USFK commander to visit Yeonpyeong Island
Gen. Thurman pledges to protect S. Korea, maintain regional stability
By Lee Tae-hoon
Gen. James Thurman, the new commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), will visit Yeonpyeong Island, the site of North Korea’s deadly artillery attack last year, a USFK officer said Thursday.
“Gen. Thurman is scheduled to visit Yeonpyeong Island today,” the officer said asking for anonymity.
He noted that Thurman will be briefed on recent movements by North Korean forces and on South Korean Marines’ defense posture.
On Nov. 23, 2010, North Korea unleashed a surprise artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong Island near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea, killing two Marines and two civilians.
The NLL has been the scene of deadly clashes between the two Koreas as Pyongyang claims that the de-facto maritime border was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The Yeonpyeong incident was the second deadly attack by the Stalinist North in 2010, following the torpedoing of the warship Cheonan in March that took the lives of 46 sailors onboard.
“Gen. Thurman’s visit to Yeonpyeong Island will show his willingness to deter North Korea’s military provocations,” the officer said. “It also reaffirms the strong alliance between South Korea and the U.S.”
In a posting entitled “Command Philosophy and Priority” on the USFK homepage, Gen. Thurman pledged to protect the South against outside aggression and maintain stability in the region.
He said his troops should stay vigilant and well prepared to accomplish the mission.
“Our mission is to defend the Republic of Korea against external aggression and to maintain stability in East Asia. In order to credibly deter aggression and preserve stability, readiness is essential,” he said.
Thurman replaced Gen. Walter Sharp last week who had commanded the USFK since June 2008. The four-star general also serves as the chief of the United Nations Command (UNC) and the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC).
Thurman has spent most of his career in field operations. He participated in operations during the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991; in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000; and in Iraq in 2002, 2003 and 2006.
In the posting, Thurman added that the alliance between South Korea and the United States “is the strongest alliance in the world.”
He said well-trained combined forces will ensure the seamless transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from the U.S. to the South in 2015, under a plan called Strategic Alliance 2015.
“Deterrence relies on a solid foundation of preparedness; you must be ready to fight as an allied team, and you must thoroughly understand how we will all execute operations side-by-side,” the commander said.
The U.S. stations roughly 28,500 troops in Korea as a legacy of the Korean War.