US transport planes depart Osan Air Base one after another... Are USFK Patriot units being deployed to a war with the Islamic Republic of Iran?

[Financial News] Large US military transport aircraft that had been on standby at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, have recently left South Korea one after another, according to reports. As speculation grows that air-defense assets of United States Forces Korea (USFK) may have been redeployed to the Middle East, the ruling and opposition parties are clashing over a potential national security crisis. USFK recently moved some MIM-104 Patriot units that had been deployed at other US bases in South Korea to Osan Air Base. This has fueled speculation that some of those relocated Patriot batteries were loaded onto US transport planes and have already departed the country.
According to an aviation tracking website on the 8th, the US military’s Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft that landed at Osan Air Base in late last month have taken off in quick succession since the beginning of this month. Two C-5 aircraft, which are larger than the C-17, left South Korea on the 28th of last month and on the 2nd of this month. It is reported that the C-5s that departed South Korea flew for more than 14 hours, raising the possibility that they were headed either to the continental United States or to the Middle East. While C-17 aircraft regularly fly to Osan Air Base to transport US military equipment and personnel, the stopover of C-5 aircraft at Osan is said to be unusual. C-17 aircraft also departed Osan intensively between the 3rd and the 7th. However, it is also being noted that the busy activity at Osan may be related to the ROK-US Combined Military Exercise Freedom Shield (FS), which begins on the 9th, and that this possibility cannot be ruled out.
Even so, the South Korean government has not disclosed a clear position on the exact movements of USFK. There is also speculation that the government has already been briefed by USFK on the situation but is reluctant to make it public for security reasons.
Regarding this issue, Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun appeared before the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea on the 6th and said, "We have been maintaining close communication between the ROK and the US," but added, "It is difficult for me to confirm anything about USFK’s force employment." Cho went on to say, "We are making it clear that even in such circumstances, there will be no problems with the combined ROK-US defense posture."
However, as reports circulate that USFK forces may be deployed to a war with the Islamic Republic of Iran, conservative opposition figures are voicing concerns that this could threaten national security. The People Power Party stressed that systems such as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the MIM-104 Patriot, and the Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) are on the front line of defending against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s nuclear and missile threats. It argued that if even part of these assets were to be taken out of the country, it would inevitably place a significant burden on maintaining South Korea’s air-defense readiness. The party also claimed that it was only belatedly revealed that more than 1,000 precision-guided bomb kits belonging to USFK were shipped back to the continental United States in December last year.
The People Power Party criticized, "This is not simply a matter of troop movements but an issue that could affect the entire security architecture of the Korean Peninsula. Nevertheless, the government’s response has been excessively complacent and ambiguous."
The Democratic Party of Korea, by contrast, pushed back against the People Power Party, urging it not to disparage the government’s diplomatic and security efforts by invoking a narrative of cracks in the ROK-US Alliance. In a written briefing, the Democratic Party said, "The People Power Party is disregarding the complexity of the international situation and is belittling the government’s diplomatic and security efforts with an exaggerated frame of alleged rifts in the ROK-US Alliance," adding, "Turning the government’s efforts to reduce security risks into material for political strife is not the behavior of responsible politics."

rainman@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-soo Reporter