Seoul: South Korea and the US have signed a new joint wartime operations plan to counter evolving military threats from North Korea, as revealed by the commander of US Forces Korea (USFK). Public broadcaster KBS reported this development on Thursday.
According to Kuwait News Agency, Xavier Brunson disclosed this information in a written statement for a hearing at the US House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday (US time). He mentioned that the allies made significant progress in their combat readiness with the signing of the new combined operations plan last year.
The plan is a classified military strategy that assumes wartime scenarios on the Korean Peninsula, with South Korea-US joint exercises being conducted based on this plan. In the statement released Wednesday, the USFK chief stated that the new plan will enable the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command to better prepare for potential military conflicts and respond to evolving threats from North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and missile capabilities.
Brunson, who also leads the UN Command, noted that alliance planners have worked diligently over the past few years to develop the plan. He added that it has been consistently tested and validated through the South Korea-US combined exercises Freedom Shield and Ulchi Freedom Shield.
The Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Approximately 28,500 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea to deter and counter potential threats from the North.