Former US 8th Army commander dies

Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal is with Kim Jong-wook, now honorary chairman of KATUSA Veterans Association, during his days in Korea. Vandal died while battling cancer. Taken from Kim Jong-wook's facebook

By Oh Young-jin

Thomas Vandal, 59, a retired U.S. Lt. Gen. who commanded the Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA), the mainstay of U.S. Forces Korea, died Sunday.

Kim Jong-wook, honorary chairman of the KATUSA Veterans Association, told The Korea Times that he had received word of the death from associates in the United States.

"My heart goes out to the deceased Vandal and his wife Doreen," Kim said. Vandal retired in January after about 40 years of military service. He spent nearly five years in South Korea.

Vandal, from Rhode Island, graduated from West Point in 1982 and served in Korea as commander of the 2nd Infantry Division before being promoted to EUSA commander.

He is credited for his forthrightness shown when he called a press conference in July 2017 to defend the decision to deploy the THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area, defense system in Korea to protect against North Korea's missile threat. This angered China so much that it slapped a sweeping boycott on Korean goods and services.

Vandal said without THAAD, 10 million South Koreans would be exposed to the North's threat.

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was battling it.