Category: US-ROK Alliance

ROK Drop favorite Andrew Salmon writes in the Korea Times about if the Moon administration should pursue a trilateral security pact with the United States with the third country not being Japan, but North Korea:

But even if South Korea can defend itself against North Korea conventionally, there are broader reasons to maintain a Washington alliance.

This alliance goes beyond USFK. Its underpinning is a mutual defense treaty ― which, incidentally, does not even mention North Korea.

There is no multilateral security architecture in the region; no Northeast Asian NATO. We all know that _ for emotive rather than political reasons ― Koreans cannot ally with Japanese. This makes the U.S. South Korea’s only friend to turn to if things turn rough. It has no other ally. Period.

Speaking of the broader peninsula: What is more threatening? A superpower across the Pacific ― or a superpower next door? Could ― gulp! ― Seoul and Washington one day invite Pyongyang into a trilateral pact against external enemies?

This is not complete lunacy. After all, the late Kim Jong-il told the late Kim Dae-jung that he agreed to a long-term US presence on the peninsula to counterbalance a rising China.

I would respectfully suggest that Seoul considers these factors very carefully as it negotiates the upcoming issues of defense cost-sharing and wartime operational control with Washington.

These are big-picture issues here. There are big-boys’ rules to consider. In a situation where all possibilities are in play, there is more at stake than North-South rapprochement.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but if this was to happen this would be a huge strategic victory for the US against Chinese hegemony in northeast Asia.  Could you imagine a Foal Eagle exercise with US soldiers training with North Korean troops?

Its official, UFG has been suspended:

South Korea and the United States have decided to suspend the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise slated for August, Seoul’s defense ministry said Tuesday, amid dialogue efforts to denuclearize North Korea.

Shortly after his Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his plan to stop “provocative, inappropriate and expensive” war games with the South, which Pyongyang has decried as an invasion rehearsal.

“Following close cooperation, South Korea and the U.S. decided to suspend all planning activities for the UFG, the defensive exercise slated for August,” the ministry said in a text message sent to reporters.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but remember these joint exercises like UFG can be turned right back on if the North Koreans shows signs of not negotiating in good faith.

It looks like the UFG exercise this year will be very low key if the Kim regime continues to behave:

South Korea will conduct annual war games with the United States as planned but will avoid publicizing them to facilitate diplomatic efforts over the North’s nuclear weapons program, the defense ministry said Monday.

North Korea has sharply denounced joint military exercises, which it considers rehearsals for an invasion, ahead of an unprecedented summit planned between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump on June 12 in Singapore.

“We will be conducting the U.S.-[South Korean] joint military exercises normally in line with annual plans,” ministry spokesman Lee Jin-woo said during a press briefing. “But we’ll refrain from promoting the contents of the joint drills or opening them to the public as best we can.”

The comments came a day after North Korea criticized the South for planning to join upcoming international maritime drills in Hawaii known as Rim of the Pacific and a major joint exercise with the U.S. called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which begins in August.  [Stars & Stripes]

Complaining about the RIMPAC exercise is pretty stupid considering it is held in Hawaii and involves many more countries than just the US and South Korea.

The way I look at it, as long as the ROK government continues to allow the protesters to block the road and artificially make sustainment costs for THAAD more expensive they should pay for it:

South Korea’s defense ministry said Friday that the cost of operating a U.S. missile defense system installed in the South may be covered using part of Seoul’s new share of upkeep costs for U.S. forces stationed here.

The U.S. could demand South Korea shoulder some costs needed to run and keep the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system as the allies are in discussion to renew their five-year deal on defense cost-sharing.

“If the U.S. side hopes to use Seoul’s share of the U.S. forces upkeep costs to cover THAAD’s operation, it may be possible to use it within the total amount of the South’s share in accordance with sectoral needs and regulations,” the ministry said in a statement.

It could potentially spark a row as it marks a sharp difference from the government’s stance that South Korea will not bear any of the costs associated with THAAD.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the US-ROK cost sharing talks:

The United States has demanded South Korea share the cost of deploying U.S. strategic assets around the Korean Peninsula during recent talks to renew their cost-sharing agreement for American troops stationed here, a foreign ministry official said Friday.

