North Korea's ground threat to South Korea is reduced enough that South Korea is a power projection asset rather than being a distant and desperate defense of Seoul.
USFK’s headquarters at Camp Humphreys lies just 158 miles from Pyongyang, 612 miles from Beijing and 500 miles from Vladivostok.
“Korea is positioned to address northern threats from Russia while simultaneously providing western reach against Chinese activities in the waters between Korea and China,” Brunson wrote.
From Beijing’s vantage point, Brunson added, U.S. installations such as Osan Air Base south of Seoul do not appear remote but instead offer “resources positioned to achieve effects in or around China.”
General Brunson is preaching to the TDR choir:
If you ever doubt American won the Korean War more than seventy years ago, consider American force posture in South Korea. America no longer faces a desperate defense of South Korea. Now America can use bases in South Korea to resist common enemies away from the peninsula. And count on South Korean support.
Granted, things change dramatically if China sends its army to attack the DMZ again. Then South Korea and our troops there will get tunnel vision on the DMZ. But would China find it worth the forces needed to contract the horizons of USFK?
NOTE: Happy Thanksgiving to my readers. May you have reasons big or small to give thanks. There's always something to hold on to if you need hope for the future in bleak moments.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 continues here.
NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. It's the right thing to do!
NOTE: Map from Brunson's article.
