▲ U.S. Senator Dave McCormick answers questions from South Korean reporters at a hotel in Seoul on October 8.
U.S. Senator Dave McCormick (Republican-Pennsylvania), a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, stated that the South Korea-U.S. alliance is in the process of being "reset," describing it as marriage counseling rather than a divorce.
According to the Hudson Institute, a U.S. think tank, on October 18 (local time), Senator McCormick made the remarks during a conversation with former House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mike Gallagher in Washington, D.C., on October 16.
"We are resetting the relationship," McCormick explained. "When you reset a relationship, feelings get hurt and friction occurs."
"Even in a marriage, sometimes the balance gets out of whack and one partner tells the other that adjustments are needed," he emphasized, adding that the South Korea-U.S. relationship is "having marriage counseling, not getting a divorce."
He added, "We need more from our Asian allies. The relationship was out of balance, and they acknowledge that. I think we are on a path to a much deeper and stronger relationship."
Senator McCormick returned to the United States recently after visiting Japan and South Korea.
During his trip to South Korea, he visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and Hanwha Ocean's Geoje shipyard.
He also met with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul, among others.
Citing large-scale investment commitments to the U.S. by both South Korea and Japan as prime examples of the alliance readjustment, McCormick said, "I didn't hear controversy. The conversation was entirely about where that capital is going to be invested and how it's going to be used."
He also mentioned South Korea's commitment to purchase $25 billion worth of U.S. military equipment and its plans to increase defense spending, evaluating that "it's not yet to the level it needs to be, but it is moving in a direction consistent with bearing their fair share."
Stating that the U.S. and its allies must innovate technology faster than China and produce more defense materiel over the long term, McCormick argued, "We have to train, plan, and fight as a single military force, a single military capability with our allies."
"If we get this right, China will look across the Taiwan Strait every morning and conclude, 'Not today,'" he said.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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