Help defend Taiwan? Commander of the U.S. Army in South Korea: Troops need to be deployed outside the Korean Peninsula

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported that Lieutenant General Joe Hilbert, commander of the Eighth Army of the U.S. Army in South Korea, said that if his troops are ordered to be deployed, they must be prepared to deploy outside the Korean Peninsula, adding that it would be "irresponsible" to only focus on local threats.

Hilbert pointed out that one of the core tasks of the Eighth Army is to implement the defense commitments stipulated in the "U.S.-South Korea Mutual Defense Treaty", but the troops' stationing in South Korea should not be a reason to restrict them from performing other tasks, and believed that it would be "irresponsible" to only focus on the security threats on the Korean Peninsula.

Hilbert positioned the Eighth Army as part of "U.S. global military power" and emphasized that the force must maintain combat readiness to deploy to relevant areas as needed after orders from the U.S. national command authority. He also mentioned that the Eighth Army's participation in multinational joint military exercises in the Asia-Pacific region is an example of its scope of activities not limited to the Korean Peninsula.

Hilbert's statement reflects the United States' consideration of the scope of the mission of the troops stationed in South Korea. The long-term core mission of the US military in South Korea is to deter North Korea and assist in the defense of South Korea. As the United States continues to adjust its military deployment in the Indo-Pacific region, Washington is also discussing how to improve the strategic flexibility of the troops stationed in South Korea so that it can respond to security challenges beyond the Korean Peninsula when necessary.

The U.S. Eighth Army is headquartered at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. It is responsible for commanding U.S. ground forces in South Korea and is the only U.S. Army unit stationed on the Asian continent in the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the approximately 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, the Eighth Army has traditionally focused on containing threats from North Korea rather than responding to emergencies in other areas, such as the Taiwan Strait, but the Trump administration has signaled that the Eighth Army will shift to a broader regional role.

The "2026 National Defense Strategy" directive issued by the U.S. Department of War in January this year stated that Washington's goal is to establish a strong denial defense along the first island chain; it also requires the Seoul authorities to assume the main responsibility for deterring Pyongyang, and the United States to provide critical but relatively limited support. The strategy points out that this shift in the balance of responsibilities is in line with the interests of the United States in adjusting the deployment of U.S. troops in South Korea.

The "First Island Chain" refers to a series of islands and archipelagos extending from Japan through Taiwan and the Philippines to the South China Sea. The Korean Peninsula is also located within this island chain.

At a press conference last August, General Xavier Brunson, commander of the U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK), said that strategic flexibility will be at the core of Seoul and Washington’s push to modernize the alliance to respond to the threats posed by nuclear-armed China, Russia and North Korea to the free and open Indo-Pacific region.