bar or club off-limits when there’s “credible evidence” it’s selling alcohol to underage U.S. servicemembers.
They also claimed that Taliento — in contrast to other U.S. commanders in South Korea — had set the Area III weekend curfew one hour early, at midnight.
Taliento last week told Stars and Stripes the merchants were incorrect and that weekend curfew begins at 1 a.m., not midnight. And he said he is required to uphold USFK policies and lacks the authority to override them.
A Stripes reader noticed that Taliento’s published statement on the curfew hours contradicted the hours listed on the Web site.
On Monday, the merchants closed their bars and were holding daily protest rallies to dramatize their opposition to Taliento. They’ve said the bars would remain closed until further notice.
They also faxed a letter to USFK commander Gen. B.B. Bell urging Taliento’s removal as Area III commander.
USFK officials said Wednesday the letter had been received. They had no comment on it as of Thursday evening.
