The effects of Korean unification on the US military presence in Northeast Asia

Parameters, Winter, 2002 by Carl B. Haselden, Jr.

The second option is for the Air Force to draft a memorandum with the Navy that identifies specific roles and functions in response to an East Asia-Pacific regional contingency. The Air Force might be designated to provide long-range bomber support, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets, and battle management capability, while the Navy would provide carrier-based strike aircraft. (52)

US Navy

The Asia-Pacific region is a maritime environment, and the ROK and Japan have benefitted significantly from the presence of the US Navy. If the United States ever had plans to contain China, the US Navy would be a significant part of any military response. (53) While the Navy is slowed by the vast distances in the Pacific, once on-station it can normally remain there for an indefinite period of time without depending on support from nations in the region.

The Navy's ability to project power ashore increases the flexibility of the United States when responding to contingencies. The initial air strikes in Afghanistan highlighted the importance of carrier-based strike aircraft when land bases are not available to support strike operations. While the US military is not designed around one geographic area or type of operation, Operation Enduring Freedom highlighted the importance of retaining aircraft carriers capable of minimizing the lack of access during the conduct of combat operations. (54)

The other important role for the Navy in Asia is to project land forces ashore. The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) report of 2001 established one of the six critical operational goals of transformation as projecting and sustaining US forces in distant anti-access or area-denial environments and defeating anti-access and area-denial threats. It further directed the Secretary of the Navy to develop new concepts of maritime prepositioning, high-speed lift, and new amphibious capabilities. However, the QDR did not establish a time-line for transforming these new concepts into warfighting capabilities and maintained the baseline Navy at its current configuration of 12 aircraft carriers and amphibious ready groups.

US Marine Corps

As discussed in the section on Japan, the US Marine Corps presence on the strategically placed island of Okinawa has been a source of friction. Korean reunification would certainly serve as a catalyst for a significant reduction of Marines on the island, if the Marine Corps presence is not reduced sooner. General James Jones, Commandant of the Marine Corps, has stated that it is clear the United States will have fewer permanent bases in Asia in the future. General Jones feels that the people on Okinawa will see how protests and political pressure will force the eventual withdrawal of the US military from Vieques, Puerto Rico, and "will draw conclusions from that." (55) However, it is not only the people of Okinawa who may draw these conclusions. On 23 July 2001, a Korea Herald editorial commented that "one victim in a bombing range located within the US dominion brought about its closure, while 12 deaths here [referring to the Koon-ni bombing range] have changed nothing." (56)