Richard Lawless Resigns

Lawless was responsible for pushing the South Koreans into USFK restructuring and cost-sharing agreements, and unlike years of predecessors, had been tough enough to sit down and negotiate as firmly as his counterparts.  No one pushed Richard Lawless around.  As a result, the Korean government and press were not fans.  See, e.g., this picture the Joongang Ilbo printed.  “Hulk angry!”

Lawless cited personal reasons for his resignation, according to one official. He will leave his post in a few weeks, that official said.

Lawless, a Korea expert, played a major role in negotiations with U.S. allies South Korea and Japan over the realignment of U.S. forces and military bases in those two Asian countries.  [Reuters]

Lawless was personally close to Don Rumsfeld and had good access to him.  With Gates, not so much, and  Lawless might have had reason to believe that his recommendations might not hold up in the new Pentagon bureaucracy.  Witness the example of the South Koreans already walking away from the timeline for Camp Humphreys relocation.   

Let the renegotiations begin.  Lawless’s enduring legacy — the one least likely to be undone — is the reduction of USFK from 37,500 to 29,500 personnel, and one hopes that will dip to 24,000 as agreed.