The U.S. has reportedly shifted its strategy on the Korean peninsula... looking to pressure the South Korean government to side with the U.S. over China.
Former U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks gives his insights on key issues related to the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Kim Ji-yeon reports.
Former U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks in an interview with VOA on Monday... said Washington's request for Seoul to contribute more to defense costs... is more focused on pressuring Seoul to participate in its military strategy in the Indo-Pacific to counter China's growing influence... along with its move to pressure China for the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
The so-called Indo-Pacific U.S. strategy, designed with the Indian and Pacific oceans at its center, is for the U.S. to strategically extend its partnership with East Asian countries with the aim of countering the rise of China as an economic and military power.
Brooks said the request for a fair share of the costs includes the expansion of the crackdown of North Korean ships that are carrying prohibited exports of coal and oil.
Brooks said all this signifies a turning point in Washington's strategy in terms of the South Korea-U.S. alliance from the traditional viewpoint of suppressing the North Korean threat to curbing China's rising influence... and that Seoul may be increasingly pressured to choose between the U.S. or China.
On the issue of the imminent return of U.S. military bases to South Korea, Brooks said the decision is up to the South Korean government... on the precondition that the agreement between the two sides of a specific timeline in moving the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command is resolved.
This follows Seoul's decision late last month to seek an early return of more than two dozen bases across the country... including the relocation of the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters from Seoul to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul... amid speculation of a widening rift in the alliance after Washington rebuked Seoul for its refusal to renew a military intel-sharing pact with Japan.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.