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USFK commander rejects speculation on troop cut in Korea, reaffirms commitment

Published: 28 May. 2025, 19:38

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

U.S. Gen. Xavier Brunson, the new commander of U.S. Forces Korea, gives a salute as he attends a ceremony with Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the defense ministry in Seoul on Jan. 9, 2025, to welcome the U.S. leader, who also leads the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command. [YONHAP]

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson dismissed a recent report on a potential troop cut of American troops stationed in South Korea on Wednesday, calling the 28,500-strong USFK a "physical manifestation of the U.S. ironclad commitment."

Brunson's remarks came just days after The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is considering withdrawing some 4,500 troops, or 16 percent of the command, and relocating them to other locations in the Indo-Pacific, including Guam, as part of an informal policy review yet to be presented to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Both Seoul and Washington have denied the report, with the Pentagon calling it "not true" and reaffirming that America remains "fully" committed to the defense of South Korea and strengthening the alliance.

South Korea's defense ministry also ruled out any discussion taking place over the issue, which it stressed is a matter requiring bilateral consultation.

"I've got four hats, truthfully, and one of the hats that I wear is the senior U.S. military officer assigned to the Republic of Korea, and in that role, my job is to speak at the behest of the chairman," Brunson told an online symposium organized by the Institute for Corean-American Studies when asked about the issue.

"The chairman has not called me and told me anything else," he said, referring to the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Incoming commander General Xavier T. Brunson, second from left, receives the United States Forces Korea flag from US Navy admiral Samuel John Paparo, right, commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command, during a change-of-command ceremony for the United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on Dec. 20, 2024. [AFP/YONHAP]

The report came amid speculation that Washington may partially pull out USFK to seek "strategic flexibility" to broaden the command's role to better deal with China's growing assertiveness or potentially request a hike in Seoul's share of stationing American troops in the country.

While Brunson acknowledged that "all things," including changing the force, can be up for discussion in "interwar years" to deal with technological developments and the contemporary operating environment, he underscored the strategic importance of the USFK in an ever-evolving security landscape.

"USFK is the physical manifestation of the U.S. ironclad commitment to the U.S.-ROK mutual defense treaty [...] It's a strategic, dynamic presence and deterrent that's forward-postured and incredibly capable," he said.

Depicting South Korea's geographic location in the region as an "aircraft carrier" that sits between the East and West seas, as well as Japan, Brunson stressed that such a strategic presence helps curb Russian threats in the East Sea and Chinese threats in the Yellow Sea.

"No one in the U.S. military is on the Asian continent. I am," the USFK commander said. "No one other than our forces on the peninsula could achieve effects from the peninsula against the adversary in our area."

Against such a backdrop, the USFK commander, who also serves as chief of the U.N. Command (UNC) and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, highlighted the growing significance of the UNC as a multinational framework.

Incoming commander Gen. Xavier Brunson speaks during a change-of-command ceremony for the United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and the United States Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Korea, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. [AP/YONHAP]

"This multilateralism is in action. It functions, and it works," Brunson said, noting the UNC's composition involving 18 member states that are also members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and AUKUS. "This matters, because if conflict comes, we won't have time to build the team."

The commander said as a means of ensuring "peace through strength," strategic flexibility could involve "sometimes to go into other places" in the face of regional circumstances, mentioning continued Russian and Chinese incursions on the Korean Peninsula.

"We have to move where the problems are that we might ameliorate them," Brunson said.

"We've got to be flexible in our planning, and we absolutely have to be flexible in our execution, because the one good thing that we have here that would allow us to demonstrate strategic flexibility is a strong ROK military, and that's unlike any place else in the world," he said, using the acronym for South Korea's official name.

When asked about whether South Korea should seek its own nuclear armament against North Korea's nuclear threats, Brunson said it is a "sovereign concern" that would be best answered by the winner of the upcoming June 3 presidential election.

Incoming commander General Xavier T. Brunson salutes during a change-of-command ceremony for the United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Korea, on Dec. 20, 2024. [EPA/YONHAP]

On combined drills between the allies that will be conducted under the newly elected government, Brunson said talks are under way with the South Korean military to prepare for their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, usually conducted in August.

Despite denials from both the Korean and U.S. defense ministries, the ripple effects from a Wall Street Journal report suggesting Washington is reviewing a reduction in USFK have not faded.

Speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on May 24, President Donald Trump reinforced his “America First” message, declaring that “the days of the United States defending every country are over.”

Although Trump added that the United States would use force when its own security or that of its allies is threatened, he made clear that military commitments will depend on U.S. interests. An earlier interim National Defense Strategy under the Trump administration stated that “allies must take primary responsibility for their own security.”

BY YOON SO-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]