USFK commander points out S. Korea's defense production capabilities for contingency logistics support

Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, speaks during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Armed Services in Washington in this photo captured from a livestream of the hearing from the committee's website, March 21. Yonhap

The commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) highlighted South Korea's defense production capabilities on Thursday, as he addressed a complex question of how American forces would overcome logistical challenges in the event of a Pacific contingency far away from the U.S. mainland.

Gen. Paul LaCamera commented on the issue, pointing out challenges from the anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) threat, a term that often refers to China's strategy to leverage its advanced military assets to keep hostile forces, namely U.S. forces, at bay.

Over recent decades, China has been enhancing its A2/AD capabilities with cruise and ballistic missiles, bombers and other advanced weapons systems with longer operational ranges, and greater lethality and accuracy.

"The other part of the fight is the fact that I sit inside the A2/AD bubble and we are actually on the Asian continent in South Korea," he said during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Armed Services in Washington.

"(South Korea) is not a third world country. It's a first world country that has production capabilities ... I think we are looking at all avenues of what we can do to sustain ourselves," he added.

The general went on to say, "We've got to keep there and the sea lines of communications in the fight." He did not elaborate further.

His remarks appeared to indicate that the USFK commander sees the potential strategic value of the Asian ally, South Korea, in terms of logistical support against China's A2/AD shield in the event of contingencies in the Pacific.

South Korea's defense production capabilities have received renewed attention in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine. Poland and other nations have looked to South Korea to strengthen their military stockpiles as South Korea has maintained defense manufacturing capacity to deal with persistent threats from North Korea.

Responding to a question about ongoing efforts to transfer wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. to South Korea, LaCamera said, "We are on the trajectory to complete it."

"But it's standards-based, not-time based," he said. "We are working on it and we are moving forward."

Seoul and Washington have been working on the conditions-based OPCON transition. Conditions include South Korea's capabilities to lead combined forces, its strike and air defense capabilities and the regional security environment conducive to the handover.

The South handed over operational control over its troops to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It was then transferred to South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) when the command was launched in 1978.

Seoul retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but Washington maintains wartime OPCON.

Commenting on security cooperation between South Korea and Japan, LaCamera underlined the need to continue trilateral cooperation between the U.S. and the two allies in the face of regional security challenges.

"The true existential threat to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan is not World War II imperial Japan. It's the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with nuclear weapons pointed at both countries, and quite frankly our country," he said. ROK and DPRK stand for the official names of South Korea and North Korea, respectively.

He added, "The Korea theater of operations is pretty tight. We are all inside the A2/AD bubble for both countries, and we've got to continue to work together for the security of all three nations." (Yonhap)