President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit South Korea — and U. S. Army Garrison Humphreys — next week as part of his 11-day tour of Asia.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The Metallica hit “Enter Sandman” blasts at a tailgate party before a championship high school football game.
Folks sit in lawn chairs next to cars, coolers of beer and barbecue grills. Most are wearing the home team’s colors — black and gold. Fans drift inside the stadium as it gets dark, and from kickoff they’re banging on cowbells and chiding the referees.
It could be anywhere in the U. S., but this slice of Americana is well within the range of Kim Jong Un’s missiles — just 80 miles away from South Korea’s border with its totalitarian neighbor.
“This is Saturday night under the lights whether you’re in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas,” Col. Fred Snyder says. “We’re just in a different country, that’s all.
U. S. Army Garrison Humphreys, near the city of Pyeongtaek, about 40 miles south of Seoul, is currently home to 26,000 service members, their families and civilians. President Donald Trump is due to visit the camp next week as part of his 11-day tour of Asia.
While Kim made a series of threats this year vowing missile strikes against U. S. targets, including a military base on the U. S. territory of Guam, a recent expansion of Camp Humphreys, estimated to have cost around $11 billion, allows the bulk of U. S. forces in South Korea to live without worrying about Pyongyang’s artillery.
The garrison also serves as a reminder that war between the U. S. and North Korea has yet to end. A truce led to a cease-fire in 1953, but no peace treaty was ever signed.
But the tailgate, the football and the chili-topped concessions are all vivid examples of how an American community is developing in South Korea.
“It’s a great, great life here,” Sgt. 1st Class Shane Schroeder told NBC News as he watched the Blackhawks of Humphreys High School play the Samurai of M. C. Perry High School of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.
