▲ Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of United States Forces Korea, delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2026 ROK-U.S. Combined Warfighting Forum held at the MND Convention in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of September 16.
North Korea has condemned military cooperation between South Korea and the United States in response to remarks by Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, who described South Korea as a "crucial center of collective defense," threatening that the South will become a "target of collective punishment."
In a commentary released today (September 25) via the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kang Chol-su, a director at the Institute for Enemy Studies, stated, "South Korea, which has emerged as a 'crucial center of collective defense' in line with U.S. strategic interests, will become a decisive target of collective punishment."
Kang criticized Commander Brunson for emphasizing South Korea as a "crucial center of collective defense" at a recent ROK-U.S. international security academic conference held in Seoul, claiming, "The predatory true colors of the United States, seeking to use South Korea as a core base for executing its hegemonic strategy and as mercenaries in regional conflicts, are becoming increasingly blatant."
He argued that this "more clearly exposes an attempt to thoroughly bind South Korea to an aggressive 'collective defense' system to realize its global hegemonic strategy," adding, "Under the pretext of 'jointly responding to common threats,' it is a predatory doctrine of aggression aimed at arbitrarily pushing allies into international conflict zones."
He went on to say, "The escalation of South Korea's military value into a 'crucial center of collective defense' means that South Korea's entire territory will serve as a core base for the U.S. to conduct foreign wars of aggression, and that as America's top mercenary, it will be deployed first wherever its master demands."
Kang also pointed to the deployment of an MQ-9 Reaper drone unit, the reinforcement of F-16 fighter jets, and moves to deploy multi-domain rapid deployment forces in South Korea, defining them as "part of executive measures to draw South Korea deeply into the 'collective defense' system."
Furthermore, mentioning joint drills such as Ulchi Freedom Shield, RIMPAC, and Pacific Vanguard, he asserted, "The fact that the South Korean military has been made to participate in multinational exercises to enhance the combined operational system and capabilities to conduct integrated operations also serves as proof of this."
Listing South Korea's increased defense spending, construction of nuclear-powered submarines, and integration into the integrated missile defense system, Kang denounced South Korea, saying it is "playing its part well as a top-class war servant, oblivious to its own demise."
He went on to threaten, "South Korea has turned into the most definite cancerous entity increasing regional and global instability, which will inevitably provoke heightened vigilance and enhanced readiness among countries and regions that feel the threat," adding that North Korea will "ruthlessly and thoroughly suppress and crush with ultra-high strength any challenge that harms our right to security."
Meanwhile, a statement issued the previous day (September 24) by Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, protesting a joint statement by the foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States, and Japan reaffirming their commitment to the "complete denuclearization of North Korea," was published in the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper read by North Korean residents.
In the statement, Choe reiterated North Korea's determination to maintain nuclear weapons, saying, "I reaffirm and declare once again in the most resolute tone the steadfast will of our state to possess nuclear weapons, which will remain absolutely unchanged even after a hundred or a thousand years."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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