제 24 호 United States Forces Korea and the Korea-U.S. Alliance
Kicker: World
United States Forces Korea
and the Korea-U.S. Alliance
by Si-ho Park, Editor
The US military has been stationed in South Korea since the time of the US military government that was established between 1945-1948. According to the results of the three Moscow summits, the US military government in South Korea was implemented. During the Korean War, it was stationed under the name of the United Nations to repel communist forces. Since the Armistice Agreement, it has been stationed to cope with security threats on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.
Let's take a deeper look at the detailed contents of United States Forces Korea (USFK) with Colonel Marvin Haynes, the Deputy Director for Plans, Policy, and Strategy at USFK. He studied together with Professor Samuel Alexander Denny, a professor of English Education at Sangmyung University, in the University of Hawaii MA Program for East Asian Studies. What a small world it is!
the picture of Col. Haynes from the Mr. D’s special lecture with Dr. Kim on July 24th
ROK-U.S. Alliance and United States Forces Korea (USFK)
Throughout history, alliances between nations have formed when those countries have aligned interests. The closer those interests align, the stronger the alliance. The core values of the United States line up very closely with those of an independent, democratic, and economically blooming Republic of Korea, including the provision and maintenance of peninsula and regional security enabling free trade throughout the global community. The importance of the alliance is three-fold: 1) over the course of multiple conflicts, South Korea and the U.S. forged a partnership in blood that binds them at an emotional level; 2) the two economies are intricately intertwined in such a way that if one succeeds both succeed, a true win-win situation; and 3) the presence of a strong, capable, and ready allied military force in South Korea acts as a deterrent to those nations or non-state actors desiring to upend the rules-based international order for their own gain or simply to bring down those nations which are succeeding.
Based on this ROK-U.S. alliance, United States Forces Korea (USFK) currently resides at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, the largest U.S. Army base located outside of the United States. USFK is a sub-unified command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) stationed at Oahu, Hawaii. This essentially means that the USFK is a subordinate command to that larger regional headquarters and maintains authority and responsibility for all U.S. forces stationed or otherwise operating on the Korean Peninsula.
More than anything the presence of U.S. Forces within the alliance, specifically those stationed here in the Republic of Korea, signals the close diplomatic, economic, and military relationship the two nations share. Historically, the U.S. and Republic of Korea have physically shed blood together battling against the aggressive actions of communist nations seeking to snuff out the democratic South in 1950, and worked to provide terms of continued and enduring support to the established rules-based international order. As well, from a military point of view, the presence of the U.S. signals a willingness to once more stand beside the ROK in arms to defend the people and institutions of this wonderful nation against any form of external aggression. The presence of the U.S. in the ROK reminds potential adversaries that the Republic of Korea has a powerful friend—close at hand—contributing to a deterrent effect upon potential actions intended to harm this country. The United Nations Command takes that a step further in reminding potential adversaries that the Republic of Korea has many powerful friends from around the world, ready and willing to lend material support in times of crisis.
UNC, CFC, and USFK: How Are They Different?
Combined Forces Command (CFC) is the ROK-US headquarters element that would direct military operations in the case of crisis or contingency on the Korean Peninsula. It is first and foremost a wartime command and control element that during the Armistice develops and revises operational planning and does everything it can to facilitate the shift to combat operations should the need arise. CFC has no forces of its own but would be provided operational control over military forces provided by the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, United States Forces Korea, and the United Nations Command.
United States Forces Korea (USFK) has many roles, including the day-to-day management of the ROK-US alliance, and providing U.S. Forces and support to the Combined Forces Command in case of a crisis or contingency.
United Nations Command (UNC) commanded all allied forces during the Korean War but passed that role on to the CFC. Today, the United Nations Command acts as a force provider to the CFC in the event of crisis or contingency, but also provides significant messaging and diplomatic support from the 18 UNC member states as well as many others through various multinational partnerships with those nations (ASEAN, NATO, etc.). Finally, UNC provides international legitimacy to the defense of the Republic of Korea, in accordance with numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions and the shared understanding by democratic nations of how a rules-based order does and should function.
Other Stories from Marvin Haynes about His Korean Life
Marvin Haynes, a Colonel in the USFK, began his career as a Field Artillery Officer but transitioned to the Foreign Area Officer Corps in 2002. In total, he has spent over nine years in the Republic of Korea at various postings going back to the first in 1995. He is currently the Deputy Director for Plans, Policy, and Strategy at USFK, a position he has held since January 2023.
He has always found it to be a positive experience to live in other countries, frankly, with very few negative incidents over the course of nearly a decade. It’s always hard living in another country; especially one that is culturally so different from the one in which you are raised. He has always felt that nobody in the world can actually see their own culture until they’ve lived in another. Not merely visited, as that experience is simply too transitory to make an impact, but physically lived in another country. Then and only then can you truly appreciate the ‘why’ behind how you perceive things, and how that perception can be altered when viewed through others’ eyes and other cultural norms. He says everyone should live in another country for a while and Korea is as good a choice as any and better than most!
He says that he loves all the things in Korea, from the lively exchange of people on the street and in restaurants to the technical ingenuity and advancements daily on display here. He generally finds the Korean approach to solving problems to be pragmatic and commonsensical, important to him given the types of jobs he has been assigned to over the years. Finally, he loves the respect shown to the elderly, the grandmothers and grandfathers who endured so much to gift us the wonderfully flourishing Korea of today. They went through more societal and economic change in a shorter period of time, perhaps, than any comparable people anywhere or at any time in history and we should take special care of them in their waning years.
Finally, I would like to deliver a message from Colonel Haynes to our students. I hope you recognize the importance of the opportunity to get an education that you have.
He says that “education” is a means, not an end. It can provide the tools needed to achieve success—however one might define success—but simply sitting in class doesn’t guarantee anything. The diploma isn’t magical. Those among you who can take the tools Sangmyung gives you and then energetically put them into practice in the world outside the walls of this institution are those most likely to achieve their goals. The ability to study is a blessing. Never forget that. It’s not a given everywhere in the world, but there are a good many people working hard and even sacrificing every day to ensure that future generations have the freedom to pursue higher education, making yourselves, your families, your communities, and your country better in the process. One shouldn’t take the opportunity for granted.
