New US special operations commander takes charge on Korean Peninsula

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — A new leader has taken charge of U.S Army special operations on the Korean Peninsula, a command the leader of U.S. Forces Korea said carries increasing importance as evolving threats emerge from North Korea.

Brig. Gen. Matthew Valas assumed the reins of Special Operations Command Korea from Maj. Gen. Derek Lipson during a Wednesday ceremony at Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas U.S. military installation.

“To our allies, I look forward to our ever-increasing partnership and friendship,” Valas said during his remarks at the ceremony in the command’s maintenance facility.

The challenges that lie ahead are not simple to overcome but can be accomplished by standing strong together, he said.

During his keynote address, USFK commander Gen. Xavier Brunson urged Valas to prepare for future challenges, citing the probable transfer of wartime operational control to Seoul and the “improving and aggressive adversary to the north.”

The Special Operations Command is the only theater special operations command that combines U.S. and host nation special operations forces for peacetime and wartime operations, according to the ceremony program.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Matthew Valas gives a speech after taking charge of Special Operations Command Korea at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, July 22, 2026. (Yoojin Lee/Stars and Stripes)

During peacetime, the command plans, trains and integrates special operations activities with its South Korean ally. In wartime, the command would combine forces with South Korea’s Special Warfare Command to form Combined Special Operations Component Command Korea under Combined Forces Command.

Brunson also emphasized that this leadership transition is particularly significant because the head of Special Operations Command Korea also leads U.N. Command’s Special Operations Component.

For over 75 years, the U.N. Command has served “as a buttress against aggression here on the peninsula,” Brunson said. “The work that we have to do is ever increasing as threats continue to evolve around the world.”

Valas most recently served as commander of NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the U.S. European Command.

He has led Special Forces at every level, including deployments during Operation New Dawn and Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the command.

Operation New Dawn began in 2010 and marked the formal conclusion of U.S. combat operations in Iraq, while Operation Enduring Freedom was a U.S.-led military campaign launched in 2001 to dismantle al-Qaida and remove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan.

Because of the command’s secretive nature, details of its operations in South Korea are not public.

However, Lt. Gen. Steven Marks, vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, said at the ceremony that under Lipson, the command “revamped and improved” readiness requirements for Northeast Asia. Among his accomplishments, Lipson established Task Force 8240 to advance USFK’s irregular warfare approach.

The task force’s name pays homage to the White Tiger partisan forces of Army Unit 8240 during the Korean War, Marks said.

The 8240 unit was a secret U.S. Army organization that trained, supported and directed Korean partisan forces in behind-the-lines operations against North Korean and Chinese forces, according to the Army’s website.