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SKOREA-US-NKOREA-MILITARY-DIPLOMACY
Outgoing US commander urges Seoul, Washington to protect pact
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, Nov 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The outgoing commander of
US forces in South Korea on Thursday urged Seoul and Washington to maintain
their alliance as differences mount in their approach to the nuclear-armed
North.
The US played a key role in defending the South after the North invaded in
1950, triggering the Korean War, and even now stations 28,500 troops in the
country, a treaty ally, to protect it from its neighbour.
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traded
personal insults and threats of war last year, only for fears of conflict to
be replaced by a rapid diplomatic rapprochement.
But as progress has slowed in recent months there has been a growing
uneasiness between the allies, with the US firm on sanctions against
Pyongyang while Seoul is seeking to relax measures on its neighbour.
“In this place we have never succeeded by going alone,” General Vincent
Brooks said in his last act as the commander of US Forces Korea, the UN
Command and the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command.
“Our fears and our concerns should rise if we become inclined to go our own
way.”
On the campaign trail US President Donald Trump raised doubts about the
continued presence of US troops in South Korea.
This week the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said the US would
need to make “some changes to the military posture on the peninsula” over
time if talks with Pyongyang progress.
Over the 65 years of the alliance, Brooks told a change-of-command ceremony
at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, “we grew stronger under the tests and
strains that confronted us, contrary to the predictions of cracks and
fissures”.
“Let this be a lesson to all in the alliance,” he added.
Brooks, who took up his post in April 2016, has described his time in the
South as “a rollercoaster ride”.
He previously said he was given no prior indication that Trump, after his
summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June, would announce the
cancellation of “very provocative” and expensive joint military drills with
the South.
The allies have since suspended most of their major joint exercises,
including the Ulchi Freedom Guardian in August and the Vigilant Ace air force
training initially slated for next month.
His successor General Robert B. Abrams told his Senate confirmation hearing
there “was certainly a degradation in the readiness of the force, for the
combined forces” as a result of the pause in drills.
At Thursday’s ceremony Abrams — whose father was a former Army Chief of
Staff for whom the M1 Abrams tank is named — vowed to continue Washington’s
“ironclad relationship” with Seoul.
The military would maintain its capability so “we cannot only deter but
defeat external threats if we are called to do so”, he said.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1245 hrs