USAG HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Far East District (USACE FED) and Ministry of National Defense – Defense Installations Agency (MND-DIA) hosted their second joint symposium from Sept. 4-5, 2025, at the MND-DIA headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.
“The symposium aimed to foster a better understanding of the program execution processes and regulations for both FED and MND-DIA,” said Mr. Ji, Seung Hyun, Deputy Chief of Construction, USACE FED.
The purpose of the event is a continuation of the first joint symposium held at FED’s headquarters from July 2-3, 2025. The follow up sessions covered additional briefings and created an expanded discussion for knowledge sharing on essential aspects of engineering and construction from an American and Korean perspective.
“How can we work together to better deliver quality projects?,” said Jamie Hagio, Chief of Construction, USACE FED.
Topics expanded on local material usage and related law and policies; construction quality control and quality assurance; U.S. safety accident reporting procedures and Korean safety management regulations and procedures; construction schedule review, time impact analysis (TIA) procedures and use of building information modeling (BIM) for projects.
The candor nature of the symposium supported the main intent—enhanced communication—to understanding the similarities and differences; and how that influences joint projects.
“Where do we start? Communication,” said Soon No, Chief of Quality Assurance Branch (QAB), Construction Division.
Mr. Woo, Sangwook, Project Manager, USFK Program Division, MND-DIA, expressed the challenge of “cultural growth” to change MND-DIA’s opinions and thoughts on quality control. Since FED is an U.S. government agency, American standards must be followed and enforced.
Insightful questions were asked and answered to gain a deeper understanding in the military construction process.
“Where are we most challenged in this program?” said David Chai, Deputy District Engineer and Chief of Programs and Project Management Division (DPM), to FED personnel. “Is it language, policies, manpower?” This question was also asked of MND-DIA to respond as well.
Representatives from FED and MND-DIA stressed being more emersed in various phases of quality assurance inspections and safety.
During the presentation on quality assurance by No, Chief of Quality Assurance Branch (QAB) and John Park, Chief of Mechanical, Electrical and Fire Section, QAB, Construction Division, they described the three-phase inspection: 1) preparatory, 2) initial and 3) follow-up. This is the core of USACE’s Quality Assurance process. Hagio suggested potential enhancements include encouraging MND-DIA personnel to follow FED QAB subject matter experts (SMEs) during inspections to understand the differences between U.S. and Korean standards. For instances, the process of placing and inspecting concrete differs between South Korea and the U.S.
“[We need to] come together as one team because it is one team,” said Col. Jeremiah J. Willis, commander, USACE FED, “We need to have [MND-DIA] in the room during these preparatory phases” in which representatives from MND-DIA agreed to “reduce issues through communication.”
Both agencies safety offices provided informative breakdowns of the of their safety procedures and actions. For FED, they clearly define the differences between accidents/mishaps and near-misses, which was a major topic given construction sites overarchingly are prone to accidents. Andrew Hine, acting Safety Office Chief, FED, emphasized reporting near-misses are seen as positive because they indicate potential accident and safety weaknesses for current and future project. It helps them create better mitigation plans to or decrease the probability of accidents and near-misses. They also presented positive photos of sites implementing safety such as contractors providing earplugs to those working and visiting the site.
During the entirety of the symposium, communication was the utmost aspect in enhancing the fortification of FED’s and MND-DIA’s relationship.
FED and MND-DIA engaged in an open dialogue to have a robust awareness of each other’s roles, responsibilities, capabilities, construct suspensions thresholds and timelines along with constraints.
“It was a very meaningful time. I became more closer with FED with the conversations [we had]. I hope that we continue these workshops in order to understand each other more completely,” said Col. Cho, In Pyo, United States Forces Korea (USFK) Program Division Chief, MND-DIA.
“I think the symposium improved the program tenfold and it will be better moving forward—getting more technical and seeing our similarities and differences, both working together for success,” Willis said.
The ROKFC program is funded through the Special Measures Agreement between the U.S. Department of State and the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs. United States Forces Korea (USFK) determines projects to be funded by the program which FED executes as the DCA in partnership with MND-DIA.
Visit https://www.pof.usace.army.mil/ for more information on USACE – FED.
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