U.S. Military In South Korea Faces Double Blow Of Korean Staff Furloughs And COVID-19

Wednesday marked the first day of a furlough of roughly half the 9,000-strong Korean workforce staffing U.S. military bases in South Korea. The layoffs without pay — the first in the history of the seven-decade U.S.-South Korea alliance — were forced by an impasse between the two countries on paying for the cost of stationing some 28,500 American troops in South Korea.

"This is an unfortunate day for us ... it's unthinkable ... it's heartbreaking," USFK Commander Gen. Robert B. Abrams said in a statement. "The partial furlough of [Korean national] employees is not what we envisioned or hoped what would happen."