In DMZ, US army chief touts peace through strength in alliance

DEMILITARIZED ZONE, South Korea -- Achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula amid North Korea’s persistent nuclear saber-rattling requires strength, but such strength is derived from the formidable alliance and deepening defense integration between the treaty allies, said Gen. James McConville, chief of staff of the United States Army.

US combat-credible forces are “very ready” in the face of escalating missile and nuclear threats from North Korea, following the bedrock “philosophy of peace through strength.”

“The strength comes from us having a strong military, the Republic of Korea having a strong military, working together with allies and partners,” McConville said during a joint interview following his visit to the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone, referring to South Korea by its official name.

McConville underscored that “having an integrated missile defense capability is important and necessary” for allies to better counter advancing missile threats from North Korea. North Korea has developed a variety of nuclear-capable missiles that can hit South Korea and the US mainland while incapacitating the allies’ missile defenses.

South Korea has focused on developing its own three-axis missile defense system rather than focusing on the alliance integration of air and missile defense systems, partially in light of backlash from China.

“What we do in the United States Army is when we are requested to provide those capabilities, whether it’s THAAD or Patriot, we make sure that those units are ready and trained and can execute the mission,” McConville said, citing THAAD battery and Patriot air defense systems deployed in South Korea as examples.

“But also (it is) very, very important we work with our partners here to make sure they’re integrated, so they provide the type of capabilities that they need to protect this nation.”

The idea of achieving peace through strength is a principle that directed the US to triumph in the Cold War, and it was a strategy that shielded the country from the disaster of a nuclear war.

But Russia’s unprovoked armed invasion of Ukraine has provided the US and its allies one more important lesson: Closer alignment and a more holistic approach is indispensable to deter aggression from nuclear-armed adversaries in multiple domains.

“Peace comes through strength. And the strength comes from countries that share the same values, that share the same interests, that understand the importance of having peace and stability and security in the region,” he said.

McConville elucidated that strengthening deterrence also requires a “whole-of-government effort.”

“We call it integrated deterrence. It’s not just military, but it’s also economic; it’s diplomacy, certainly, and working together to make sure that we can maintain peace and security in the region.”

Integrated deterrence is the cornerstone of the US national defense strategy, which calls for integration of all tools of national power while leveraging the strong network of allies and partners to deter aggression by adversaries.

Furthermore, a “whole globe effort” is required to make sure to impose costs on those who are using force in the international community in ways that the US’ allies and partners don’t want them to.

McConville said the grinding war in Ukraine shows that a regional conflict impacts the entire globe. Therefore, the US and its allies including South Korea should strive to ensure there are no regional conflicts in the Indo-Pacific region.

Major flashpoints have long existed in the region, but the situation has become more dangerous and volatile amid China’s attempt to change the status quo by force.

McConville declined to comment on whether South Korea and the US should reshape their alliance to better cope with challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. He instead said the allies are seeking to get lessons learned from what’s happening in other parts of the world, referring to the war in Ukraine.

South Korea and the US are trying to incorporate the lessons into their relationships and find out how they can provide more strength through their militaries.

“It’s time to have no conflicts in the region,” McConville said. “Regional conflicts have global implications, and it’s in no one’s interests to have a regional conflict in this region.”

McConville’s calls for the stronger alliance came after he made his first visit to the Joint Security Area in the DMZ since assuming the current assignment to mark the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-US alliance established in October 1953 with the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty.

The JSA, which was the only location where South and North Korean forces stood face to face before the COVID-19 pandemic, serves as a stark reminder of the seven decades of ceasefire and division that continues to separate the two Koreas on the Korean Peninsula.

During his visit to the JSA, unarmed forces from South Korea and the US stood shoulder to shoulder, protecting a slender concrete boundary that demarcated the inter-Korean border at the JSA. Meanwhile, their North Korean counterparts were conspicuously absent from their posts.

At the JSA, McConville stopped in front of the low concrete border marker that then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and then-US President Donald Trump stepped over to cross into North Korea in 2018 and 2019, respectively. They did so at a time when the three countries had been moving toward detente on the Korean Peninsula.

McConville also entered the blue conference building of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission straddling the inter-Korean border in the JSA, where he was briefed on the history and reality of the division of the Korean Peninsula, including the Axe Murder Incident in 1976.

Two American soldiers, including Capt. Arthur Bonifas, were axed to death by scores of North Korean soldiers while trimming a tree at the JSA. Camp Bonifas was renamed in 1986 in honor of the late captain.

At Camp Bonifas, the most forward-deployed base camp for the US-led United Nations Command, McConville said that the “US Army with the Republic of Korea’s Army is very ready and is capable of defending” the peninsula against any North Korean threats.

“In my role as chief of staff of the army, what I want to do is provide highly trained, disciplined, and fit soldiers and units that can work very closely with our allies and partners to make sure that we have combat-credible forces that can deter any type of aggression in the area,” he said.

McConville emphasized that the enduring alliance has been the cornerstone of the prosperity enjoyed by South Korea. His father served as a sailor in the US Navy during the 1950-53 Korean War, and both his son and daughter have completed tours of duty in South Korea, he said.

The US Army has also been undergoing its largest transformation in 40 years by manifesting capabilities it has never had before -- capabilities that will provide the edge in any future conflict.

“What we want to do is make sure that our army is extremely ready and extremely lethal and is ready to support any type of operation that our national command authority directs us to do,” McConville said.

“For the United States Army, it’s not about fighting the last conflict better; it’s about winning the next conflict.”