Home > National > Defense

USFK creates dedicated unit integrating its nuclear forces with South's conventional capabilities

Published: 27 Mar. 2026, 13:53

USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson speaks at a press conference at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 10, 2025. [USFK]

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) has created a dedicated unit to integrate U.S. nuclear forces with South Korea’s conventional capabilities, in a move seen as bolstering readiness for North Korean nuclear-use scenarios.

According to military sources on Friday, the USFK command elevated the Conventional Nuclear Integration (CNI) team that had been under its J5 Strategic Planning and Policy directorate into an independent office called the J10 Strategic Integration Element in June last year.

Led by a colonel-level officer, J10 serves as a channel for coordinating the use of strategic assets between U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees U.S. nuclear weapons, and South Korea’s strategic command, which oversees the South Korean military’s conventional strategic capabilities.

J10 appears to be the body that puts into practice the alliance’s concept of CNI, emphasized in the April 2023 Washington Declaration announced by then-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and then-U. S. President Joe Biden.

“The Alliance will work to enable joint execution and planning for ROK [Republic of Korea] conventional support to U.S. nuclear operations in a contingency and improve combined exercises and training activities on the application of nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula,” said the declaration, referencing South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

The United States and South Korea later launched the Nuclear Consultative Group to discuss CNI measures and related issues.

AH-64 Apache helicopters take off from U.S. Army base Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on March 10, 2025, as South Korea and the United States kick off their joint annual military exercise, Freedom Shield. [YONHAP]

The creation of J10 is drawing attention as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has grown more explicit in his nuclear threats. At a session of the Supreme People’s Assembly on Monday, Kim declared that North Korea would continue to make its status as a nuclear-armed state absolute and irreversible. Kim also stated the country would aggressively wage its struggle against “hostile forces” to crush anti-North provocations.

Kim also declared North Korea would further expand and advance its self-defensive nuclear deterrent in line with the mission assigned by the constitution and the demands of the state policy of strengthening nuclear forces, in remarks that appeared to refer to the 2023 constitutional revision that codified that policy. North Korea in 2022 also codified what amounted to the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons.

“The move represents progress in that the allies now appear to have an organization capable of implementing extended deterrence beyond mere consultations by mobilizing all U.S. capabilities, including nuclear assets, to support South Korea,” said Yu Ji-hoon, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. “The key question, however, will be how much meaningful influence South Korea can actually exercise in the decision-making process for conventional-nuclear integration.”

“Because the United States is increasingly focused on countering China and is placing greater emphasis on strategic flexibility, the practical impact of the new organization on the South Korea-U. S. cooperation structure will need close scrutiny.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY YOON JI-WON [[email protected]]