Category: US-ROK Alliance

This would seem to be in line with President Trump’s call for Japan to do more militarily in support of the US. However, this is not going to go over well in South Korea:

The defense ministry on Thursday voiced strong opposition to an alleged push by the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) to include Japan as an official member, saying that, according to U.N. Security Council resolutions, Tokyo is not entitled to such status.

According to sources, the UNC is seeking to include Japan as one of the UNC’s “sending states,” a move likely to inflame public sentiment in South Korea amid renewed historical tensions with Tokyo.

Should Japan obtain the membership, it would pave the way for its military involvement in the event of an armed conflict on the peninsula — a scenario unthinkable for many Koreans who harbor grievances stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.

Except for South Korea and the United States, the UNC currently has 16 sending states that are to provide combat troops, equipment and other forms of support in case of a contingency on the peninsula.

The sending states include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy and New Zealand. They have posted contingents at the UNC to support its operations centering on the observance and enforcement of the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.

“Japan did not participate in the Korean War, so it cannot serve a role as a sending state,” Col. Roh Jae-cheon, the deputy ministry spokesman told a regular briefing, citing U.N. Resolutions 83 and 84.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a good point, I wonder how infiltrated South Korea’s military is by compromised Huawei hardware?:

Washington may refrain from sharing sensitive intelligence with South Korea unless it stops using telecom equipment from the Chinese communications giant Huawei, according to the U.S. State Department on Thursday. 

The statement came in response to the JoongAng Ilbo’s question to the State Department on comments made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a radio show on Wednesday. Pompeo told conservative pundit Mark Levin on the show that the level of alertness shown by Washington’s allies in Asia to the national security risk presented by China “varies.”

When the JoongAng Ilbo asked whether Pompeo’s remarks reflected the U.S. government’s official stance that it wants Seoul to stop buying communications equipment from Huawei, a State Department spokesperson answered through a written response that the United States would have to review whether to share sensitive information with an allied country if that country’s communications network included equipment obtained from an untrusted vendor.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Kim Won Bong, 2nd person behind Kim Il Sung, reached ministerial level in Korea Workers' Party in #NorthKorea. He fought against #SouthKorea during the #Korean War. Yet #MoonJaein said KWB is "the root of SK military" & "the foundation of the SK-US alliance." Unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/lBRXj3AnK0

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) June 7, 2019

I guess we will see in the coming years if this actually happens or not since it is tied to the OPCON transfer that has been repeatedly delayed:

Seoul and Washington agreed Monday to name a Korean four-star general to lead the combined forces command (CFC) here, according to the defense ministry.

They also agreed to relocate the command’s headquarters, now in Seoul, to the U.S. Forces Korea’s Camp Humphreys base in Pyeongtaek, citing the operational efficiency of the military forces.

The agreements were reached between Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and his counterpart acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in Seoul, the ministry said.

Shanahan later visited President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae for talks on the alliance and issues regarding North Korea’s denuclearization, weeks ahead of the summit between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled at the end of June. (………..)

Jeong and Shanahan also approved a plan to name the four-star South Korean general as a new leader of the CFC once the wartime OPCON transfer is completed, to take a separate role to lead in a combined defense, but not in assuming other duties. Currently a four-star U.S general heads the CFC.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like President Moon is trying to assuage any concerns USFK may be having in regards to the appeasement of North Korea by the ROK government:

“Despite the failure of the second summit between the United States and North Korea, they have continued to pursue avenues to maintain their nuclear dialogue, which I believe is thanks to U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal trust in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and vice versa,” Moon said.

The allied commanders invited to the luncheon were Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Park Han-ki, USFK chief Gen. Robert Abrams, USFK Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, USFK Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans and Policy Maj. Gen. James W. Lukeman, Special Operations Command Korea Commander Maj. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind, and Eighth Army Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Patrick J. Donahoe, according to Cheong Wa Dae. 

This is the first time that high-profile USFK and South Korean military generals have attended a single event together, presidential aides said.

President Moon said the recent launches of short-range missiles by the North haven’t impeded the joint military readiness of the United States and South Korean military forces. 

“What we’ve achieved so far [for inter-Korean progress] was based on a stronger joint military readiness and commitment for a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. I want to thank you for your thoughtful and concerted rapprochement in handling the North’s recent missile launches. As we responded calmly to the recent launches, nuclear diplomacy is expected to remainon going,” Moon said, adding the presence of the USFK will continue regardless of the level of the peace process on the peninsula, given its pivotal role as a “balancer” for security in Northeast Asia. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but President Moon has been saying all the right things that USFK will remain after any peace treaty is signed, to include claiming Kim Jong-un understands this as well. However, this is likely just rhetoric to prevent energizing South Korean conservatives against a peace treaty. 

Remember Moon is a very skilled politician that needs to keep the Korean right at bay and public anxiety down.  If he openly advocated for a USFK withdrawal, that would give the South Korean right an issue to strongly attack him with and cause much public anxiety after decades of security guarantees provided by US forces.  That is why I think the Moon administration will publicly say they support USFK staying, but will then have surrogates do things to make life difficult for USFK. The anti-US groups in South Korea have already said they plan to do this.

