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W. Sharp: Address to Summit 2022, Session IV
Written by Gen. Walter Sharp, USA (Ret.), commander, United Nations Command, ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea (2008-2011)
Friday, August 12, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
It was indeed a great honor for me to be able to participate in this fact-finding trip and meet with U.S. and Korean officials here, and I thank The Washington Times and the Universal Peace Federation for allowing that to happen.
You just heard from Ambassador Harris, who talked about what kind of diplomacy is needed to move towards the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. I believe that it is going to take all elements of power to be able to achieve peaceful reunification, including diplomacy, information, a military component and an economic component. I am going to talk about the military component today because I think its role in providing deterrence and stability and helping to make sure that diplomacy and the other elements can help push towards peaceful reunification is very important. When you talk about military alliance here, you are talking about the Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. military alliance.
It has been here since the Korean War. It has been successful in maintaining the armistice since 1953 and has evolved and will continue to evolve to meet the challenges of North Korea and provide that deterrent value as we move forward. I believe that the ROK-U.S. alliance is the strongest alliance the United States has anywhere in the world, and I say that without question. It is a unique command that I will talk about in a couple of minutes.
The command and military component here is strong now, but it needs to continue to strengthen. A lot of talk has been about North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, their threats. But, I think we have to remember that North Korea has a huge conventional military that is poised just north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and capable and ready to attack at any minute. They have 6,000 medium and long range artillery systems. Four thousand of those 6,000 can hit this building today without moving, so they are very dangerous from that perspective.
North Korea also has the largest special operating forces in the world. They also have a cyber-capability that they have demonstrated and are continuing to use on a daily basis. When you talk about all of that and the missile threat, it is not just numbers. North Korea’s missiles have increased in accuracy. They have hypersonics now. They have different platforms they can fire from, to include submarines, and they are now talking about tactical nuclear weapons. So, I think it is very critical that the military alliance here be very strong to counter all the threats, not just the nuclear missile one.
I was here in 2010 when the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, was sunk and North Korea fired artillery on Yeonpyeong, an island in the West Sea, killing both military personnel and civilians. 2010 was not that long ago. But I am confident, having seen what the Republic of Korea has done to increase its capabilities and planning, so that if another attack or kinetic attack comes on South Korea, it is going to respond very strongly.
I believe all those combinations have proven very successful. There really has not been a kinetic attack against South Korea since November 2010 when Yeongpyeong Island was attacked—and that is because of the strength of the ROK-U.S. alliance. I believe the alliance is continuing to strengthen and needs to be strengthened.
I will briefly talk about five different ways that I see this alliance strengthening over the next several years. The first element is the Republic of Korea’s military, which is outstanding. They are modern and well equipped, and their defense budget is a larger percentage of their GDP (gross domestic product) than any of the United States’ NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies. They have funded their defense across many different administrations and continue to. What they are buying now and in the future is exactly what is needed to deter North Korea.
South Korea’s military is experienced and has been deployed around the world. They were in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. They have been in many countries and still are in United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world. So, my first point is to continue to strengthen the Republic of Korea’s military.
The second element is the Combined Forces Command that Dr. Jenkins talked about, which I had the honor to command for three years. The ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command is unique; there is no other command like it anywhere in the world because it truly is combined. U.S. soldiers from the very top to the very bottom sit side-by-side with Republic of Korea soldiers in one command. When I was here as a four-star commander, my deputy was a Korean four-star commander, and that is still true today. That structure applies throughout, at all levels of, the command structure. It is not two units supporting each other. It is one combined unit that is out there. We plan together and have one plan, not a U.S. plan and the Republic of Korea plan, and one to defend South Korea. We do exercises, train and work together. The motto of the Combined Forces Command is kachi kap-shida, which means “we go together.” That is very true, and it is very powerful and will continue to evolve into the future.
The third element is the United Nations Command, another command that has been here since the Korean War. It was the command that led all the troops during that war. Today, 18 nations around the world have officers in the command. Its purpose is to be able to train and help when conflict starts, so that those nations and others can be quickly integrated into the command and prepared to defend the Republic of Korea. The command is not only ready to be able to integrate those forces, but has a planning process in place for contingencies before conflict starts. I am absolutely convinced that if conflict started here, many nations would come to support South Korea and inform and serve with the United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command.
The fourth element is exercises. I am very happy to see that the exercises have started again here. They are absolutely critical, both for live fire and command post exercises. U.S. Forces rotate in and out of the country, some folks come for one year, while many come for three years. A continuous training regime is absolutely critical to make sure that the Combined Forces Command is truly ready and truly deterring North Korea.
And I do believe, as I said earlier, it has a very strong deterrent value. When North Korea sees the capabilities we demonstrate during these exercises, I think it is a clear deterrence to North Korea.
The last and fifth element is important, but has a long way to go, but I am encouraged that it is starting, and it is trilateral cooperation between the Republic of Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Japan brings great capability. I firmly believe that if there is a conflict on the Korean Peninsula, it is going to be regional and probably even global. This cooperation is critical in the areas of missile defense and intelligence.
The United Nations Command has five bases in Japan to help fly forces through if they are coming here, and they help resupply the fight. Cooperation between the U.S., Republic of Korea and Japan is critical for what President Yoon and the military are starting to do: to work more from a military alliance perspective.
In summary, I am very confident that the ROK-U.S. military alliance with the United Nations Command is strong. I am also confident that this alliance will continue to evolve in order to achieve deterrence and make sure we have peaceful reunification under the terms of freedom, democracy and human rights. It is ironclad and indispensable. In order for peaceful reunification to take place, we need diplomacy, information, and military and economic powers to all work together. And again, I am confident in this military alliance to be able to do that.
Thank you very much.
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