{"id":262832,"date":"2026-05-31T01:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/uncategorized\/2026\/05\/31\/why-u-s-forces-korea-commander-called-south-korea-a-dagger\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T01:37:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:37:00","slug":"why-u-s-forces-korea-commander-called-south-korea-a-dagger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/politics\/2026\/05\/31\/why-u-s-forces-korea-commander-called-south-korea-a-dagger\/","title":{"rendered":"Why U.S. Forces Korea Commander Called South Korea a ‘Dagger’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translation result.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Xavier\"\n <\/div>
\n
\n U.S. Forces Korea commander Xavier Brunson delivers the keynote at last December\u2019s 2nd Korea-U.S. Combined Policy Forum at the War Memorial in Yongsan, Seoul. [Photo=Yonhap News]\n <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
U.S. Forces Korea commander Xavier Brunson said his remark that \\”Korea is a dagger from China\u2019s perspective\\” was intended to explain the operational environment U.S. forces face, not to provoke China.<\/p>\n

Yonhap News Agency reported on the 30th that Brunson made the comment at the 23rd Asia Security Conference (Shangri\u2011La Dialogue) in Singapore while answering a question about whether his \\”dagger\\” remark reflected the official position of the Donald Trump administration or had Pentagon approval.<\/p>\n

A Chinese professor in the audience posed the question during the Q&A after a public speech by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses. Secretary Hegses then deferred the question to Brunson, who was seated in the audience.<\/p>\n

Brunson said he had been addressing students at the War College to urge them to shift their perspective and consider the position they occupy. He added that students should understand and respect viewpoints other than their own.<\/p>\n

Using a map rotated so the peninsula\u2019s east appears at the top as an example, he said that changing how we view the map helps us consider how other countries in the region see us. He stressed that while we must remain strong and sustain military capabilities in South Korea, we should also recognize that those foreign perspectives persist.<\/p>\n

Brunson recalled that a Prussian military thinker once described Korea as a dagger aimed at Japan, referring to Major Jakob Meckel of the Prussian Army, who in 1885\u2014while serving as a military advisor to Japan\u2014characterized the Korean Peninsula as a dagger pointed at the heart of Japan.<\/p>\n

Brunson emphasized he did not intend to antagonize China with his remark. He said U.S.-China relations should not be viewed in binary terms and called for continued dialogue.\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Forces Korea Commander clarified his “dagger” comment about Korea, stating it was meant to explain the operational environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/cdn-union.tenbizt.com\/contents\/crawler-dev\/thumbnail\/2026\/05\/CP-2023-0070\/thumb-15303304-ee7a-4a8b-a05d-d97ba30e0078.jpg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278093],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy U.S. Forces Korea Commander Called South Korea a 'Dagger'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"US Forces Korea Commander clarified his "dagger" comment about Korea, stating it was meant to explain the operational environment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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