Category: US-ROK Alliance

Trilateral exercises between the U.S., ROK, and Japan are becoming very normalized which is a good thing:

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (L) meets Rear Adm. Carlos Sardiello, commander of carrier strike group one, (R) during his visit to the USS Carl Vinson, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier docked in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Nov. 22, 2023, in this photo provided by the defense ministry.

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Wednesday South Korea plans to hold joint maritime drills with the United States and Japan involving a U.S. aircraft carrier to bolster military readiness and show their resolve against North Korea’s provocations.

Shin visited the USS Carl Vinson, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier currently docked in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, a day after North Korea claimed it successfully placed a spy satellite into orbit in its third launch following two failed attempts earlier this year. 

“North Korea’s spy satellite launch last night clearly violates U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban missile launches using ballistic missile technology and is a provocative act that hampers the national security,” Shin said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Yet another example of increasing military cooperation between the ROK and Japan and this is a good thing:

(L to R) South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik; Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense; and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara hold trilateral talks on Nov. 12, 2023, in this photo provided by Seoul’s defense ministry. Minoru joined the session in Seoul via a video link. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Sunday to launch a real-time missile warning data sharing system next month to better detect and assess North Korea’s ballistic missile launches, Seoul’s defense ministry said.

The defense chiefs of the three nations reached the agreement during their meeting on the occasion of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s visit to Seoul for annual bilateral security talks with his South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik, slated for Monday. Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara joined the trilateral session via a video link.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I did not know that a B-52 has never landed a ROK airbase before:

A U.S. strategic bomber B-52 is set to land in a South Korean air base this week, the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday, in the latest show of force against North Korea’s missile and nuclear threat.

It would mark the first time that the B-52 Stratofortress has landed at a South Korean air base although the long-range bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons flew over the Korean Peninsula for joint drills between South Korea and the United States.

The B-52 is one of the major U.S. strategic bombers along with the B-2 Spirit and B-1B Lancer, which landed at Osan Air base in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, in September 2016.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder how many of these people surveyed even know the U.S. has troops already deployed to South Korea? This means there is no question the U.S. is getting involved to defend South Korea from attack regardless of what this poll says:

This photo, taken on Sept. 1, 2023, shows U.S. troops engaging in combined drills with South Korean forces in Jangseong, 252 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)

Half of U.S. citizens favor using American troops to defend South Korea in the event of a North Korean invasion, a recent U.S. poll showed Thursday, underscoring the public polarization over the security issue.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs recently released the outcome of the 2023 Chicago Council Survey conducted by Ipsos, a market research firm, from Sept. 7-18. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. 

The poll found that 50 percent of those questioned supported the idea of committing U.S. troops to defend South Korea if it was invaded by the North, while 49 percent opposed it.

In previous surveys conducted in 2020, 2021 and last year, the percentages of those backing the idea were 58 percent, 63 percent and 55 percent, respectively.

In the latest poll, a majority of Americans — 57 percent — continued to favor the mobilization of U.S. troops if Russia invaded a Baltic NATO state namely Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia, and an even higher proportion — 64 percent — favored the use of U.S. troops if Germany were invaded by Russia.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here are some names I haven’t heard in a while congratulating the ROK on the 70th anniversary of the US-ROK Alliance:

This file photo, taken Sept. 26, 2013, shows then U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. James D. Thurman at the Cheong Wa Dae presidential office in central Seoul. (Yonhap)

A group of former commanders of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) on Wednesday hailed the alliance between South Korea and the United States ahead of its 70th anniversary next week, highlighting the two countries’ commitment to each other.

The six retired generals made the remarks in separate messages sent to the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation as the two countries are set to mark the anniversary of the 1953 signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty, a bedrock alliance document, Sunday.

The messages were sent by Ret. Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz, Ret. Gen. B. B. Bell, Ret. Gen. Walter L. Sharp, Ret. Gen. James D. Thurman, Ret. Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti and Ret. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks.

Thurman, who served as the USFK commander from 2011 to 2013, described the treaty as the “glue” that kept the two countries together and expressed hopes for a reunited Korea.

“The mutual defense treaty between South Korea and the United States has remained the glue that has held the ROK-US Alliance together,” Thurman said, referring to South Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The prior rocket launch the U.S. and the ROK were able to recover much of the rocket. According to the article the North Koreans this time may have deliberately destroyed the rocket once it began to fail in order to prevent its recovery:

The United States is assisting the South Korean military in retrieving wreckage from North Korea’s failed reconnaissance satellite launch, a senior defense official told lawmakers Friday.

