Tag: Mark Esper

This claim has long been hinted by Trump himself due to the cost sharing issue with South Korea. Trump wanted the ROK to pay more for USFK which the Moon administration declined to do. The media now is trying to sell this as a new story when it is actually an old one:

Mark Esper, the former secretary of Defense under President Trump, says that the former president proposed a number of “outlandish” foreign policy proposals while he was in the White House, including pulling troops out of South Korea and shutting down embassies in Africa, according to an excerpt from Esper’s upcoming memoir.

In a new excerpt, shared by Politico, Esper wrote that shortly after he was hired to be the new Pentagon chief in 2019, Trump was railing against NATO and corruption in Ukraine, two personal issues that the rest of the national security and foreign policy team tried to tamp down because they weren’t considered leading concerns at the time.

Trump also said he wanted a “complete withdrawal” of forces from South Korea and that he wished to “bring our people home” from embassies in Africa, according to Esper.

The Hill

You can read more at the link.

The OPCON transfer request by the Moon administration has always been a political goal and not a military one, so whether the ROK military is ready or not is mostly irrelevant:

The latest ministerial defense talks between South Korea and the United States have highlighted that the allies are not on the same page on the planned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul, and defense cost-sharing for American troops stationed here.

The disagreement occurred during the 52nd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, where Defense Minister Suh Wook met with U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper. 

South Korea is seeking to regain wartime OPCON of Korean troops from the U.S. by 2022, based on previous agreements that the transition will be made in accordance with the meeting of preconditions, without setting a deadline. To this end, the allies have been utilizing a three-phase verification process of initial operational capability (IOC), full operational capability (FOC) and full mission capability (FMC). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they failed to fully assess the FOC this year. 

“South Korea will make utmost efforts to meet the OPCON preconditions as early as possible and ensure that South Korea-led combined defense posture remains strong and seamless,” Suh said. 

However, Esper stressed the need for South Korea to acquire the capabilities necessary to meet the requirements.

“Fully meeting all the conditions for the transition of operational control to a ROK commander will take time, but the process of doing so will strengthen our alliance,” Esper said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

As I predicted there was no way that the Moon administration was going to reverse course on withdrawing from the GSOMIA. Promoting anti-Japanese sentiment is literally the only issue his party has to run on for the parliamentary elections coming up early next year. Reversing the decision on the GSOMIA would have been a major loss of face for the Moon administration:

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday he will try to persuade Japan to “smoothly” resolve the dispute over the two neighbors’ military information-sharing arrangement, according to the presidential office.

During a 50-minute meeting with Esper at Cheong Wa Dae, Moon explained his government’s basic position that it’s “difficult to share military information” with Japan, which has imposed export restrictions against South Korea for a stated reason that Seoul is not trustworthy as a security partner, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung said.

In late August, the Moon administration decided not to renew the General Security of Military Agreement (GSOMIA) and it’s slated to expire as of next Saturday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The U.S. Defense Secretary during his visit to South Korea emphasized that USFK will continue to do its part to help diplomacy with North Korea:

 U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that he is open to altering military activity in South Korea if it helps diplomatic efforts to denuclearize North Korea.

Esper made the remark to reporters flying with him to Seoul, where he is due to hold annual defense talks with Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo.

“We will adjust our exercise posture, either more or less, depending on what diplomacy may require,” Esper said, according to a transcript provided by the Pentagon, referring to South Korea-U.S. combined military exercises that North Korea condemns as an invasion rehearsal.

“I think we have to be open to all those things that empower and enable our diplomats to sit down with the North Koreans, alongside with our South Korean partners, and move the ball forward to a negotiated settlement of the issues that we put on the table,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see if the U.S. Defense Secretary can help mend defense relations between Japan and the ROK next week:

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper will travel to South Korea next week for annual defense ministers’ talks ahead of the expiry of a key military intelligence-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Esper will depart Wednesday to travel to Seoul, Bangkok, Manila and Hanoi, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said during a press briefing. He did not provide the exact dates, but it appears likely the secretary will travel in that order.

Esper’s trip to Seoul comes ahead of the Nov. 23 expiration of the General Security of Military Information Agreement between South Korea and Japan.

Washington has urged Seoul to reconsider its decision to end the pact in consideration of the three countries’ mutual security interests.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The U.S. military has a new Secretary of Defense:

Pat Shanahan confirmed Tuesday that he has resigned as acting defense secretary and ended his campaign to seek the job outright amid reports of domestic violence in his family involving himself, his ex-wife and their son.

Army Secretary Mark Esper was selected by President Donald Trump to be the new acting defense secretary, made public in a series of tweets that also announced Shanahan will step down.

“I know Mark, and have no doubt he will do a fantastic job!,” Trump tweeted.

Shanahan said in a prepared statement following Trump’s tweets that “after significant reflection” he was withdrawing from consideration for defense secretary and resigning from his post.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the domestic violence incident is pretty bad with Shanahan’s 17-year old son beating his mother with a baseball bat. Shanahan who was divorced at the time, rushed to hire a lawyer and defend his son for beating her because his ex-wife had a documented history of abuse. Not a good look for Shanahan.

Anyway with the Secretary of the Army taking over this would likely mean increased influence for the Army within the Department of Defense.

Here is what the US Army Secretary Dr. Mark Esper had to say to say recently during a visit to Camp Humphreys:

Soldiers won’t have to move as often, spouses will find it easier to get jobs and there will be access to cheaper produce if the new Army secretary has his way.

Secretary of the Army Mark Esper addressed these issues with soldiers, civilians and family members during a town hall meeting this week at the 8th Army’s new headquarters south of Seoul.

Esper — a Gulf War veteran and former Raytheon lobbyist who took the Army’s top job in November — said he hopes to give troops the choice of staying longer at duty stations.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but one of the ideas being looked in regards to lower produce costs on post is to have local Korean farmers open up their own food stalls on Camp Humphreys.