Seoul: The commander of American forces in South Korea has underscored the Korean Peninsula's central role in the U.S. security strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, noting the peninsula's location between the Asian continent and the Pacific region.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of USFK, made the remarks at a lecture at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday. This comes at a time when Seoul and Washington are pushing to "modernize" their alliance to enhance South Korea's role in its own defense and its contributions to addressing regional threats.

"Korea is not a side chapter in American strategy," Brunson said. "If you put the peninsula in the first chapter, the geometry of the region and the value of our alliances become impossible to ignore." He described the Korean Peninsula as a "hinge between the Asian continent and Pacific maritime approaches," emphasizing that it "should be viewed as a central pillar of U.S. and allied strategy."

On the Korean Peninsula, Brunson highlighted that the U.S. and allied forces are already positioned inside the first island chain, which is a key perimeter for America's strategic preeminence against China in the Pacific. He stressed the importance of forward posture and alliance modernization on the peninsula as "essential" to deterrence and crisis management, especially amid North Korea's deepening military cooperation with Russia and growing regional threats.