Seoul and Washington are working to salvage the space launch vehicle from the Yellow Sea and are analyzing the launch together, Heo Taekeun, chief of South Korea’s National Defense Policy Department, said at a televised hearing of the parliamentary National Defense Committee.

Neither Heo nor National Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup disclosed during the hearing how U.S. forces are contributing to the search. U.S. Forces Korea did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone and email Monday.

The search for debris continued Monday, National Defense Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha Kyou told reporters that day.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Trilateral cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and the ROK continues to develop. I doubt President Biden even knows what Dokdo is, but if he can negotiate some kind of settlement on that issue it would greatly enhance bilateral relations:

An upcoming three-way summit between the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan will provide much-needed momentum for the two Asian nations to boost security cooperation, analysts said Wednesday, as Washington pushes to cement trilateral cooperation to tackle common challenges the three countries face.

U.S President Joe Biden invited President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida for a three-way meeting at Camp David in Maryland on Aug. 18, which would be the first standalone trilateral summit. The three leaders have held joint meetings on the sidelines of multilateral gatherings until now, but have never held a formal trilateral summit. 

The three leaders are expected to announce a joint statement highlighting strengthened trilateral cooperation against North Korea’s aggression and closer economic ties. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration was not in favor of the THAAD deployment and made things hard on USFK to sustain the unit such as delaying the environmental assessment:

 A thorough investigation is necessary if there are suspicions that the previous Moon Jae-in administration deliberately dragged its feet in normalizing the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, a senior presidential official said Wednesday.

Allegations have arisen that the Moon administration deliberately delayed the publishing of an environmental assessment report of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery base, which was installed in Seongju, 214 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in 2017. 

Since its installation, the unit has been kept in a temporary status pending the assessment.

“The normalization of the Seongju base is an essential measure for the Korea-U.S. combined defense posture,” the official said. “If there are suspicions this measure was deliberately delayed, I think we have to provide related facts to the people through a thorough investigation.”

Normalization of the THAAD base picked up speed after President Yoon Suk Yeol came into office. 

Earlier this year, the environment ministry concluded that the base poses no health hazards, saying the maximum amount of electromagnetic waves emanating from the THAAD base was just 0.2 percent of the legal safety protection standard.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Yoon administration should also investigate why the Moon administration allowed protesters to almost continuously break the law and block the road forcing USFK to move personnel and equipment to the THAAD site via helicopter.

It appears the pro-US-ROK alliance activists greatly outnumbered the anti-US protesters last week outside of Camp Humphreys:

Thousands of demonstrators converged outside Camp Humphreys on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, prompting a response by hundreds of police officers and snarling traffic on the U.S. Army installation.

Activists — some opposed to the U.S. presence on the Korean Peninsula, some in full-throated support — arrived in dozens of buses throughout Thursday, some coming from as far as Busan, about 150 miles south of the U.S. base in Pyeongtaek.

The atmosphere outside the gates resembled a music festival: Whistles, chants and techno music blared from speakers mounted on parked cars as delivery trucks hauled digital billboards scrolling “Support U.S. alliance” slowly past the crowd.

Around 8,000 people gathered near at least two of the base’s six gates, the largest assembly in the area since South Korea ended COVID-19 social distancing restrictions in April 2022, according to an email Friday from Erick Crudup, operations officer for the base Directorate of Emergency Services.

Activists on both sides of the road leading to Yoon Gate — the main entrance to Humphreys — chanted “USA” while waving American and South Korean flags. U.S. service members driving past the scene honked their horns and waved in support.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but according to the article there was only about 100 anti-US protesters present. This is in stark contrast to the massive hate filled anti-US protests that were launched when Camp Humphreys was being expanded years ago.

It looks like this is the response to North Korea’s ICBM launch, holding a trilateral missile defense exercise:

South Korea, the United States and Japan held a joint naval drill, the South Korean Navy said Sunday, in a show of strengthened trilateral military cooperation against North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats.

The three allies staged a missile defense exercise in international waters between South Korea and Japan, Sunday, mobilizing three Aegis-equipped destroyers ― ROKS Yulgok Yi I, USS John Finn and JS Maya ― to enhance readiness against North Korea’s missile provocations.

The previous joint drill was held on April 17 and the latest one was the fourth combined exercise to take place during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.