Category: US-ROK Alliance

From Yonhap:

President Moon Jae-in on Friday expressed gratitude to the Combined Forces Command (CFC) between South Korea and the United States for helping Seoul tackle the coronavirus pandemic as he congratulated the command on its 42nd founding anniversary.

In a message sent to a ceremony held in Yongsan to mark the anniversary, Moon said that South Korea’s anti-COVID-19 measures could become a role model for the world as all members of the command endured inconveniences to prevent the spread of the virus. 

“Going forward, let’s overcome all obstacles together as we do right now,” Moon said in the message.

The binational entity was established on Nov. 7, 1978, as the warfighting headquarters with a mission of deterring outside aggression against South Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It makes me wonder how much Huawei technology will end up in Combined Forces Command if South Korea keeps buying tech from them:

A senior U.S. diplomat said Washington would respect the Korean government’s reluctance to force local companies to stop buying network equipment from Huawei.  

And yet Keith Krach, under secretary of state for economic growth, energy security and the environment, continued to cast doubts on the trustworthiness of the Chinese tech company during a press briefing on Friday.  

“The way we would look at it is that we respect the country of [South] Korea, and we respect their decisions. At the end of the day, I think it’s all about trust,” Krach was quoted as saying by Voice of America.  

The U.S. government has asked the Korean government to join its global effort to elbow out Huawei, taking an aim at LG U+, in particular. Huawei has supplied LG U+ with equipment for 4G LTE and 5G networks. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I have always said that the Korean police can remove these protesters any time they wanted, the ROK government just chooses not to until recently:

The defense ministry on Thursday brought non-weapon materials and construction equipment onto a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in central South Korea after riot police dispersed protesters opposed to the deployment of the American anti-missile defense system.

The shipments transported into the base for the THAAD system in the central town of Seongju, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, included daily necessities for base troops and construction equipment and materials to be used to improve their living facilities, according to the ministry.

Their transportation was completed after riot police dispersed about 70 Seongju residents and civic activists, who had occupied a small bridge leading to the THAAD base from early morning to block any vehicles from approaching the military facility.

The protesters tied themselves up into ladder-like structures installed on the bridge to resist the police and shouted various slogans against THAAD.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As long as the Moon administration is in power I don’t see South Korea getting tough on Chinese aggression in the region:

The United States is raising pressure on Korea to participate in its anti-China alliance, with Washington seeking unity with its allies against Beijing’s assertiveness in the region.

Korea has been reluctant to adopt the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific strategy, aimed at containing China, despite repeated calls from its biggest ally, because a stand against China would come at a large cost, given that it is Seoul’s largest trading partner. 

On Tuesday, Adm. Philip Davidson, the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, made a visit to Defense Minister Suh Wook and discussed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to the Ministry of National Defense. 

However, the meeting was seen as unusual given that the 52nd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) was just held a week ago in the U.S., where Suh met with his American counterpart Mark Esper. Davidson also accompanied them. 

In that respect, Davidson’s visit raised speculation that the U.S. would pressure Korea to jump on the anti-China bandwagon although the Korean defense ministry denied it. 

“The U.S. badly wanted to be able to cite Korea’s participation in or support for the anti-China coalition in the joint communique (after SCM), but to no avail,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty obvious what the diplomatic difference between the U.S. and the Moon administration are on declaring the end of the Korean War. The Moon administration wants a Korean War peace treaty regardless of progress on the North Korean nuclear issue while U.S. wants significant progress on denuclearization before reaching a deal:

Suh Hoon, director of the Blue House’s National Security Office, said Thursday that President Moon Jae-in’s proposal to formally end the Korean War is part of the process to denuclearize North Korea, dismissing speculation that Seoul and Washington are at odds over the initiative.    

“It is common sense that the end-of-war declaration cannot be separated from [the denuclearization process],” Suh said during a meeting with reporters in Washington, following his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.    

“Pushing for the end-of-war declaration is not a new issue […] It has always been on the negotiation table, and Korea and the United States cannot have different opinions on it.”   

He noted, however, that the issue was not specifically addressed during his U.S. trip.   

