Tag: USFK

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.

Fortunately no one in the helicopter or on the ground were injured due to this emergency landing caused by a maintenance fault:

A U.S. Army helicopter made a precautionary landing approximately 110 miles from its home base in South Korea after detecting a potential mechanical issue, according to the 2nd Infantry Division. Two AH-64 Apache pilots based at Humphreys were on a routine training flight near Kunsan Air Base on Monday when they detected an apparent problem with the aircraft, the command said in a news release that day. The unarmed Apache landed near Buan city at 12:10 p.m. out of an abundance of caution, 2nd ID spokesman Maj. Steven Modugno told Stars and Stripes by email the next day.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Eighth Army may finally get a long term commander:

The former commander of the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division has been nominated by President Donald Trump to lead U.S. ground operations in South Korea. Maj. Gen. Joseph Hilbert was nominated Friday to promotion to lieutenant general and assignment as commander of the Eighth Army, according to a Pentagon news release Friday. The post requires Senate confirmation. Hilbert now serves as the special assistant to the commander of U.S. Army Pacific out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

Stars and Stripes

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.

Does anyone really believe heat is what caused the downsize of UFS or the Lee administration trying to play nice with North Korea?:

South Korea and the United States began their annual large-scale military exercise Monday, with all eyes on whether North Korea will respond with warnings or provocations.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which aims to strengthen combined defense readiness against potential threats, particularly from North Korea, will be carried out for 11 days and concludes on Aug. 28.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said this year’s exercise would be held on a scale similar to last year’s, with about 18,000 South Korean troops taking part. The level of US participation is expected to be similar, though neither the JCS nor US Forces Korea disclosed an exact figure of the US troops.

Throughout the 11 days, troops will participate in both live and computer-simulated command post exercises and field training exercises (FTX). However, of the roughly 40 FTXs planned for this year, about half, or 20, have been postponed until September.

The JCS cited extreme heat, the need to ensure training safety and efforts to maintain a balanced combined defense posture throughout the year as reasons behind the postponement.

However, observers believe the postponement of some exercises is aligned with the Lee Jae Myung administration’s gestures for an inter-Korean thaw. The decision was made after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s influential sister Kim Yo-jong criticized the exercises, saying they have “no interest” in reviving talks with Seoul, in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s state media in July.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime was not impressed by the downsized UFS.

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.

Eighth Army is now on its third commander in less than a year with a permanent commander yet to be appointed:

A new acting commander took charge recently of Eighth Army, the U.S. field army in South Korea, after his predecessor took on a new role as deputy commanding general of the service’s ROTC program. Maj. Gen. William Taylor, previously the operations director for U.S. Forces Korea, U.N. Command and Combined Forces Command, on Aug. 7 assumed command of Eighth Army from Brig. Gen. Sean Crockett, army spokesman James Choi said by email Tuesday. All three commands and the 2nd Infantry Division are headquartered at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, about 40 miles south of Seoul in Pyeongtaek city. A former director of Army Aviation, Taylor led 2nd ID at Humphreys from May 2023 to June 2024.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Lee administration can see the writing on the wall that the US-ROK alliance is going to shift from just being a DPRK focused organization to one that responds to regional contingencies:

A senior South Korean official made a rare mention Thursday of a possible change in the role of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), amid speculation that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration may seek to shift the focus of its mission to deterring China rather than countering North Korean threats.

The official made the remarks in a meeting with South Korean correspondents in Washington as the Trump administration is seeking to “modernize” the South Korea-U.S. alliance to make it “strategically sustainable” in the midst of an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.

“I think there can be a change in the role and character of the USFK due to various factors,” he said.

The official pointed to the evolving international security environment, technological shifts and a “growing strategic role” of China, as he enumerated the factors that could drive a possible shift in the role of the 28,500-strong USFK.

However, he cautioned against misconstruing his remarks, saying his talk of a possible change in the USFK role does not mean he concurs on the U.S. view in support of the change.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.