It’s Texas 60 miles from North Korea: the US military’s largest overseas base

Camp Humphreys, South Korea CNN —

Rock stars get to see more of the world than most of us, but when members of the quintessential 2000s’ rock band Hoobastank jetted into the US military base of Camp Humphreys in South Korea, they were struck by the familiarity.

“When we came in through the gates, I was like ‘dude, this is, this looks like Texas somewhere,’” lead singer Doug Robb told CNN before the band headlined the Fourth of July celebrations for service members and their families.

“It’s like we’re in a different part of the world, and then, all of a sudden, we’re back in the States,” Robb said of the sprawling US base, home to 41,000 people, south of the capital Seoul.

Humphreys’ main street on the Fourth wouldn’t seem out of place in hundreds of small American cities. Kids splashed in a sidewalk fountain. Mobile food trucks served up barbecue, American and Korean. Schools and scouts held fundraisers. Military spouses sold sweets from their home-based businesses.

The difference here is that these scenes played out under the protection of Patriot missile defense launchers, just 60 miles from North Korea, and just a few minutes’ flight time for the arsenal of rocket launchers and artillery guns that point south and are commanded by Kim Jong Un, one of the world’s most isolated autocrats.

Camp Humphreys’ importance has only grown as North Korea has expanded its military threat in recent years, building a nuclear missile program in defiance of United Nations resolutions banning it, and releasing a steady stream of bellicose rhetoric against South Korea and its American ally.

North and South Korea agreed an armistice deal to end fighting in 1953, but no peace treaty was ever signed, so they’re still technically at