The next round of cost sharing negotiations should be interesting:

U.S. President Donald Trump, after a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, demanded Saturday a drastic increase in Korea’s contribution to defense sharing costs next year.

“We are defending wealthy countries. They can well afford to pay us,” Trump said Saturday in a campaign rally at the Resch Center Complex in Green Bay, Wisconsin. “There’s one country, I don’t want to say it, I don’t want to embarrass anybody […] I called the country. I called and said, listen, no good.”

Given the context and Trump’s earlier statements, it was obvious he was referring to South Korea. 

“We are losing $4.5 billion. We can’t do this anymore,” Trump said. “He got very upset, angry […] He said, well, we will give you 500 million more, because the budget, you see, had already been set. I said, I want more. We argued. They paid us more than $500 million more for one phone call. I’m not bragging.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Here is what the ROK Defense Minister had to say about any possible reductions in the size of USFK:

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo has ensured there will be no reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea. 

Meeting with reporters during his visit to Joint Base Meyer in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday, the minister addressed speculations of a possible downsizing of U.S. Forces Korea triggered by ongoing upgrades of South Korea’s military weapons system. 

He said the augmentation of the forces is to further enhance the South Korean military’s capacity.  

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link, but as I have always said, any reduction of USFK would likely happen after a peace treaty is signed. The left wing activist groups in South Korea will use a peace treaty as an excuse to protest the continued presence of USFK. These protests would be intended to make life difficult for US troops just like it currently is for the troops stationed at the THAAD site in South Korea.

It looks like the upkeep of CP Tango will now become a joint responsibility:

South Korea and the United States have tentatively agreed to push for the joint use of a key U.S.-controlled wartime command bunker complex on the peninsula in a move likely to incur a new financial burden on Seoul, informed sources here said Wednesday.

The allies have been discussing how to manage CP Tango, or Command Post Theater Air Naval Ground Operations, in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, during their talks on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the legal status of some 28,500 American troops here. 
Washington initially hoped to hand over to Seoul control of the decades-old bunker ahead of the envisioned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) after which South Korea will lead wartime operations with the U.S. playing a supporting role.

Seoul had balked at the idea of solely managing the bunker due largely to hefty costs for repairing and upgrading its facilities and equipment. Currently, it does not pay for the command post management, but a deal to share the bunker would mean Seoul footing part of the bill.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but according to the article, CP Tango was established in 1974 and was recently put on a list of budget cuts to fund President Trump’s US-Mexico wall. This joint funding of CP Tango appears to be some kind of attempt to save the bunker. I guess we will see what happens.

In the Japan Times they have an op-ed published in response to the White House’s Cost Plus 50 strategy for paying for the stationing of US troops.

The “Cost Plus 50” formula means the White House is aiming for allies to pay 100 percent of U.S. stationing costs plus a premium of 50 percent on top of that. While there are arguments to be made about whether such a goal is even achievable (spoiler alert: it is not), it is important to highlight some of the bad assumptions that underwrite the belief that “allies don’t pay enough.” (……..)

Bad assumption 4: It is easy to tally up the cost of stationing forces overseas.
Reality: For the administration to demand Cost Plus 50, it must first assess how much it actually costs to station forces overseas. Take it from a former alliance manager who has run the “cost drill,” there are simply too many inputs to produce a figure without arbitrarily making decisions on what to include or exclude.
Do you include the salaries of overseas service members? What about costs for moving personnel and their families? How about rotational units who are only in a host nation for a few months out of the year? Do you add the cost of running overseas schools for dependent family members? Commissaries? Recreation areas? Uniform clothing sales stores?
How about research and development for the equipment that is stationed there? Should a country pay more if it has F-35s instead of F-16s or ballistic missile defense-capable destroyers instead of non-BMD capable ones?
The list goes on and on, and even then, the list ignores things like sunk costs and the fact those forces are overseas for U.S. interests.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.

The new Dong Maeng exercise has ended:

South Korea and the United States wrapped up their new, weeklong combined defense exercise on Tuesday, amid worries that the apparent downsizing of their springtime drills could hurt military readiness.
The allies launched the Dong Maeng command post exercise on Monday last week, replacing the Key Resolve exercise to support ongoing diplomacy to denuclearize North Korea and foster lasting peace on the divided peninsula. Dong Maeng is the Korean word for alliance.
The computer simulation exercise was half the duration of the usually two-week Key Resolve. It apparently focused on bolstering the combined defense capabilities with a counterattack portion of its predecessor removed.

The exercise involved members from the South Korean defense ministry, Joint Chiefs of Staff and operations commands of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and those from the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, U.S. Forces Korea and Indo-Pacific Command.
Despite the allies’ decision to conduct the exercise on a smaller scale and in a low-key manner, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency denounced it as a breach of its joint statements with Seoul and Washington aimed at enhancing bilateral relations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.