Miscalculation by North Korea’s leaders could quickly escalate into a global problem, the general in charge of U.S. Forces Korea warned.
“Such a conflict could immediately become a regional conflict and have a global impact, just as Russia’s war against Ukraine has,” Gen. Paul LaCamera said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
Among the U.S. military installations in the Republic of Korea, one stands out.
The deterrence record on North Korea is spotty, warns Duyeon Kim of the Center for a New American Security.
North Korea remains a major national security challenge, Pentagon officials told Congress.
Testifying Jan. 28 before the House Armed Services Committee, John Rood, DoD’s undersecretary for policy, said North Korea “poses an ongoing, credible threat to the United States homeland, our allies in South Korea and Japan, in addition to undermining international arms control regimes and engaging in egregious human rights violations and abuses.”
“Predicting North Korea’s future behavior is always hazardous,” Rood said.
The end of high-profile U.S. and South Korean training exercises has not diminished warfighting capabilities, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford.
“I am very confident today that we have not compromised the readiness of the alliance to go to war, should that be required,” Dunford said May 29 at a Brookings Institution event in Washington, D.C.
The alliance between the U.S. and South Korea “is stronger and more ready than ever,” the top U.S. general in the Republic of Korea said May 22.
Speaking at the Association of the U.S. Army’s LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Honolulu, Gen. Robert B. Abrams, commander of U.S. Forces Korea and U.N. Command-Combined Forces Command, said the 65-year-old alliance between the U.S. and South Korea remains critical for economic and security reasons.
The Army is making sure the Korean War, a conflict that took 36,000 American lives and is often referred to as “the Forgotten War,” is anything but forgotten as the 69th anniversary of its beginning approaches.
“Where the Hell is Korea? Warfare in the Land of Sorrow,” a new exhibit opening May 18 at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, showcases the war’s timeline and presents stories of soldiers who fought on the front lines and those who supported them.
The tension that once dominated the Korean Peninsula has been reduced through diplomatic engagement, but there has been no “verifiable change” in North Korea’s nuclear posture, the commander of U.S. troops in South Korea told a Senate committee.
Gen. Robert B. Abrams, who took over as commander of U.N. Command, Combined Forces Korea and U.S. Forces-Korea on Nov. 7, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the “hard work of diplomacy” has reduced tension and created the environment needed for North Korea to “choose a path of denuclearization.”
Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, relinquishes command on Nov. 8, wrapping up a 38-year career in the Army marked by trailblazing accomplishments and operational leadership.
Brooks, who has been in command for two years, will hand over the reins of the joint force of about 28,000 troops to Gen. Robert B. Abrams, former commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command.
The nominee to become the top U.S. commander in Korea said the evacuation of civilians from the Korean Peninsula presents “a wicked problem,” but he is confident twice-a-year drills have prepared the U.S. military for the problem it faces.
He also stressed that the risk to civilians isn’t limited to the families of U.S. troops but threatens a wide population.
