General Brunson Believes USFK Troops Should Be Used for More than Just Defending Against North Korea
The USFK commander makes it sound like that US war planners should consider using US troops on the peninsula for defending against more than just North Korea:
The top U.S. commander in South Korea likened the peninsula’s strategic location in the Indo-Pacific to a “fixed aircraft carrier floating in the water” near China, during a keynote address Thursday in Hawaii. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, who leads U.S. Forces Korea, delivered remarks at the Army’s Land Forces Pacific Symposium in Waikiki Beach, urging attendees to rethink the significance of land-based power in the region.
“What immediately stood out to me as I looked at the map was the position of the Korean Peninsula and the fact that it’s on the Asian continent, has a sizable U.S. force posture, is inside the first island chain, and is the closest allied presence to Beijing,” he said. Brunson added: “At night, from a satellite image, [South Korea] looks like an island or like a fixed aircraft carrier floating in the water between Japan and mainland China.” He emphasized the need for military strategists to go beyond conventional north-oriented map views and consider regional geography when assessing strategic positioning.
You can read more at the link, but this sounds a lot like the strategic flexibility strategy that South Korea has been concerned about.
If South Korea wants USFK to only defend against threats on the peninsula, they’re thinking like the pre-WW2 French who built the Maginot Line.