▲ This file photo, released by the Associated Press, shows U.S. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson testifying during an Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 17, 2024. (Yonhap)

USFK commander-S Korea

USFK commander says S. Korea is 'dagger' in heart of Asia from China's perspective

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, May 26 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson has said that South Korea is a "dagger in the heart of Asia" if seen from China's east coast, a remark that apparently underscored the strategic location of the Asian ally amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.

Brunson made the remarks in a recent podcast interview hosted by the U.S. Army War College on Friday, amid lingering speculation that the United States would seek to leverage USFK assets to help deter an increasingly assertive China or address other regional challenges beyond the Korean Peninsula.

"When they (the Chinese) look out from the east coast of China, what they see is there's Korea, the dagger in the heart of Asia," he said, according to a transcript posted on the website of the Strategic Studies Institute at the Army War College.

"(Then) there's Japan again, sort of that shield that's sort of a backstop, if you will, for them trying and their ambitions beyond that into the South China Sea and then down to their southeast is the Philippines," he added.

His remarks came as Seoul and Washington are working to "modernize" the bilateral alliance, under which the Asian ally is expected to undertake a greater security burden in a way that would enable the 28,500-strong USFK to look beyond the Korean Peninsula to confront broader regional threats.

During a forum a year ago, Brunson also highlighted the strategic value of South Korea in overcoming geographic constraints in the broader Indo-Pacific, depicting the Asian ally as a "fixed aircraft carrier" in the region that presents security challenges that he said are "largely defined by the tyranny of distance."

During last week's interview, Brunson noted that cooperation with South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. to enhance USFK infrastructure.

"We're working with Samsung right now to develop a great cloud infrastructure, which will allow us and our allies in the region to communicate in the event of denied (or) negated. You know, I guess you'd call it analog communications that we work off of now," he said.

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