USFK chief calls for year-round training, warns of ‘dangerous’ North Korea-Russia cooperation

The top U.S. military commander in Korea said Wednesday that the allies cannot rely solely on two major combined exercises a year to maintain readiness and called for continuous training throughout the year.

He also warned that defense cooperation between North Korea and Russia is becoming dangerously deep.

“We can’t hinge our readiness on two exercises a year,” Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, commander of the United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), said at a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (Amcham) at Mondrian Seoul Itaewon in central Seoul. “It’s got to be training throughout the entirety of the year.”

Brunson spoke alongside U.S. Ambassador to Korea Michelle Park Steel to about 200 business representatives at the event, which marked the 250th anniversary of the United States. Amcham Chairman and CEO James Kim moderated the discussion, which covered regional security, defense-industrial cooperation and economic security.

Brunson said he met earlier this week with Gen. Jin Yeong-seung, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss next year’s Freedom Shield exercise.

The allies hold two major combined exercises a year: Freedom Shield in the spring and Ulchi Freedom Shield in the summer. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the summer exercise scaled back in August.

Brunson raised the idea of dispersed, year-round training at an Association of the U.S. Army event in Washington on Oct. 12. South Korea's Defense Ministry and USFK later said he meant additional training, not a replacement for the existing exercises.

“We see dangerous, deepening defense cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow,” Brunson said. He also pointed to persistent gray zone activities meant to test the allies’ resolve and North Korea’s advancing ballistic and cruise missile capabilities.

“Every rehearsal, every combined exercise [...] is designed to prevent war before it can start,” he said. “It’s to ensure an adversary looks at our alliance, calculates the cost and says, ‘Not today.’”

Brunson also urged companies to deepen defense-industrial ties, citing U.S. Navy vessels overhauled at Korean shipyards.

“The alliance has always been our greatest asymmetric advantage in this region,” he said. “Today, that advantage rests wholly in your hands.”

Asked about the future of USFK, Brunson said, “What I see in the future is what I see today.” He said USFK would have “those same mutual defense treaty obligations a year from now, five years from now or 70 years from now.”

Wednesday's event was Brunson's first public appearance in Seoul since his remarks in Washington on South Korean territory and on the transfer of wartime operational control (Opcon) drew criticism from lawmakers and military officials in Seoul. He did not address either issue.

Brunson briefly referred to a sign outside the U.S. Embassy reading “Brunson go home.”

“I don’t live in Seoul. I live in Pyeongtaek,” he said jokingly, referring to Camp Humphreys, the USFK headquarters south of the capital.

Steel, who arrived in Seoul in late July, said the two countries “cannot separate prosperity and security.”

"South Korea is no longer [a country] the United States has to protect because the Republic of Korea's economy just grew so much," Steel said, adding that it was time for Seoul to “stand with" Washington in the Indo-Pacific.

Recalling her time in Congress studying China, Steel pointed to the oil, gas and trade that pass through regional waters and to Beijing’s territorial disputes with Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan.

“Sometimes China is the biggest threat,” she said, adding that Seoul and Washington must work together. Her remarks come as the Lee Jae Myung government seeks to keep relations with Beijing stable while strengthening the alliance with Washington.

Steel also said it had been “very challenging" for some U.S. companies to operate in South Korea, saying some had been "raided and audited," though she did not name any company. Washington has raised concerns over South Korean investigations into Coupang, a U.S.-listed e-commerce company, following a major data breach.

She said the joint fact sheet the two countries issued last November made clear that U.S. companies will receive “fair treatment, no discrimination.”

“Energy security is actually national security,” Steel said, adding that details on new nuclear reactors included in the bilateral investment deal are still being worked out.

On North Korea, Steel said Washington remains open to dialogue without preconditions. She said she did not know when such talks might take place, but that South Korea must be involved.

The event did not take audience questions.

BY SEO JI-EUN   [[email protected]]