Tag: US-ROK Alliance

This is a stupid take in the Washington Post:

Rep. Song Young-gil, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Wednesday, struck back at tweets by a Washington Post columnist saying that South Korea would be like Afghanistan if the U.S. forces leave the Korean Peninsula.

In addition, he added that Seoul needs to take advantage of the Afghanistan crisis to regain wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean forces from Washington.

On Monday (local time), Marc Thiessen, a former speechwriter for former U.S. President George W. Bush, tweeted, “If South Korea were under this kind of sustained assault, they would collapse just as quickly without US support. There’s virtually no American ally who could defend themselves without us.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the ROK military will fight and not capitulate like the Afghan government that was corrupt and unpopular. South Korea is a developed democracy with a first world military with equipment far better than anything North Korea has. There is no way the ROK military would abandon their posts and rush to Osan Airbase to cling to fleeing C-17’s.

No matter what the combined US-ROK exercise is called North Korea is still going to complain about it:

North Korea has resumed its belligerent rhetoric against a combined summertime military exercise between Seoul and Washington, raising questions about whether the Kim Jong-un regime will escalate the situation with a military provocation. 

Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda website, issued a warning Tuesday to South Korea and the U.S. with regard to the drill expected to be held in August, saying that “war exercises” and peace cannot exist simultaneously. 

“The current instability on the Korean Peninsula is fully attributable to the warmongers among the South Korean military colluding with an outside power, and engaging in reckless, confrontational machinations,” the website commented.

Citing previous exercises including the Combined Command Post Training in March and Seoul’s participation in the cooperative maritime exercise Pacific Vanguard, it alleged “(South Korea) showed its craze for war exercises.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I guess we will see what North Korea decides to do next month.

If the Biden administration did ask South Korea to join the Quad forum I think it shows how little they understand the geopolitical dynamics in the region:

South Korea’s presidential office on Sunday denied as “incorrect” a Japanese report that the United States asked Seoul to join the US-led Quad forum.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, a major Japanese daily, reported earlier in the day that US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had strongly requested Seoul join the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue group, also known as Quad, during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Suh Hoon early this month.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is essentially the deal the ROK always wanted to sign with the US, but the Trump administration would not agree to:

South Korea will increase the amount if pays to support U.S. troops on the peninsula by 13.9%, the country’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday following agreement on a six-year cost-sharing deal.

South Korea will pay $1.03 billion this year, up from $910 million in 2019, to support 28,500 U.S. service members there, according to a ministry statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I always said this would be an easy win for the Biden administration especially when it is a deal the ROK always wanted.

These exercises have definitely been scaled down significantly, but I guess we will see if North Korea cares or not:

 South Korea and the United States will stage a major springtime combined military exercise starting this week in a scaled-back manner amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday. (………)

“South Korea and the U.S. decided to conduct the springtime combined exercise from March 8 for nine days, after comprehensively taking into consideration the COVID-19 situation, the maintenance of the combat readiness posture, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of peace,” the JCS said in a statement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As predicted the new U.S. Defense Secretary under President Biden, Lloyd Austin wants to get a new US-ROK cost sharing deal done quickly:

U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, said Wednesday he would bring about an early resolution to stalled military cost-sharing negotiations with South Korea.  
   
In a written statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Austin described the U.S. military alliance with Seoul as the “linchpin of peace and security in the region” and “among the most combined, interoperable, capable and dynamic” alliances in the world.  
   
If confirmed, the retired four-star general said he would focus on modernizing the alliance along with others throughout the Indo-Pacific region and “seek the early conclusion of cost-sharing negotiations with South Korea as part of those efforts.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This could be a sign that the cost sharing issue will likely get resolved when the new Biden administration takes over:

South Korea and the United States are negotiating a plan to share labor costs and avoid once more furloughing local employees of U.S. Forces Korea, a spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said Monday.

“South Korea and U.S. defense authorities are currently holding discussions for employment stability of Koreans working for USFK,” said Boo Seung-chan at a Monday ministry briefing.

Seoul and Washington have been at odds over President Donald Trump’s demand that South Korea substantially increase the amount it pays to host a U.S. military presence, a contract called the Special Measures Agreement. The previous agreement expired in December 2018.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

No soon after I post an article speculating that South Korea is pursuing a policy of neutrality here comes President Moon’s trial balloon expert advocating for this exact policy:

South Korea should work together with Australia, Canada and Japan to form regional economic or security frameworks so as to create a new order free from the burden of choosing sides between the United States and China, an adviser to President Moon Jae-in said Friday.

Moon Chung-in, special foreign policy and security adviser, made the remarks during a virtual seminar, stressing that it is very unlikely the tensions between Washington and Beijing will get any better under the next U.S. administration of Joe Biden. 

“The Biden administration will be using a softer tone, but the policy will be as tough as Trump’s. There will be a tougher American encirclement of China, although he might be more selective in terms of technology and economy,” he said in the seminar hosted by the Korean Association for Public Diplomacy. 

“That will put us in an extremely difficult position. It will restore the old ‘bloc diplomacy’ … in the form of a new Cold War,” he said. 

Moon added that a worsening of U.S.-China tensions will make it difficult to resolve the North Korea issue peacefully.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Cold War era strategy worked and served South Korea’s national interest very well.