By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A quadrennial defense report released Monday by the Department of Defense hints that U.S. forces in Korea (USFK) would serve as rapid deployment forces responding to emerging global threats.
This is the latest affirmation by U.S. officials that the so-called strategic flexibility of the USFK would be strengthened after the introduction of three-year, family-accompanied tours by American soldiers here in the coming years.
Some observers have anticipated that the USFK troop level would actually decrease under the strategic flexibility scheme with the U.S. military shifting to a naval- and air-centric supporting role, following the planned transition of wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the U.S. to Korean commanders in 2012.
The USFK now has slots for 28,500 troops and the actual troop numbers are slightly readjusted occasionally.
A spokesman for Seoul's Ministry of National Defense rejected the speculation, saying the issue is ``subject to consultations'' between the two governments over the next five to six years when the longer tours by U.S. troops is settled.
The United States will apply ``a regionally tailored approach in determining the posture of its forces,'' said the Quadrennial Defense Review.
``The United States will develop a more adaptive and flexible U.S. and combined force posture on the Korean Peninsula to strengthen the alliance's deterrent and defense capabilities and long-term capacity for regional and global defense cooperation,'' the report said. ``Doing so includes continuing to advance the ROK's lead role in the combined defense of its territory, together with the transition of wartime operational control to the ROK military in 2012.''
The U.S. military will also continue to provide extended deterrence and rapid response capabilities to South Korea and Japan, it said.
Meanwhile, a missile defense review by the Pentagon expressed concern about North Korea's increasing missile capabilities.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Review said the North would achieve the necessary technology to mount a nuclear warhead onto an intercontinental ballistic missile within a decade.
Although the test launches of the Taepodong-2 in 2006 and 2009 were deemed unsuccessful, it is assumed that sooner or later North Korea will have a successful test of its Taepodong-2.
``If there are no major changes in its national security strategy in the next decade, it will be able to place a nuclear warhead on a proven delivery system,'' said the report.
North Korea launched a rocket last April in what it said was part of a peaceful space program to put a satellite into orbit. While the launch was deemed a failure by the international community, it invited strong U.N. condemnation and sanctions.
In response, Pyongyang detonated a nuclear device, the second of its kind after the first in 2006, and has since boycotted the six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs, demanding the sanctions be lifted.
The review said that North Korea had ``successfully tested many technologies associated with an ICBM despite the most recent launch's failure in its stated mission of orbiting a small communications satellite.''