Seoul rejected the request saying the issue should not be part of the negotiation.

“Our basic stance on this matter is that the agreement deals with how to share the upkeep cost of stationing the U.S. troops,” the official told a group of reporters on condition of anonymity.

The two sides held their second round of the talks on the southern island of Jeju earlier this week. The first round was held in Hawaii last month.

The official said that there are “big differences” to be ironed out in the amount of money proposed by each side, which he said requires more discussion going forward. He didn’t provide specific numbers.

With regard to another potential issue of how to share the cost of operating the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system that was installed here last year, he said it was not mentioned in the meeting.

He noted, however, that the matter could be discussed as the cost of the THAAD operation could be dealt with in line with the “logistical support” part stipulated in the agreement.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update from the frontlines of the THAAD protest site:

-South Korea’s defense authorities decided Thursday to wait until this weekend to bring construction materials and equipment into the U.S. missile defense base in the face of local residents’ protest.

The military had planned to transport them to the THAAD site, located in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, within the day.

Police clashed with hundreds of activists and residents, trying to clear the way for the trucks. Some protesters were hurt.

But the Ministry of National Defense reached a deal with them to continue talks through the weekend. The government pulled the police out of the area.

Only a dozen trailers will enter the base to take such heavy equipment as forklifts and bulldozers out of it. Those were used for early-stage construction work a few months ago.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the protesters want to be able to go on the site and monitor all the construction work which is intended to improve soldier facilities on the site.  If a random civilian is allowed on the site maybe Kim Jong-un should demand that he should be allowed to have a representative on the site as well.

Could this be the beginning of the end of the Dragon Hill Lodge?  I hope not:

The Ministry of National Defense plans to discuss demolishing the Dragon Hill Hotel, a lodging facility for U.S. soldiers inside the Yongsan garrison with the United States Forces Korea (USFK).

This is in line with the relocation of USFK headquarters from Yongsan to Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province by the end of this year. The USFK initially planned to keep the hotel in Yongsan.

However, there have been complaints from locals that the existence of the hotel is not helpful for a plan to redevelop the Yongsan base.

“We will take enough time with the USFK to discuss the details for the demolition of the facility,” defense ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said in a media briefing, Tuesday.  [Korea Times via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but the Dragon Hill Lodge is a great facility and it seems like a waste to destroy it.  Plus there is a huge number of Korean national that are employed there that would lose their jobs.  Hopefully something can be worked out.

The long awaited joint military exercise has finally begun:

A combined field training of South Korean and U.S. troops got under way Sunday as scheduled, defense officials said amid a nascent peace mood on the divided peninsula.

More than 11,500 service members, including thousands based outside of Korea, plan to participate in the four-week Foal Eagle training, along with around 300,000 South Korean soldiers.

The allies often kick off their largest annual military exercise in late February or early March for a two-month run. This year, however, they waited until the end of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games here.

The duration of Foal Eagle has been shortened to a month, with no major U.S. strategic assets such as supercarriers and nuclear subs expected to show up.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This argument would be just as (if not more) valid if it advised POTUS to confront Im Jong-seok's history of pro-Pyongyang extremism & ask what choosing him says about Moon Jae-in. Of course, Bolton is a media bête noire; Moon is a media darling.https://t.co/POffMdQidz

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) March 26, 2018

It looks like the upcoming Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises will be the most low key ones conducted in quite some time:

The upcoming joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea will minimize the deployment of U.S. strategic assets such as nuclear subs and strategic bombers.

In a brief statement, the defense ministry said on Tuesday the drills, which had been delayed until after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, will begin on April 1, on “a scale similar to previous years.”

It did not provide details on what assets will be deployed or state how long the drills will last in comparison to previous years.

The United Nations Command notified the North Korean military of the plan the same day, and that the drills would be held as a regular exercise for defense purposes, the ministry said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.