S. Korea Downplays Reduction Report Commit to Vote Results Officials Say No Discussions Held on Dropping US Military Presence
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MILITARY VIRUS OUTBREAK FACES Outgoing US naval ‘It happened so quick’: Actors from popular series commander: NATO Mother shares story of ‘Psych’ back together needs new strategy teen killed by COVID-19 for another movie Page 3 Page 6 Page 15 MLB returns to empty stands, fake cheers » Back page stripes.com Volume 79, No. 66 ©SS 2020 Monday, July 20, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas President PACIFIC refuses to S. Korea downplays reduction report commit to vote results Officials say no discussions held on dropping US military presence BY KIM GAMEL Associated Press to the White House in March as part of Stars and Stripes ‘ If U.S. troops are drawn an overall review of how to reposition and WASHINGTON — Presi- down without reducing potentially reduce military deployments dent Donald Trump is refusing SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on around the world, the Wall Street Journal to publicly commit to accept- Sunday played down a report that the White North Korean threats fi rst, reported Friday. ing the results of the upcoming House is weighing options to reduce the U.S. the U.S. will look weak. ’ It cited unnamed officials who declined White House election, recalling military presence on the peninsula, saying to provide details and said no decision has Duyeon Kim a similar threat he made weeks the allies have not discussed the issue. been made. before the 2016 vote, as he scoffs The Pentagon provided proposals for cut- Seoul-based senior adviser, at polls showing him lagging be- ting the number of troops in South Korea International Crisis Group SEE REDUCTION ON PAGE 3 hind Democrat Joe Biden. Trump says it’s too early to make such an U.S. soldiers use suppressive fire during an exercise at ironclad guarantee. Rodriguez Live Fire Complex, South Korea, in 2018. “I have to see. Look ... I have to ELIZABETH BROWN/U.S. Army see,” Trump told moderator Chris Wallace during a wide-ranging interview on “Fox News Trump’s Sunday.” “No, hands-off I’m not going to just say yes. pandemic I’m not going approach to say no, and I didn’t last puts states time either.” in control, The Biden campaign re- Page 8 sponded: “The American peo- ple will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escort- ing trespassers out of the White House.” Trump also hammered the Pentagon brass for favoring re- naming bases that honor Confed- erate military leaders — a drive for change spurred by the nation- al debate about race after George Floyd’s death. “I don’t care what the military says,” the command- er in chief said. The president described the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, as a “a little bit of an alarmist” about the coronavirus pandemic, and Trump stuck to what he had said back in February — that the virus is “going to disappear.” On Fox, he said, “I’ll be right eventually.” The United States tops the global death toll list with over 140,000 and confirmed infections, with 3.7 million. It is remarkable that a sitting president would express less SEE RESULTS ON PAGE 7 PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Monday, July 20, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES US lawsuits say Kuwait officials stole over $100M Military rates Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9385 Euro costs (July 20) .............................. $1.11 Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 31.69 Dollar buys (July 20) .........................€0.8543 Turkey (Lira) .........................................6.8619 British pound (July 20) ......................... $1.22 Associated Press (Military exchange rates are those the real estate market for $1 bil- of the transfers were falsely de- Japanese yen (July 20).......................104.00 available to customers at military banking lion, a private jet, a yacht, sports scribed as for Kuwaiti military South Korean won (July 20) ..........1,176.00 Commercial rates facilities in the country of issuance LOS ANGELES — The U.S. for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the cars and memorabilia of boxer purposes, U.S. prosecutors said. Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3771 Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For Justice Department has filed a se- British pound .....................................$1.2566 Manny Pacquiao. Court papers identified the nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3577 ries of lawsuits seeking to recover purchasing British pounds in Germany), According to the complaints an- felon as Victorino Noval, 58, a China (Yuan) ........................................6.9922 check with your local military banking at least $104 million in funds al- Denmark (Krone) ................................6.5108 nounced Friday, three unnamed Los Angeles man who was con- facility. Commercial rates are interbank legedly embezzled by former of- Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.9551 individuals who were high-level victed in 2003 of mail fraud and Euro ........................................ $1.1436/0.8744 rates provided for reference when buying ficials in Kuwait’s Ministry of officials in Kuwait’s Ministry of tax evasion in connection with a Hong Kong (Dollar) .............................7.7538 currency. All figures are foreign currencies to one dollar, except for the British pound, Defense. Defense opened six unauthorized multimillion-dollar loan fraud Hungary (Forint) .................................308.93 Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.4386 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, The seven lawsuits filed in U.S. bank accounts between 2009 and committed against the U.S. De- Japan (Yen) ...........................................106.96 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) District Court in Los Angeles 2016 and used the accounts to fa- partment of Housing and Urban Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3076 INTEREST RATES claim the laundered funds were cilitate the transfer of over $100 Development. Noval was sen- Norway (Krone) ...................................9.2768 Philippines (Peso).................................49.36 Prime rate ................................................3.25 used to purchase real estate, in- million in Kuwaiti public funds tenced to federal prison and was Poland (Zloty) ..........................................3.92 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 cluding a hilltop property in Bev- to California bank accounts con- ordered to pay more than $25 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ...........................3.7503 Federal funds market rate ................... 0.03 Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3898 3-month bill ............................................. 0.11 erly Hills that was once listed on nected to a convicted felon. Some million in restitution. South Korea (Won) ......................... 1,204.06 30-year bond ...........................................1.33 WEATHER OUTLOOK MONDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST MONDAY IN EUROPE TUESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 79/64 Kabul 93/86 Seoul 86/71 Baghdad 119/86 Kandahar 106/78 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 84/69 86/70 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 68/47 72/50 80/72 Iwakuni 88/77 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 108/91 Brussels 79/55 Guam 118/95 71/46 Ramstein 86/77 88/81 Lajes, 79/52 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 115/89 105/92 75/66 83/59 85/59 Aviano/ Vicenza 83/66 Naples 90/76 Okinawa Morón 93/82 104/74 Sigonella Rota 86/68 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 102/88 96/76 90/70 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 14 Classified .................. 13 Comics ...................... 18 Crossword ................. 18 Faces ........................ 15 Opinion .................16-17 Sports .................. 19-24 Monday, July 20, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 MILITARY Foggo calls for new strategy in Europe BY JOHN VANDIVER For Foggo, commanding the Stars and Stripes Navy in Europe capped a 39- year career, much of it focused NATO needs a new maritime on countering Russia. As a young strategy to deal with the resur- submariner in the 1980s, Foggo gence of Russia’s submarine patrolled the Arctic at the height force and China’s emergence as of the Cold War. a military factor in Europe, the His time in Europe also includ- outgoing U.S. naval commander ed command of the Navy’s three- on the Continent said. star 6th Adm. James Foggo, who re- Fleet head- linquished command Friday of quarters in U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, Naples from said the security situation has 2014- 16, a changed dramatically in the nine time when years since allies last crafted a a post-Cold formal sea strategy. War period The current plan “misses the of calm was return, or the resurgence of the upturned Russian submarine force … it by a more misses the rise of China as a assertive great power (and) it misses com- Burke Russia. pletely the illegal annexation of Moscow’s Ukraine,” Foggo said in a phone 2014 intervention in Ukraine interview ahead of Friday’s and ramped up naval maneuvers change of command ceremony at stretching from the Arctic to the Navy headquarters in Naples. Mediterranean are the chief rea- “That’s not a criticism of NATO. sons why an updated strategy is That’s just something that, you needed, Foggo said. So is China, know, I’m making my colleagues which now describes itself as a KAYSEE LOHMANN/U.S. Navy aware of,” he said. “I think we near-Arctic state despite being Adm. James G. Foggo III shakes hands with Capt. Daniel Prochazka, the executive officer of the need to do a refresh.” far from it. aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, on the flight deck in the Mediterranean Sea in December. Foggo Foggo, who will retire later China is a “new player in relinquished command Friday of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa. this summer, is being replaced town,” Foggo said. For Beijing, by Adm. Robert P. Burke, who the Arctic is an aspect of its “Belt garded as a possible choke point time of political upheaval and NATO.” also will lead NATO’s Allied Joint and Road” initiative, which aims in the event of conflict between questions about its durability, The son of a Canadian military Forces Command.