By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) will remain committed to deterring aggression from North Korea after the transition of wartime operational control in 2012 with a transformation into a new form of theater command, the commander of EUSA said Tuesday.
``We will undergo changes to make it a more capable and relevant force here on the peninsula, while adhering to U.S. Army transformation criteria,'' Lt. Gen. David P. Valcourt said in a press release.
Valcourt said the Eighth Army will transform into the ``UEy'' modular design, a design intended for all five regional U.S. Army headquarters worldwide but exact roles and missions of the command are under discussions between the Korean and U.S. militaries.
Under the U.S. military transformation plan, the U.S. Army is creating three new echelons _ the unit of action (UA), unit of employment-X (UEx) and unit of employment-Y (UEy) _ to replace the current brigade, division, corps and army.
The UEx is a unit sized between division and corps.
Military experts have speculated that the EUSA headquarters may be consolidated with the U.S. Army Pacific under the Pacific Command in Hawaii, or be part of a new U.S. independent military command in South Korea to be created after the transfer of wartime control.
Deployed in 1950 to the peninsula, EUSA has played a role of providing forces to the commander in chief of the Combined Forces Command, United States Forces Korea and United Nations Command, and undertaking combat support operations in case of an emergency.
About 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed here.