The street in front of the U.S. military base of Camp Casey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province is nearly empty now the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division headquarters has relocated south to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.
Last week seven or eight out of every 10 shop fronts on the street were closed even at lunchtime, and only four U.S. soldiers could be spotted during their lunch break. They went back to their camp with hamburgers and coffee.
"I have only a few customers who schedule their appointments now," the owner of a beauty parlor near the camp said. "It's like a ghost town here."
At one time nearly 20,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed here. But most of them were relocated to their new headquarters in Pyeongtaek in 2018 and only 3,000 troops of the 210th Field Artillery Brigade remain.
A city that once relied on U.S. soldiers for its economy, Dongducheon is now struggling to lure tourists, but so far to no avail. The city government designated the street near the camp a special tourist zone in 2018 where "world foods" are sold, but no sooner had they done that than the coronavirus pandemic struck.
"The economy here is in a slump, but nobody can do anything because of various restrictions such as building height limits imposed because of the U.S. military base," a tailor shop owner said. "People are leaving."
But the expected economic boom has not come to Pyeongtaek either. On the afternoon of Sept. 22, 19 of all 70 shops across the street from Camp Humphreys were closed. When the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters was relocated, many small business owners in the city were excited. But the base is so huge as to constitute its own city and well supplied on its own, so personnel and their families rarely venture out of their enclave.
