US troops in South Korea must be ready for missions beyond peninsula, commander says
Eighth Army chief stresses regional readiness as Washington pushes Seoul to take greater responsibility for its own defence
The commander of the US Eighth Army in South Korea said his troops must be ready for deployment outside the Korean peninsula if ordered, arguing that it would be “irresponsible” to focus “myopically” on threats there.
Lieutenant General Joe Hilbert said that while his command’s focus was on fulfilling US commitments under its mutual defence treaty with Seoul, the Eighth Army’s location did not limit the missions it could undertake.
It would be “irresponsible to focus myopically” on threats on the Korean peninsula alone, he told the South China Morning Post by email, or to “suggest that we cannot do other things simply because we are in Korea”.
Describing the Eighth Army as part of a “global force” that trains for “readiness so that we can deploy where needed by our national command authority,” Hilbert cited the Eighth Army’s participation in multinational exercises across the Asia-Pacific as an example of its activities beyond the peninsula.
