(LEAD) USFK chief calls for more dispersed military drills across S. Korea, citing Ukraine war lessons

(ATTN: CHANGES dateline; ADDS comments from Seoul military source, other details in paras 6-9)
By Chang Dong-woo and KIm Seung-yeon

WASHINGTON/SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- The commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) on Monday called for more geographically dispersed military exercises across South Korea, citing lessons from the war in Ukraine and the need to adapt to evolving battlefield threats.

Gen. Xavier Brunson made the remarks during a panel discussion at the Association of the United States Army's (AUSA) annual conference in Washington, as he discussed ways to improve the readiness and deterrence posture of U.S. and South Korean forces.

"I think what we recognize is that largely the two big exercises every year in Korea focus on large command posts. We've got to move away from that," Brunson said.

The general suggested that the allies consider conducting exercises across a much broader geographical area rather than in fixed locations.

"What would it look like if we train from Jeju all the way up to Gyeonggi Province in the north?" he said. "So just imagine if we trained across the entirety of the peninsula."

South Korea and the United States hold large-scale combined exercises every year -- the Freedom Shield and the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) -- to train for contingencies on the Korean Peninsula.

The allies scaled back by half their UFS exercise in August, following U.S. President Donald Trump's order to reduce the drills in an apparent conciliatory gesture toward Pyongyang.

Brunson's latest remarks about dispersing the drills could be seen in Seoul as signaling possible structural changes, shifting the focus from command post-oriented exercises to a more decentralized model.

"I understand this does not mean modifying existing large-scale command post exercises, but rather placing an emphasis on the need for additional, dispersed training," a South Korean military source said.

Brunson said the allies should take into consideration lessons from the war in Ukraine, where the widespread use of drones and other modern battlefield technologies has left forces operating from fixed positions vulnerable.

He stressed the importance of distributing forces across different locations to reduce their vulnerability to potential attacks. "We won't be moored in place."

Brunson also raised the possibility of conducting more training between the two major annual exercises, rather than focusing preparations primarily on those events.

The general said the USFK had recently conducted a strategic exercise without troops, during which military personnel traveled by helicopter to examine how forces could maneuver across South Korea in the event of a crisis.

During the same discussion, Brunson warned that North Korean forces participating in the war in Ukraine were incorporating lessons learned from actual combat into their training and weapons development programs.

"I think that's one of the most pressing things that we see right now is the fact that we have an adversary who is being trained in the crucible of combat, while we're trying to find better ways to train ourselves to counter the things that they might be learning," he said.

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