Tag: US-ROK Alliance

I wonder how many of these people surveyed even know the U.S. has troops already deployed to South Korea? This means there is no question the U.S. is getting involved to defend South Korea from attack regardless of what this poll says:

This photo, taken on Sept. 1, 2023, shows U.S. troops engaging in combined drills with South Korean forces in Jangseong, 252 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)

Half of U.S. citizens favor using American troops to defend South Korea in the event of a North Korean invasion, a recent U.S. poll showed Thursday, underscoring the public polarization over the security issue.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs recently released the outcome of the 2023 Chicago Council Survey conducted by Ipsos, a market research firm, from Sept. 7-18. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. 

The poll found that 50 percent of those questioned supported the idea of committing U.S. troops to defend South Korea if it was invaded by the North, while 49 percent opposed it.

In previous surveys conducted in 2020, 2021 and last year, the percentages of those backing the idea were 58 percent, 63 percent and 55 percent, respectively.

In the latest poll, a majority of Americans — 57 percent — continued to favor the mobilization of U.S. troops if Russia invaded a Baltic NATO state namely Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia, and an even higher proportion — 64 percent — favored the use of U.S. troops if Germany were invaded by Russia.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here are some names I haven’t heard in a while congratulating the ROK on the 70th anniversary of the US-ROK Alliance:

This file photo, taken Sept. 26, 2013, shows then U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. James D. Thurman at the Cheong Wa Dae presidential office in central Seoul. (Yonhap)

A group of former commanders of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) on Wednesday hailed the alliance between South Korea and the United States ahead of its 70th anniversary next week, highlighting the two countries’ commitment to each other.

The six retired generals made the remarks in separate messages sent to the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation as the two countries are set to mark the anniversary of the 1953 signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty, a bedrock alliance document, Sunday.

The messages were sent by Ret. Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz, Ret. Gen. B. B. Bell, Ret. Gen. Walter L. Sharp, Ret. Gen. James D. Thurman, Ret. Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti and Ret. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks.

Thurman, who served as the USFK commander from 2011 to 2013, described the treaty as the “glue” that kept the two countries together and expressed hopes for a reunited Korea.

“The mutual defense treaty between South Korea and the United States has remained the glue that has held the ROK-US Alliance together,” Thurman said, referring to South Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Trilateral cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and the ROK continues to develop. I doubt President Biden even knows what Dokdo is, but if he can negotiate some kind of settlement on that issue it would greatly enhance bilateral relations:

An upcoming three-way summit between the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan will provide much-needed momentum for the two Asian nations to boost security cooperation, analysts said Wednesday, as Washington pushes to cement trilateral cooperation to tackle common challenges the three countries face.

U.S President Joe Biden invited President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida for a three-way meeting at Camp David in Maryland on Aug. 18, which would be the first standalone trilateral summit. The three leaders have held joint meetings on the sidelines of multilateral gatherings until now, but have never held a formal trilateral summit. 

The three leaders are expected to announce a joint statement highlighting strengthened trilateral cooperation against North Korea’s aggression and closer economic ties. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is a pretty easy call for the White House because the American public will be calling for North Korea to be turned into a glowing parking lot of they fired nuclear weapons at South Korea and the U.S. troops stationed there:

 South Korea and the United States agreed to take “swift, overwhelming and decisive” action using all of their military capabilities, including U.S. nuclear weapons, in the event of North Korea’s nuclear attack, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday.

Yoon made the remark during a joint press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden following their summit talks at the White House, outlining a joint statement, dubbed the “Washington Declaration”, that they adopted to strengthen “extended deterrence” against the North’s nuclear and missile threats.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This news is likely an effort to appease the majority of South Korea’s population that now supports the ROK developing their own nuclear weapons deterrent:

President Yoon Suk Yeol greets Korean nationals upon his arrival at Blair House in Washington, D.C., Monday (local time). Yoon is scheduled to hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday. Joint Press Corps

Seoul and Washington are likely to agree on carrying out joint planning and joint execution of U.S. nuclear assets, according to defense analysts, Tuesday, which would mark a major upgrade of the U.S. extended deterrence provided to its ally.

According to both governments, President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden will release an additional joint statement on strengthened extended deterrence after their summit at the White House on Wednesday (local time).

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is something both the PRC and DPRK do not want to see happen which means it is a positive development:

South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a trilateral senior-level defense meeting in the U.S. later this week, an informed source said Monday, amid joint efforts to sharpen deterrence against North Korean threats.

The deputy minister-level Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) is set to take place Friday (U.S. time), according to the source who requested anonymity. The last DTT session was held virtually in 2020.

The three sides are expected to discuss ways to flesh out last year’s summit agreement by their leaders to share missile warning data in real time to counter the North’s nuclear and missile threats.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon is facing criticism to find out how the US collected intelligence on their internal discussions on providing artillery shells to Ukraine. I am willing to bet people were talking on their cell phones about it which anyone can tap and listen into. It could have additionally come from using non-secure email. Anything said over a cellphone or non-secure email you may as well concede that someone can tap into it if they want to:

The presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul / Courtesy of presidential office

Revelations of alleged wiretapping of the South Korean government by U.S. intelligence is feared to overshadow President Yoon Suk Yeol’s scheduled summit with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden later this month.

Yoon is facing growing domestic pressure to demand the truth and seek an apology from Washington. But this also presents a tough choice for the president to make, since such demands could spoil the mood as the two countries are set to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their alliance during the summit.

According to The New York Times and other Western media reports, classified military and intelligence documents that have been trending online in recent weeks contain internal discussions of the South Korean government on whether to provide the U.S. with artillery shells to be used in Ukraine, violating Seoul’s policy of not providing lethal weapons.

In the documents, which were identified as being from the CIA, former presidential secretary for foreign affairs Lee Moon-hee ― referred to as Yi Mun-hui in the documents ― reported to former Director of National Security Kim Sung-han that Yoon and Biden should not speak on the phone before Seoul forms a clear stance on supplying ammunition to Ukraine. 

Lee noted that Seoul cannot go against its own stance of not providing lethal weapons. Thus, the only option is to change its stance. However, Kim raised concerns that such a move could be interpreted as a compromise between Yoon’s state visit to the U.S. and the ammunition deal, while he “suggested the possibility” of selling munitions to Poland, according to the report.

After the alleged wiretapping was revealed, the presidential office said it will “have necessary consultations with the U.S.” and “explore measures by reviewing past precedents in other countries.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I hoped nobody is shocked by the news that the U.S. collects intelligence on its allies:

The presidential office said Sunday it will hold necessary discussions with the United States following a U.S. report accusing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of intercepting South Korean government communications regarding aid to Ukraine in war with Russia.

In a report published Saturday in the U.S. (local time), the New York Times said some parts of the CIA documents, posted on a social media chat platform Discord, detailed South Korea’s “internal debates about whether to give the U.S. artillery shells for use in Ukraine, violating Seoul’s policy on providing lethal aid.”

The newspaper noted South Korean officials were concerned that U.S. President Joe Biden would pressure President Yoon Suk Yeol to come through and that the U.S. learned about South Korean deliberations through “a signals intelligence report.” It’s a term used by spy agencies to describe intercepted communications, from phone calls to electronic messages, according to the New York Times.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.