Chairman Lee Pil-woo delivers a speech at a New Year’s meeting, hosted by the Advanced Center for Administrative Development Alumni of Graduate School of Public Administration of Seoul National University (SNU GSPA ACADA) at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on Jan. 16.

Advanced Center for Administrative Development Alumni of Graduate School of Public Administration of Seoul National University (SNU GSPA ACADA) hosted a New Year’s gathering at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on Jan. 16, which coincided with the 2nd Annual Meeting of the 22nd SNU GSPA ACADA and the 11th ACADA National Forum. 

Hundreds of alumni were in attendance. 

“I wish SNU GSPA ACADA alumni prosperity will communicate with each other frequently,” said SNU GSPA ACADA Chairman Lee Pil-woo in a speech.  

Lee bid goodbye to the 2017, the Year of the Hen, remembering it as a turbulent year with lots of difficulties, including the North Korean nuclear issue, national security and the mismanagement of ACADA National, and expressed hope that the Year of the Dog will be ushered in with hope of higher expectations. 

“The Year of Musul, or the Year of the Dog is expected to a be a stormy year with such difficulties as the North Korean nuclear issue, national security, national economy, and Korea’s hosting of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in which North Korea is expected to participate,” he said. 

The special guest of the forum was Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of the United Nations Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea, who spoke on Korea-U.S. alliance’s response to North Korean nuclear issue and missile threats.

In his speech at the annual meeting of the SNU GSPA ACADA, former speaker Park Kwan-yong of the National Assembly said, even though North Korea claimed its nuclear arms are targeting the United States, its real goal is to achieve reunification of the Korean Peninsula into a communist state with nuclear arms. He said South Korea should maintain closer ties with the United States to overcome China and Russia in a new era of the Cold War. 

Chairman Lee Pil-woo presents a plaque of appreciation to Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of the United Nations Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea, at end of the 11th ACADA National Forum in which Gen. Brooks delivered a speech at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on Jan. 16.

Gen. Brooks speaks on Korea-U.S. alliance’s response to North Korean nuclear issue and missile threats at the 11th ACADA National Forum hosted by SNU GSPA ACADA.

Stronger Korea-U.S. Alliance

Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command Commander Gen. Brooks warns against North Korea’s scheme of weakening Korea-U.S. alliance & pressure from five neighboring countries.

Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of the United Nations Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea, said, "The Korea-U.S. alliance is the strongest.” Looking at the United States’ seven alliances he has been involved with, Gen. Brooks said he and Deputy Commander Kim Byeon-ju of the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command have tried to set examples in the operation of the CFC. 

For instance, Gen. Brooks said he and Gen. Kim, as the leaders of the CFC, let their CFC staff introduce themselves in other country’s language. He went on to say that he would sing along with the South Korean national anthem and Gen. Kim has told his staff to do so in singing the Star Spangled Banner. Gen. Brooks said a good partnership between he and Gen. Kim is the “right signal” in the Korea-U.S. alliance. 

Gen. Brooks spoke on the Korea-U.S. alliance’s response to North Korean nuclear issue and missile threats as a special guest of the 11th ACADA National Forum hosted by the Advanced Center for Administrative Development Alumni of Graduate School of Public Administration of Seoul National University (SNU GSPA ACADA) at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on Jan. 16. 

Visiting U.S. ranking officials, including President Donald Trump, were given an opportunity to get a briefing from Gen. Kim’s first-hand grasp of the current situation.  Gen. Brooks cited the CFC’s catchphrases “Living together” and “Being Together.”

Looking closely at details of North Korea’s long-range missiles tests, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has employed a scheme whereby he influenced the five countries surrounding the Korean Peninsula ― South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, and Russia ― the way he wants. 

“He compared the situation as a hand with five fingers in which with North Korea stands at the center with five countries outside. He said the five countries’ close cooperation would bring about “a tight fist,” pressuring North Korea to acquiesce to the five countries. 

Gen. Brooks said North Korean leader Kim knows that North Korea is weaker than South Korea and his future is bleak, and so he focuses is on the development of nuclear arms and long-range missiles for survival. 

The resolutions of the UN Security Council and the international community’s pressure forced North Korea to make a different decision. Kim Jong-un delivered a New Year’s address in which he offered an olive branch gesture toward South Korea. 

High level inter-Korean talks on North Korea’s participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games slated for February appeared to be constructive, but he warned against North Korea’s past provocations. 

Asked about a question regarding “Korea Passing” in which South Korea is excluded in dealing with North Korea,” he sounded a warning that North Korea may exploit talks with South Korea or the United States with the goal of weakening the Korea-U.S. alliance. Gen. Brooks said he would play a major role in strengthening the Korea-U.S. alliance. Regarding upcoming talks to revise the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, he said the U.S. administration cited changes between the time of the signing of the FTA and what it is now, including a growing trade deficit.

Gen. Brooks speaks on Korea-U.S. alliance’s response to North Korean nuclear issue and missile threats at the 11th ACADA National Forum hosted by SNU GSPA ACADA.

About Gen. Vincent K. Brooks

General Brooks is the Commander, United Nations Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea. General Brooks previously served as the commander of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), with responsibility for all U.S. Army forces and activities in the strategically important Indo-Asia Pacific region assigned to the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM).

General Brooks is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was selected to serve in his senior year as the Cadet Brigade Commander or “First Captain” of the U.S. Corps of Cadets — the top military leadership position a cadet at West Point can hold.  

He was the first African American to be selected for this position in West Point’s history. General Brooks began his service as a lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division. 

Since that time and during his 37 years as a commissioned officer, including 15 years as a general officer, he has been privileged to command in the field numerous times, including two infantry companies in Germany; an infantry battalion in Korea near the demilitarized zone; a heavy brigade based in the U.S. but forward-deployed to Kosovo; two divisions, including one forward-deployed to Iraq; and two theater armies, one covering the Middle East and Central Asia, and the other the Indo-Asia Pacific region.

In addition to his command assignments, General Brooks served twice in the headquarters of the Department of the Army as a staff officer and principal advisor to the Army’s most senior leaders, and once in the Joint Staff advising the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense on strategy and policy for the Western Hemisphere, the Homeland, UN and Multilateral Affairs, and the War on Terrorism.  

Additional joint duty assignments include three assignments within the headquarters of a component of a combatant command, one staff assignment within a coalition joint task force, and one assignment within a combatant command staff as an operations officer and spokesman.

General Brooks holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy; a Master of Military Art and Science from the School of Advanced Military Studies at the United States Army Command and General Staff College; and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the New England School of Law in Boston. 

He also served as a National Security Fellow at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

General Brooks is married to Dr. Carol P. Brooks, DSc., an educator and physical therapist. Both the general and his wife are from career Army senior officer families.