Tag: US-ROK Alliance

As soon as President Lee was elected this issue was going to come up:

The differences between Seoul and Washington over joint military exercises have become more pronounced. South Korean leaders have publicly suggested scaling down the exercises to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, while U.S. officials oppose the idea and emphasize their importance for alliance readiness.

Scaling down or postponing joint military exercises has been proposed by previous governments, mainly liberal ones, to create a reconciliatory environment with North Korea, as the North has often called the drills “a rehearsal of war.” 

President Lee Jae Myung and other officials in his administration have raised the issue as they seek to reopen dialogue with Pyongyang, as communication channels are currently severed.

“If necessary, and if it helps the United States exercise strategic leverage, even the issue of joint military drills can be discussed and considered,” Lee said in a press conference on Dec. 3. “Simply saying such discussions are possible can help to open conditions for negotiations.” 

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young echoed this view, repeatedly saying that joint exercises should serve broader goals such as easing tensions and supporting dialogue.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said, “Joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises are a tool to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula. They cannot be the objective in themselves.” He added that the president had already laid out the criteria for reviewing the issue.

Chung noted that the suspension of Team Spirit exercises in 1992 and 1994 helped advance nuclear negotiations with North Korea, while another pause in 2018 coincided with a thaw in inter-Korean relations. He said a similar measure may be needed ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned visit to China next April and his potential talks with North Korea.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense also known as the Secretary of War will be visiting Korea and Japan next week:

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas and meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during his visit to the Asian country next week, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday.

Hegseth is set to kick off a two-day visit to South Korea next Monday in his first trip to the Asian country since taking office early this year. Korea is the last leg of his Asia swing that includes stops in Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Upon arrival in Korea, the secretary, along with Seoul’s Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, plans to visit the Joint Security Area inside the DMZ and have a chance to meet Korean and American troops stationed at the DMZ, the official said during a briefing to the press traveling with Hegseth.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The U.S. installing this radar on Ieodo will only further validate the ROK’s claim to the submerged islet:

The Republic of Korea Navy’s 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer Yulgok Yi I patrols the waters around Ieodo, an underwater reef and home to a Korean ocean research station south of Jeju Island, in this file photo from Dec. 3, 2013, in the wake of China’s declaration of a new air defense identification zone that includes it. Yonhap

A U.S. Special Operations Command official identified a Korean research group as a potential partner for a grant to install a powerful maritime radar in the waters southwest of Jeju Island around Ieodo, a submerged reef where Korea has maintained a science station to monitor the seas.

The suggestion came after China was found setting up structures in the West Sea, where Ieodo is located and where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap. (…….)

The offer comes as tensions sharpen over Ieodo, a submerged reef known in China as Suyan Rock, where Korea has operated Ieodo Ocean Research Station since 2003, monitoring oceanographic and atmospheric conditions and transmitting observations in real time. The site lies in waters controlled by Seoul but within the overlapping EEZs of both Korea and China. 

For Washington, expanding surveillance would help track China’s increasingly assertive naval and coast guard patrols, and push allies to share intelligence in the region more closely.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think anyone expected Trump to say this during his summit with Korean President Lee:

U.S. President Donald Trump caused a stir during his first summit with President Lee Jae Myung on Monday by suggesting that Washington could seek ownership of land used for American bases in Korea. This remark, made at the White House, marked a sharp break from the agreement that has long governed the U.S. military on the peninsula for decades.

When asked whether he would consider reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, Trump declined to provide a direct answer. 

“Well, I don’t want to say that now, because we’ve been friends and we’re friends,” he told reporters. He then moved on to the issue of bases, adding, “They would say, ‘but we gave you land.’ I said, ‘no, you didn’t. You lease us land.’ There’s a big difference between giving and leasing. Maybe one of the things I’d like to do is ask them to give us ownership of the land where we have the big fort.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the way it works right now is that after the U.S. military closes a base in South Korea the land is given back to the government as is. This seems to be a negotiating tactic by Trump to try and get a better cost sharing deal with South Korea.

