Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
US commander’s new map repositions S. Korea at heart of regional strategy
Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, speaks during a press briefing at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 8. Courtesy of USFK
By Bahk Eun-ji
The top American military commander in South Korea has recast the strategic meaning of the Korean Peninsula, arguing that it should no longer be seen as a distant forward outpost but as a “decisive space inside the defensive perimeter.”
The shift, according to Gen. Xavier Brunson, upends decades of conventional military thinking and requires viewing the U.S. forces stationed in South Korea as a central pillar of deterrence — a change that could force a broad reassessment of joint operational plans and the alliance’s warfighting posture.
In written responses to questions from the defense press corps, Brunson said U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) is not “projecting power from afar,” but already operating from within the region that matters most.
These comments accompany an essay titled “Revealing Hidden Strategic Advantages in the Indo-Pacific,” which the command posted on its official website Monday. In the piece, Brunson described an “east-up” map, a geographic orientation that places east at the top instead of north. He says that this offers a different way of seeing the region, making certain dynamics stand out — especially the role of the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea.
For much of the past seven decades, USFK has been seen as a forward outpost — a tripwire force designed to withstand the initial impact of a North Korean attack until reinforcements could arrive from Japan, Guam or the U.S. mainland.
Under this model, the Korean Peninsula was positioned at the edge of the Indo-Pacific defense architecture, valuable but essentially exposed and dependent on reinforcements arriving from afar in a crisis.
Brunson’s reversal of the map challenges this assumption. By placing east at the top and redefining distance and proximity, his framework portrays South Korea not as vulnerable endpoint, but as a central operating hub within a wider theater encompassing China, Russia and the Western Pacific.
An “east-up” map that places the east at the top instead of north. Courtesy of U.S. Forces Korea
According to Brunson, the “east-up” view shows that USFK is not waiting for reinforcements from long distances. Instead, it is positioned so that it can respond immediately if a crisis unfolds. He wrote that the peninsula offers “access, reach and influence,” characterizing its location as a strategic advantage rather than a vulnerability.
Brunson also said this shift in perspective should influence how the ROK/U.S. Combined Forces Command develops plans, rehearses scenarios and manages sustainment. He added that viewing the peninsula as a decisive space requires closer synchronization of logistics between the two militaries as well as planning that assumes joint and combined operations across all domains.
In his essay, Brunson argued that the peninsula’s geography places it at the center of multiple regional axes, enabling it to impose costs on military activity by Russia’s Northern Fleet, China’s Northern Theater Command and North Korea. He wrote that strengthened deterrence on the peninsula naturally supports broader stability in the Indo-Pacific.
Brunson also emphasized that the east-up concept does not propose a new alliance structure, but rather highlights the complementary roles of partners. He said the framework is not intended to replace existing arrangements, but rather to better reflect practical geographic realities.
He added that the peninsula’s strategic value remains constant and that “regional stability begins with credible strength in South Korea.”