CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The top U.S. military commander in South Korea plans steps to ensure U.S. forces are ready to counter any Iraq-style insurgency tactics that North Korea might try to use in a conflict on the peninsula.
In a brief interview with Stars and Stripes on Friday, U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Walter Sharp said he thinks it’s likely North Korea has been keeping close watch on the tactics used by insurgents in Iraq and would no doubt hope to use them against South Korea and its American ally.
"I do believe that North Korea is taking lessons out of Iraq, and they will change and adapt tactics," Sharp said.
"I greatly worry about IEDs showing up in this theater," he said, referring to homemade explosives used with devastating effect against U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Sharp said North Korea’s massive special operations forces have long been identified as a potential wartime threat, and that South Korean and U.S. forces have geared themselves to counter that threat.
But because Sharp is concerned that North Koreans may add new tactics and methods, he wants to ensure that U.S. forces in South Korea adapt key counterinsurgency lessons the U.S. military is drawing from the war in Iraq.
He said staff officers from the Center for Army Lessons Learned at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., will come to South Korea later this year and assess what new training or other measures may be in order.
Sharp also has raised the counterinsurgency issue with South Korean military officials, he said.
"They agree that we have to learn some lessons" on applying counterinsurgency doctrine to plans for defending South Korea.
Sharp’s comments came after he spent most of Friday touring Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, which is being expanded to become the U.S. military’s flagship installation in South Korea.
In the afternoon, Sharp met with members of the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, mostly asking questions about equipment, personnel and other operational matters.
"So what do you need? How can I help?" Sharp asked one officer. It was a question similar to others he asked during the visit.
The general later took questions from an audience of Humphreys residents. He told them he plans to explore steps that might eventually make it easier for them to get medical appointments.
"That’ll be one of the things I’ll be focusing on," Sharp said.
He reminded the audience that he plans to announce by late July a decision on whether to make changes to USFK’s curfew and its rules on servicemembers operating private vehicles.
