USFK “Strategic Flexibility” is Now a Reality

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon have reached a compromise agreement over the the USFK “strategic flexibility” issue:

South Korea has agreed to allow the United States to use troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula as a rapid deployment force to deal with possible conflicts around Northeast Asia.
The agreement, coming after three years of tough negotiations, is part of Washington’s global plan to give its forces greater “strategic flexibility.”

There is one catch however:

Reflecting Seoul’s concerns of over the changing role of the USFK, the statement also read: “In the implementation of strategic flexibility, the United States respects the ROK position that it shall not be involved in a regional conflict in Northeast Asia against the will of the Korean people.”

South Korean officials said they intentionally left the agreement at a “broad” level without setting rules or guidelines.

“We will be discussing details as situations arise,” said Kim Sook, director-general of North American bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He said the agreement should not be a source of concern, considering the agreed principle that South Korea will not get involved in a regional conflict against its will. The chances of the USFK having to use its “strategic flexibility” are slim, Kim added.

What the South Koreans are concerned about is the possibility that USFK troops would be deployed to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack. The South Korean government does not want to become involved in a war with China. I find this a little ironic since the situation the Taiwanese government faces is so similar to the situation on the Korean peninsula. The Taiwanese have been able to achieve amazing economic success while simultaneously living every day with an aggressive communist nation threatening to attack them just like South Korea. You would think the Koreans and Taiwanese would be more readily acceptable to defending each other, but it just goes to show how successful Beijing has been at politically isolating Taiwan over the past 20 years by offering nations like South Korea economic access to the Chinese markets in exchange for isolating the Taiwanese politically.

With that said I don’t think the USFK strategic flexibility has anything to do with deploying troops in defense of Taiwan. I think it has more to do with redeploying soldiers out of Korea in a face saving manner to reduce the US footprint in the country. The scenario would be that troops are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and then they don’t come back to Korea, they just redeploy stateside.

Force reductions are going to be a reality in the future and this “strategic flexibility” allows the US to withdraw troops in a face saving manner to where it doesn’t look like soldiers are being removed from Korea due to anti-Americanism. IMHO this process will happen sooner rather than later depending on the Camp Humphreys land deal that is still be delayed due to protests over land aquisition to expand the base.

The USFK footprint needs to be reduced due to the population growth and demographic changes in Korean society towards the US. “Strategic flexibility” is a road map to do this with.