Lt. Col. Michael Baker, second from right, assumes command of the United Nations Command Security Battalion–Joint Security Area at Camp Bonifas, South Korea, June 12, 2026. (Julie Masson/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP BONIFAS, South Korea — The only United Nations Command unit permanently stationed inside the Demilitarized Zone has a new leader as it continues a mission that has helped maintain the armistice between North and South Korea for more than 70 years.
U.N. Command Security Battalion-Joint Security Area carries out security operations along one of the world’s more heavily fortified borders, supports enforcement of the Korean Armistice Agreement and protects Daeseong-dong, the only South Korean village situated entirely within the DMZ.
The battalion is also the only fully combined U.N. Command-South Korean unit and remains responsible for the Joint Security Area, where North and South Korean forces stand face to face along the military demarcation line.
Lt. Col. Michael Baker assumed command of the battalion from Lt. Col. Daniel Blankenhorn during a ceremony Friday at Camp Bonifas. The battalion is composed of 900 soldiers in eight companies, Blankenhorn said during his farewell speech.
Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, Combined Forces Command and U.N. Command, said the battalion remains central to preserving stability on the Korean Peninsula.
“For over 70 years, this battalion has stood watch against one of the most heavily armed forces on earth,” Brunson said in his keynote address.
Army Gen. Xavier Brunson attends a change-of-command ceremony for United Nations Command Security Battalion–Joint Security Area at Camp Bonifas, South Korea, June 12, 2026. Beside him are the incoming commander, Lt. Col. Michael Baker, right, and the outgoing leader, Lt. Col. Daniel Blankenhorn. (Julie Masson/Stars and Stripes)
“The UNC security battalion is a daily reminder of our most sacred task — to preserve peace, deter aggression and, if necessary, fight and win as members of an unbreakable combined team,” he said.
Korean War fighting began in 1950 and ended with the armistice’s signing in 1953, though the two countries technically remain at war because there is no peace treaty.
The battalion’s soldiers enforce the armistice at its front line, where they have responsibility for securing the Korean border crossing point.
In 2017, battalion soldiers helped rescue a North Korean defector who was shot five times while fleeing across the DMZ.
Six U.S. and South Korean service members later received awards for their actions, including two South Korean soldiers assigned to the security battalion who dragged the defector to safety.
Baker was the battalion’s executive officer from 2020 to 2022 and most recently served as deputy planner for future operations, plans and strategy with III Armored Corps at Fort Hood, Texas.
“It is the honor of my career to rejoin your team,” he told the audience after taking command.
“I will listen and I will learn, and I will lead with humility,” Baker said, pledging to keep the battalion ready for any contingency should deterrence fail.
After the ceremony, Baker described returning to South Korea as “coming home.”
His goal as commander, he said, is to maintain the battalion’s presence and security so it can be postured to support diplomatic re-engagements between countries.
The ceremony took place against a backdrop of continued security challenges on the peninsula, where Pyongyang has shown no indication of slowing its nuclear and missile programs.
Kim Yo Jong — the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a member of the State Affairs Commission — called the North’s status as a nuclear-armed state “absolutely irreversible” and warned the nation would not tolerate any threats, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported June 7.
