USFK to become Korea Command

Stars and Stripes ^ | Apr 13, 2010 | By Ashley Rowland,

[Jet Jaguar]

SEOUL — U.S. Forces Korea soon will get a name change.

USFK commander Gen. Walter Sharp has announced that the 28,500-strong U.S. presence here will become the U.S. Korea Command later this year, one of the changes the U.S. military will undergo as the South Korean military prepares to assume wartime control of its own troops in two years.

A date for the change has not been set, USFK spokesman David Oten said Tuesday. However, troops moving to South Korea this summer will fill billets for KORCOM, as the command will be known, he said.

Oten said KORCOM will have “many similarities” to USFK, but eventually will become a supporting command after South Korea becomes responsible for wartime operational control of its troops on April 17, 2012. On that date, the Combined Forces Command, the joint warfighting command now led by a U.S. general, will dissolve.

In its place will be what USFK calls two complementary but separate commands — the Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff, led by a South Korean general, and KORCOM. The CFC commander, Sharp, will remain responsible for leading forces until that time if war breaks out, USFK officials said. Both nations will retain control of their own troops during peace and wartime, but KORCOM will support the South Korean command during wartime, USFK officials said.

South Korea has had armistice control of its troops since 1994, but its forces would fall under the command of the CFC during a war.

Sharp said in recent speeches that KORCOM will reach full operational capability in 2011 and will become a supporting command to its South Korean counterpart the following year.

As part of the transition, the 8th Army will transform from an Army service component command into an “operational, warfighting headquarters” called field army, Sharp said Monday in a speech at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

“This headquarters will have the ability to command and control U.S. and multinational corps-equivalent units in combat,” he said.

Maj. Jerry Pionk, 8th Army spokesman, who described an Army service component command as “basically a force provider to a theater commander,” said the transformation to a field army is ongoing and will continue for several years. A lieutenant general will continue to command the 8th Army after the change is complete, he said.

[PatriotCJC]

So does this mean they will not report to PACOM and become their own Combatant Commander (COCOM)?

[Hillbillary]

I wonder if this time around we will wait until they are about to lose Pusan before we intervene again?

[ClayinVA]

No, this time Pusan gets nuked or NBCed when we try to form a pocket.