General: High Readiness Key to Deter North Korean Threats

By Walter T. Ham IV

8th U.S. Army

SEOUL, South Korea  – Maintaining a high state of military readiness is imperative to deterring North Korean threats in the region, the 8th U.S. Army’s deputy commander said here today.

“North Korea continues to threaten the peninsula and the region with its provocative actions and rhetoric as well as its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction,” Army Maj. Gen. Walter M. Golden Jr. said during his welcoming ceremony on Yongsan Garrison.

The 8th U.S. Army has partnered with South Korea to deter threats from Pyongyang for more than 60 years, the two-star general said.

“As the U.S. military shifts its focus to the Pacific, this mission remains as important as ever,” said Golden, who hails from Salida, Colo. “Deterring aggression requires a very high state of readiness and that is why it is imperative that we train together with our ROK allies as often as possible to maintain that level of readiness.”

Golden reported to 8th Army following his assignment as the deputy commander for police with the NATO training mission in Afghanistan.

Senior officials attended Golden’s welcoming ceremony, including the ROK Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Sung-choon, Dongducheon Mayor Oh Se-chang and Army Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea.

The Dongducheon mayor had named Golden an honorary citizen of his city, which is adjacent to Camp Casey, during Golden’s previous tour of duty when he was the assistant commander for maneuver with the 2nd Infantry Division.

Golden “will play a crucial role on the 8th Army command team as we continue to defend liberty here with our ROK allies,” said Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson, 8th Army’s commanding general.

An Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot and Harvard graduate, Golden said he jumped at the opportunity to serve in South Korea again.

South Korea “is one of America’s greatest allies and the ROK-U.S. alliance is the strongest military alliance in the world,” Golden said. “Today, this modern, democratic and prosperous nation serves as a great example of what free people can accomplish together.”

Commander Seeks Enhanced Deterrent on Korean Peninsula

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – The commander of U.S. Forces Korea is working to ensure all the capabilities needed to defend South Korea are in place.

Army Gen. James D. Thurman told the Association of the Republic of Korea Army today that the U.S. Army has issued guidance to increase the manning levels of the 2nd Infantry Division. He is also working with U.S. service chiefs to keep American might on the peninsula at the highest levels of readiness.

This does not necessarily mean an increase in the number of troops in South Korea, Thurman said. There are about 28,500 Americans based in the country. That number will remain about the same, but the distribution will be changed, he said.

“There is true commitment from the United States and common understanding of the importance that northeast Asia has today,” Thurman said.

The general also is looking for ways to reduce the high U.S. military turnover rate in South Korea. Most U.S. forces deploy to the country for one-year tours. “There’s a constant turnover and loss of people coming and going to Korea,” he said. “I have asked the Army and the other services to help develop options to mitigate this, and I’m confident we will be able to work this.”

Thurman said he is also examining the current U.S. force structure on the peninsula and what modifications must be made to enhance warfighting capabilities.

At his regular Tuesday news conference, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said Thurman is dedicated to ensuring “that we and our South Korean allies have the capabilities that we need to ensure the defense of the Republic of Korea.”

“Any recommendations or decisions that he has made with respect to the provision of new equipment, we believe, is part of a calculus that goes on all the time when you’re in a theater like the Republic of Korea and you face a threat across the border,” Little added.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby stressed that nothing Thurman is requesting is new.

“These are … long-standing capabilities that he’s been interested in making sure he has available to him,” Kirby said at the same Pentagon news conference. “In fact, some of them, I think, are intended just to replace or restore assets that deployed to Afghanistan from South Korea that he just simply wants … to get back into his quiver.”

Deterring North Korea is the mission of U.S. forces in South Korea, officials said. North Korea has just gone through regime succession. The North sank the South Korean Navy ship Cheonan in 2010. Later that year, the North shelled a border island killing two civilians and two South Korean Marines. The North also unsuccessfully tried to launch a missile in April that could be used as an ICBM. All these incidents, officials said, point to the threat Pyongyang poses.

“Our readiness defines our deterrent capability and we can never allow that to slip,” Thurman said. “Maintaining high levels of readiness requires having the proper manning, the proper force structure and the most modern equipment.”

Thurman has asked U.S. Army leaders for priority to receive an added attack-reconnaissance helicopter squadron to bring the 2ndInfantry Division’s combat aviation brigade to full strength.

The general said he’s also requested “increased capabilities in terms of theater ballistic missile defense.”

The 2nd Infantry Division already has the Army’s most modern tanks, improved capabilities in the Bradley fighting vehicles and upgraded Blackhawk helicopters, Thurman said.

“We will continue to improve our joint command, control, computers, and intelligence systems, and we will continue to improve our cyber capabilities,” he said. “This is a domain that we must be prepared to operate in from a combined and joint perspective because this is important to mitigate the risks posed by our potential enemies.”

Enhancing interoperability with the South Korean military is a priority for U.S. Forces Korea, Thurman said.

“The ROK-U.S. alliance is the strongest alliance in the world,” the general said. “It is the best military-to-military relationship I have ever experienced in my 37 years serving in the United States military. And it’s the best because it is built on mutual trust and common values.”

Soldier Missing from Korean War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Cpl. A.V. Scott, 27, of Detroit, Mich., will be buried June 22 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.  On Feb. 12, 1951, Scott’s unit, the 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, was supplying friendly forces approximately 70 miles east of Seoul, South Korea, when Chinese Communist units attacked the area and forced a withdrawal.  Scott was captured by enemy forces and marched north to a prisoner-of-war camp in Suan County, North Korea.  Surviving POWs within the camp reported Scott died in April 1951.

Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200 to 400 U.S. servicemen.  North Korean documents turned over with one of the boxes indicated the remains were exhumed near Suan County, which correlates with Scott’s last known location.

Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used dental comparisons, and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of Scott’s cousins, in the identification. 

More than 2,000 servicemen died as prisoners of war during the Korean War.  With this identification, 7,993 service members remain missing from the conflict.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.