washington — Germany’s entry into the U.S.-led U.N. Command, which expanded the multinational body tasked with defending South Korea against North Korea, reflects growing fears in Europe and the U.S. that multiple wars that could break out simultaneously across the globe, said analysts.
North Korea this week denounced Germany’s membership in the U.N. Command (UNC), calling the expansion an attempt by the U.S. to create an Asian version of NATO, according to state-run KCNA.
The move will “inevitably aggravate the military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the region,” KCNA said Tuesday.
Pushing back against Pyongyang’s criticism, the German Federal Foreign Office told VOA Korean in a statement on Tuesday that by joining UNC, it is “sending a signal for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and strengthen[ing] our commitment in the Indo-Pacific.”
The statement continued, “Just as others are there for us, we are there for others when they need us.”
Germany joined UNC on August 2, becoming the 18th member of the body charged with maintaining the armistice on the Korean Peninsula during peacetime. In the event of war, the UNC would coordinate the movement of troops and weapons from its members to the Combined Forces Command of the U.S. and South Korea.
Enhanced deterrence
Markus Garlauskas, who served as the U.S. national intelligence officer for North Korea from 2014 to 2020, said the UNC’s main role is to defend South Korea but that “expanding the number of countries contributing to UNC helps enhance deterrence … of the escalation of aggression in the entire region.”
This is particularly important because a conflict on the Korean Peninsula could escalate into a conflict with China, said Garlauskas, director of the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
The U.S. maintains several military bases and approximately 28,500 troops in South Korea.
But with wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza and the threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, analysts said the addition of new members to the UNC makes it easier for the United States to respond to crises elsewhere without having to send additional forces that may be needed to defend South Korea if the North attacks.
“The U.S. military is not large enough to fight multiple contingencies around the world” by itself, said David Maxwell, vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy.
The U.S. Commission on the National Defense Strategy released a report in July saying the U.S. must prepare to deal with simultaneous conflicts coordinated by China and Russia and involving countries such as North Korea and Iran, amounting to a “global war.”
Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, said, “The more forces that are available to potentially assist South Korea, the better it is for the U.S. if conflict occurs in both Taiwan and in Korea.”
By joining the UNC, “Germany is hoping South Korea will also become more supportive of the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression” by sending ammunition and other weapons, Bennett said.
South Korea has withheld sending lethal weapons directly to Ukraine while providing nonlethal weapons.
Germany’s membership in UNC follows a NATO summit last month in Washington where the alliance agreed to cooperate closely on security with the Indo-Pacific countries of South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Germany’s participation in UNC demonstrates “a tangible step” toward that defense cooperation, Garlauskas said. He noted that Pyongyang’s and Beijing’s support of Russia’s war against Ukraine “directly threatens Germany security.”
Germany, along with other NATO member states, has been arming Ukraine so it can defend against Russia, which has been threatening NATO with nuclear strikes. The U.S. and its NATO allies have condemned China for supporting Russia’s defense industry and North Korea for sending munitions to aid its war in Ukraine.
James Przystup, senior fellow and Japan chair specializing in alliance management in the Indo-Pacific at the Hudson Institute, said Germany, the U.K., France, the Netherlands and the EU “have all released Indo-Pacific strategy that recognizes that stability in the region is critical to Europe’s own prosperity.”
Those countries have also expressed their commitment to supporting a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific, he said. “But this is far from the emergence of an Indo-Pacific NATO.”
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