In a written statement submitted to the Senate Committee on Armed Services ahead of his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Elbridge Colby, the nominee for U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, said, "I believe alliances are key. But, as President [Donald] Trump rightly emphasizes, we must put our alliances on a more realistic and businesslike foundation."
He added, "For too long there has been profound imbalances between what America does and what too many of our allies do (with noble exceptions like Israel, Poland, and South Korea). This cannot go on, both because of the growth of our potential opponents' military power and because of the valid perceptions of unfairness by Americans."
But he expressed support for "efforts to bolster South Korea's role in the alliance," emphasizing the importance of strengthening the bilateral alliance with Seoul to counter North Korean threats.
"North Korea poses a severe direct military threat to South Korea on multiple levels," he explained, adding that "I believe the U.S.-[South Korea] alliance is critical and that together we face a severe threat from North Korea. We must ensure the strategic posture deterring and defending on our behalf and South Korea's is credible and stout."
The biliteral alliance is "critical for U.S. interests, and a foundation stone of the U.S. geopolitical position in Asia. It is important that this critical alliance continue to be updated to reflect the broader geopolitical and military circumstances," he said.
When asked whether the U.S. should expand "strategic cooperation" with South Korea, he replied, "Yes, I believe we should do so presently, given that both China and North Korea are dramatically increasing their nuclear arsenals."
But he was cautious about the hairy saga of transferring wartime operational control of combined forces from the U.S. to Seoul, saying, "I would need to review this delicate issue carefully."
Initially scheduled for 2012, the transfer has been delayed amid security concerns, with South Korea tasked with strengthening its military capabilities before full wartime operational control could be transferred.
In a separate confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Christopher Landau, the nominee for deputy secretary of state, highlighted the importance of strengthening cooperation with South Korea to address China's increasing global presence.
"We have a number of organizations there, obviously. Japan is a very close, ally of ours..... [South] Korea..... the ASEAN nations, we have the QUAD with India, Australia, and Japan..... So I think you have correctly identified that in trying to counter China's rise, we should work with all these nations in the region," he said.
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