According to the U.S. Army War College website on Tuesday, Brunson made the remarks during a podcast hosted by the school on May 22.
“When they look out from the East Coast of China, what they see is there’s Korea, the dagger in the heart of Asia. There’s Japan, again, sort of the shield or the blocking wall as they have ambitions to get beyond the South China Sea,” Brunson said.
His description of Korea as a “dagger” appears to reflect both South Korea’s strategic value to the U.S. in countering China and Beijing’s wariness over the presence of a U.S. ally and American troops so close to its territory.
China has long opposed the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, in South Korea, arguing that the system serves as a military tool aimed at containing Beijing.
Brunson’s remarks can be seen as highlighting the need to maintain the Korea-U.S. alliance and U.S. troop presence on the peninsula. At the same time, they also suggest his willingness to expand the role of the alliance and USFK beyond deterring North Korea to include a broader focus on China.
The comments may indicate that while the Trump administration continues to value the Korea-U.S. alliance and USFK, it is placing greater emphasis on their utility in countering China rather than solely defending South Korea from North Korean threats.
Brunson has repeatedly stressed the alliance’s role in checking China, in line with the concept of “alliance modernization,” which has become a key phrase for the Korea-U.S. alliance under the second Trump administration.
In May last year, he also described South Korea’s geographic position as strategically important, comparing it to “an island or like a fixed aircraft carrier” between Japan and mainland China.
Brunson also said USFK is working with Samsung to develop advanced cloud infrastructure that would allow the U.S. and its regional allies to maintain communications even if networks are cut off or disabled.
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