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| United States Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Vincent Brooks shakes hands with President Moon Jae-in in while participating in an event to commemorate the 70th Armed Forces Day, Oct. 1, in Seoul. / Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
As the ongoing peace gestures from North Korea cast doubt on the future of the United States Forces Korea (USFK), a group of U.S.-allied countries ― such as South Korea and Japan ― are on track to underline the need to maintain U.S. troops here.
The controversy surrounding the USFK started making headlines here in June when U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his strong desire to withdraw or at least reduce the U.S. military presence here, saying South Korea does not properly pay for its maintenance cost.
For South Korea and Japan, however, the possible withdrawal of the USFK is a worst-case scenario to weaken their security readiness and generate a potential crack in their long-term defense posture.
The USFK here has for decades served as a war deterrent, preventing North Korea from staging large-scale military provocations against the South since 1953 when the Korean War ended in an armistice.
But starting this year, North Korea has urged the South and the U.S. to declare an end to the war as soon as possible, in what critics view is the regime's apparent move to pull out the potentially threatening U.S. troops.
For this reason, there is a lingering concern that the ongoing peace mood and the possible declaration of the technical state of war here may result in the withdrawal of the USFK in the end.
South Korea is in a position that the USFK withdrawal will never turn into reality at least for the time being.
Park Han-ki, the nominee for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said last week the potential declaration of the end to the war has nothing to do with the existence of the United Nations Command (UNC) and the USFK.
"Even if the two Koreas declare an end to the war, the Korean Armistice Agreement (signed in 1953 between the North, China and the UNC) will remain in effect," Park said in a National Assembly confirmation hearing, dispelling concerns over the possible withdrawal of the USFK.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in also recently called the USFK a peacekeeper here, saying the U.S. troops will continue to play a role for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also expressed opposition to the possible withdrawal of the USFK here in a recent interview with a U.S. media outlet.
Political commentator Lee Jin-gon said Monday that Abe's remark is in line with Tokyo's strategy to continue benefiting from the USFK without which he said Japan faces potential security threats from North Korea.
"Japan has disagreed with the idea of withdrawing the USFK from South Korea, as Japan will be exposed to more security threats from external forces without the U.S. troops here," he said.
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