"During the Japanese occupation
of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, the Imperial Army made its headquarters
at Yongsan Reservation near the Han River in a southern suburb of Seoul. After
Japan surrendered to end World War ll in 1945, U.S. military units were sent
to the Korean peninsula to accept the surrender of the Japanese forces in
the area south of the 38th parallel. North of that line, Soviet troops took
over from the Japanese. One area the arriving American units moved into was
Yongsan, which means Dragon Mountain. U.S. military occupation forces -- led
by XXIV Corps and the 7th Infantry Division -- provided order, security and
administration of the government pending establishment of a single government
for the entire peninsula...
"Today, Yongsan Garrison occupies
some 630 acres of land just south of Namsan Mountain. The post is divided
into three major areas: South Post, North Post and Camp Coiner, with several
smaller adjacent areas. One hundred and sixty tenant units occupy 1,225 buildings
with a combined floor space of more than 4,750,000 square feet. Access between
units is provided by 20.4 miles of paved roads. Additionally, the post provides
all the support facilities associated with a small city; i.e., a hospital,
a fire station, a police force, commissary and exchange facilities, schools,
theaters, clubs and restaurants, a hotel, sports and recreational facilities,
water and sewage treatment plants and emergency electrical power. USFK has
about 2,500 military personnel assigned to the quad-command headquarters and
support agencies at Yongsan. They are augmented by about 1,000 U.S. civilian
and 6,000 Korean civilian employees. More than a thousand KATUSA soldiers
work at Yongsan, and some 3,500 military and civilian employee family members
reside on South Post, Hannam Village, a contract housing area east of South
Post, or on the civilian economy in neighborhoods adjacent to the compound." |