“What is important is whether the end-of-war declaration comes first or after denuclearization,” Suh said. “And how strongly it will be linked to the denuclearization process. It is better not to speculate too much.”   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The OPCON transfer request by the Moon administration has always been a political goal and not a military one, so whether the ROK military is ready or not is mostly irrelevant:

The latest ministerial defense talks between South Korea and the United States have highlighted that the allies are not on the same page on the planned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul, and defense cost-sharing for American troops stationed here.

The disagreement occurred during the 52nd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, where Defense Minister Suh Wook met with U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper. 

South Korea is seeking to regain wartime OPCON of Korean troops from the U.S. by 2022, based on previous agreements that the transition will be made in accordance with the meeting of preconditions, without setting a deadline. To this end, the allies have been utilizing a three-phase verification process of initial operational capability (IOC), full operational capability (FOC) and full mission capability (FMC). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they failed to fully assess the FOC this year. 

“South Korea will make utmost efforts to meet the OPCON preconditions as early as possible and ensure that South Korea-led combined defense posture remains strong and seamless,” Suh said. 

However, Esper stressed the need for South Korea to acquire the capabilities necessary to meet the requirements.

“Fully meeting all the conditions for the transition of operational control to a ROK commander will take time, but the process of doing so will strengthen our alliance,” Esper said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Apparently USFK has a bunch of unspent money provided by the ROK government:

The U.S. military has left unspent nearly 68 billion won, about $60 million, in South Korean funds provided over the past six years as part of defense burden-sharing agreements, according to data released this week by a South Korean lawmaker.

The unused funds amount to $7.4 million in 2014, $9.3 million in 2015, $4.8 million in 2016, $12.4 million in 2017, $17.5 million in 2018 and $6.7 million in 2019, according to the data provided by Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the ruling Democratic Party. (…….)

The figures — about 12.5% of the total for all six years — also gave insight into U.S. priorities for the South Korean funds. All the money allocated for local labor was used. Most of the unspent funds were earmarked for military facilities improvement and logistics support.

U.S. Forces Korea said it was working with the Ministry of National Defense to reconcile former Special Measures Agreement contributions.

“A significant portion of these funds are accounted as in-kind contributions from [South Korea] and, thus, not fully visible to USFK,” the command’s public affairs office told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but it appears the funds are likely what is leftover from construction projects that were Korean funded and the USFK bean counters may not have had visibility of. Regardless this hasn’t stopped the Korean lawmakers from saying this proves USFK does not need more funding.

I think under the current government I just don’t see the U.S. being able to host ballistic missiles in the ROK:

The United States is not ready yet to talk with allies about deployment of its specific military capabilities, a senior US official said Monday, as Washington is considering deploying intermediate-range missiles in East Asia to counterbalance China’s growing capabilities.
   
Marshall Billingslea, special US presidential envoy for arms control, also said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency and other local media outlets in Seoul that North Korea’s recent apology for the killing of a South Korean fisheries official is a good first step toward resolving the issue.
   
Billingslea arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a two-day visit. 
   
The trip came as the US has been considering deploying intermediate-range missiles in Asia to counter China after withdrawing from the 1988 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) last year amid speculation that South Korea could be one of the candidate sites.
   
Claiming that China test-fired missiles 225 times last year alone, which is more than the number of launches by all the other countries in the world combined, Billingslea called on China to come forward and discuss the matter with the US, which is not a request but its legal obligation.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The National Interest has an article that goes through the history of the US-ROK OPCON transfer which has long been chronicled here at the ROK Drop. The main point made at the end of the article is that the coronavirus has impacted the joint military exercises to validate the transfer. With Moon’s time in office running out a new President may relook the transfer if not complete:

These delays raise difficult questions about political timing, compounding present ambiguities in the ROK-U.S. security relationship. Moon’s term expires in the summer of 2022, leaving a relatively small window within which to complete the FOC and FMC—Moon is ineligible to run for reelection, and there is no firm guarantee that his successor will share the current administration’s strident vision of South Korean military independence. Nor is the situation entirely clear from Washington’s vantage point: if Donald Trump were to lose his reelection bid, it remains to be seen whether or not a Joe Biden administration would pursue a Korea policy conducive to further military disentanglement between the United States and South Korea.

The National Interest

You can read more at the link.