Dec 24, 2024
Colby has previously argued that South Korea should take up more of the defense burden, particularly when it comes to countering North Korea
By Kim Won-chul, staff reporter
Dec 24, 2024
US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, as the next Department of Defense undersecretary for defense policy. Colby has argued that the US should focus on containing China while South Korea should deal with the North Korea threat on its own. He has now been appointed to the highest office for managing US-South Korea relations. Pundits are now speculating about how the role of US Forces Korea (USFK) could be adjusted going forward, and whether Colby’s argument for permitting South Korea to arm itself with nuclear weapons will manifest into reality.
On Sunday, Trump posted the announcement of Colby’s appointment on Truth Social.
“A highly respected advocate for our America First foreign and defense policy, Bridge will work closely with my outstanding Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to restore our Military power, and achieve my policy of PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH. Bridge served with distinction in the Pentagon in my First Term, leading the effort on my landmark 2018 Defense strategy,” Trump wrote.
In 2018, as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, Colby led the drafting of a Pentagon document pertaining to a national defense strategy based on a hard-line stance against China. Colby argued that the US should not stand by and allow China to become the dominant force in East Asia, calling for enhanced military cooperation with key US partners in the region, including South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. However, he additionally argued that US allies need to take strengthen their own defense capabilities and take on a greater share of the security burden with the US.
In this light, Colby has argued for adjustments in the role of USFK and for South Korea’s nuclear armament. In an interview with Yonhap News Agency in May, Colby said, “US forces on the peninsula in my view should not be held hostage to dealing with the North Korean problem because that is not the primary issue for the US.”
“South Korea is going to have to take primary, essentially overwhelming, responsibility for its own self-defense against North Korea because we don’t have a military that can fight North Korea and then be ready to fight China,” he added.
Colby reportedly told Yonhap that US forces tasked with defending South Korea against a Chinese attack should not be stationed in Korea.
“Because if they were in Korea, they would be subject to massive preemptive attack at short range,” Colby said. “South Korea is so close to China that it’s under massive Chinese missile threat, not to mention North Korea.”
In the Korean version of the interview, Yonhap quoted Colby as saying that he would not station US troops in Korea if he had a say in the matter.
In another interview, he argued that the primary role of USFK is to contain China, not get involved in a direct confrontation with North Korea, emphasizing that he was not calling for a physical “withdrawal” of US troops from Korea.
Regarding the denuclearization of North Korea, Colby has called the idea “impossibly far-fetched,” arguing for a more “attainable” goal like “arms control, particularly focused on limiting the range of North Korean ICBMs.”
Colby has also expressed skepticism about the South Korea-US joint Nuclear Consultative Group and its stated goal of “integrated extended deterrence.” In multiple interviews he has stated that the US cannot keep its promise of upgrading its nuclear umbrella.
“It would not be rational to lose multiple American cities to just deal with North Korea,” Colby told Yonhap.
Yonhap relayed that Colby said “all options” should be on the table, including South Korea’s independent nuclear armament. He also stressed that Washington should not threaten Seoul with sanctions if it decides to develop nuclear weapons.
The US Department of Defense’s undersecretary for policy is a high-level position directly under the defense secretary and deputy defense secretary. The undersecretary is responsible for directing the department’s overall policy, and plays a decisive role in determining policies pertaining to strategy, alliance management, and military operation guidelines. As the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development in the first Trump administration, Colby worked directly under the undersecretary. The Defense Department undersecretary for policy needs to be confirmed by the US Senate in order for the appointment to be official.
On the same day, Trump announced that he had appointed billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg, co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management and a major donor to the Trump campaign, as his deputy defense secretary. Feinberg headed the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board during the first Trump administration.
Cerberus Capital Management has invested in hypersonic missiles. At the time, Feinberg was the owner of DynCorp, a private military contractor. The Washington Post expressed concerns about a Wall Street entrepreneur being the deputy secretary of defense, a position connected to various defense contracts, citing a conflict of interest. The paper also expressed doubts about whether Feinberg is a suitable person for the job.
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