By General Sharp says the USFK is ready for any contingency in North Korea:
The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea says that South Korea and the U.S. have devised several scenarios to prepare for threats posed by any sudden developments in North Korea.
General Walter Sharp told reporters Monday that the South and the U.S. have plans ready should the threats present themselves, although he hopes such plans will not need to be executed.
He said U.S. and South Korea have contingency plans for any instability in the North “from the entire range of humanitarian disaster, to major civil war and potential loose nuclear weapons.”
On recent speculation of a missile test by Pyongyang, Sharp said Seoul and Washington have strengthened their monitoring of North Korea’s artillery as well as its missiles.
He said the South and the U.S. have the capability to thwart most threats from the North. But he added that should the North attack, some damage would be inevitable, given Seoul’s proximity to the North and Pyongyang’s attack capabilities.
The USFK chief predicted the North will face diplomatic and economic sanctions if it decides to conduct a missile test. [KBS Global]
I have no doubt USFK is ready to respond to any attack from North Korea, however does anyone really think USFK has a viable plan to react to the collapse of the North Korean regime if that was to happen? As people who follow this site know, I have written extensively on this topic and continue to advocate against US soldiers deploying into North Korea if the regime was to collapse for a variety of reasons.
This puts me at odds with Defense Secretary Robert Gates who vowed to supply “fighting power” if the North was to collapse. I have to wonder if General Sharp is thinking the same thing? It is a shame no reporter bothered to ask him.
11:28 pm on February 9th, 2009 1
Well, there's OPLAN 5029, which the South Koreans in their brilliant wisdom forced us to mothball in 2005. The South Koreans will do everything within their means to prop up the regime and prevent its collapse anyways.
11:31 pm on February 9th, 2009 2
Hi GI Korea,
I'm an avid reader and sometime commentor. I have this article for you from the Korea Times. It says a certain Major Mark Gardner could not get his children into a DODs school because they were not command sponsored.
My family works for DODs at Yongsan and this article was forwarded to the upper management. They said that no Major Garder exists. This might be true or false…I don't know.
My question is this: Is it possible for an officer of that level (major) to be denied "command sponsor"?
Here is the link…you've touched on this thing before a couple of months ago.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/…
Cheers!
11:45 pm on February 9th, 2009 3
[off topic]
Foflappy,
It is I, und das is Mein Kampf. In 2005, my command sponsorship packet was denied at Troop Command because "there aren't enough slots and you don't have any EFMP." In 2006 it was denied by the EUSA deputy G3 because "you're not a field grade." Finally, strike three was in 2007 when 2ID DSTB commander denied it because "you have no combat patch."
At that point I vowed to avenge all non-command sponsored Soldiers for the rest of my life, and this article is part of that. We are treated so unfairly in Korea that it is ridiculous. My daughter had bleeding gums because she fell and bit them at age two, but we were referred off-post because of being non-command sponsored. We lived in the equivalent of NCO quarters due to being non-command sponsored.
There needs to be a central approval authority for command sponsorship and the packets need to bypass all the middlemen who want to exercise their egos along the way.
12:21 am on February 10th, 2009 4
What the heck do you think GEN Sharp would say?
1:19 am on February 10th, 2009 5
I'm sure USFK will excel if called upon to enter a government-less North Korea.
One might feel it can't be the case with the rather abysmal track records of post-regime planning established in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we all know USFK has stronger and more agile leadership, more modern equipment and a full complement of experienced contractors backing them up, than all those combat units in the desert. The terrain really is in USFK's favor, too.
Go, General Sharp!
1:58 am on February 10th, 2009 6
Jeff,
I have a separate thread going for this issue now. Please comment over there:
http://rokdrop.com/2009/02/10/rok-drop-reader-spe…
Thanks.
7:32 am on February 10th, 2009 7
I would assume he would support Secretary Gates decision to send “fighting power” to North Korea if the regime was to collapse. What is meant by “fighting power” no one has yet defined. That is what a reporter should ask him.
8:52 am on February 10th, 2009 8
What part of Non-Command sponsored do you not understand? You think just because you took it upon yourself to have your family reside without sponsorship you should be granted CS? Horse squeeze. Just because your spouse is of Korean decent you should get special consideration? Again HS. You stat you got NCO quarters for your family? You are lucky to even get quarters! You fought your Kampf since 2005? Man up and dry your tears. You took the chance knowing full well that NCS is a hardship and it’s there for a reason. Because you put yourself in that predicament you think people should bend to your will and bail your poor decisons out? Wrong.
Out of my seven tours in Korea, I only had ONE CS tour and I knew full well what would happen if I was NCS, only ONE tour was in Seoul the rest was with 2ID! I paid for it all out of my pocket. Yes, I had TWO kids of school age, and my wife is Korean. We were just realistic about what to expect and planned for it. You are not ‘entitled’ to anything other than what’s in the regulation for NCS, regardless of grade.
Want to discuss self-induced hardship tours? Bring it. My first tour was in ’84 and my last was 2007. Experience? Yeah, I got that..
BTW, forget trying to pick apart my comments using spellcheck or a grammar lesson. It’s a blog. (a damn fine one at that!)