Notice that the goal to turn over OPCON to the ROK is well after President Trump leaves office which leaves door open for a new administration to delay it once again. The ROK has been saying decades now how they want wartime OPCON and then it always ends up being delayed. I guess in five years we will see what happens this time:

The Lee Jae Myung administration will seek to reclaim wartime operational control (OPCON) of the military from the U.S. within the next five years, establishing the goal as a key part of its foreign and security policy, according to its five-year policy road map announced Wednesday. 

The blueprint links this initiative to a broader strategy of pragmatic diplomacy and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, as well as to strengthening the country’s defense industry to enable it to become one of the world’s top four arms exporters.

The goals were announced by the State Affairs Planning Committee, a de facto transition team for the Lee administration following the snap election resulting from former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears the Washington Post is trying to make a scandal out of something that is called negotiating:

Officials of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration considered demanding that South Korea raise its defense spending to 3.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) during tariff negotiations, a news report said Saturday, citing internal U.S. government documents.

U.S. officials also weighed the idea of requiring South Korea to publicly support operational flexibility of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to better deter China, The Washington Post reported, though it is not clear whether their suggestions were actually discussed in the negotiations with South Korea that were concluded last month.

The documents indicated that the Trump’s administration might intend to use tariffs to help achieve a range of national security goals beyond its stated objective to reduce America’s trade deficits and boost domestic manufacturing, the newspaper noted.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This has been long suspected will happen and now it has:

South Korea and the United States will conduct a major joint exercise this month to strengthen their combined readiness posture, the allies said Thursday, but added that around half of some 40 planned field training exercises will be rescheduled to next month.

The announcement came amid speculation that the allies may push back some field training tied to the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise until after September as South Korea seeks to mend frayed ties with North Korea.

The UFS exercise is set to take place from Aug. 18-28 and involves drills incorporating “realistic” threats aimed at enhancing the allies’ capabilities across all domains, their militaries said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if this a good cop, bad cop dynamic where Colby is the good cop saying nice things to the ROK while Trump is the bad cop making big demands?:

Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, made the remarks on July 31 in a social media post following a phone call between South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“South Korea continues to be a role model in its willingness to take more of the lead in a strong defense against the DPRK and in its spending on defense,” Colby wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. 

Colby also said the two allies are “closely aligned on the need to modernize the alliance” in response to shifting regional security dynamics.

Widely regarded as a key architect of Trump’s “America First” strategy in the security domain, Colby has led efforts to push U.S. allies to increase their defense budgets and assume a greater role in collective defense.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Unification Minister wants to downgrade U.S.-ROK military drills despite receiving nothing in return from the Kim regime:

New Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Monday he will propose adjusting South Korea-U.S. military exercises to President Lee Jae Myung, hours after Pyongyang denounced such joint drills and accused Seoul of “blindly adhering” to its alliance with Washington.

Chung revealed the plan to reporters, saying, “Yes, I have such an intent,” in response to a question about whether he plans to propose adjusting South Korea-U.S. military exercises to Lee.

In mid-August, South Korea and the U.S. are set to kick off their annual large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise.

The minister’s response came hours after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused the Lee administration of “blindly adhering” to the South Korea-U.S. alliance, declaring that Pyongyang will never engage in talks with Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Chung is basically doing the bidding of Kim Yo-jong.

This interview with a U.S. diplomat really just affirms everything the Trump administration has been asking other allies to do, which is increase defense spending:

 A U.S. diplomat on Friday reaffirmed the United States’ “ironclad” security commitment to South Korea, but called on the Asian ally to make the “highest-level” efforts to strengthen its own defense capabilities.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, State Department deputy spokesperson Mignon Houston made the remarks amid expectations that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration might request South Korea to bolster its defense spending and military capabilities as it prioritizes deterring threats from an assertive China.

Houston also pointed out that addressing North Korea’s nuclear quandary remains a “priority” issue that Washington has “not taken our eyes off of,” while underscoring that the Trump administration is looking forward to working “very closely” with the government of new South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

“South Korea is a strong and capable partner. President (Trump) believes that South Korea has the ability to ensure at the highest level that their defense capabilities are refined and strong. This is something we know we need,” she said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.