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Gen. Xavier Brunson, the commander of US Forces Korea, speaks at a forum held in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Jan. 13, 2026. (courtesy USFK)

After recent comments demonstrating a lukewarm attitude to the return of wartime operational control over Korea’s military to Seoul, Gen. Xavier Brunson, the commander of the US Forces Korea, has now proposed linking the military intelligence and command systems of South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines into a “kill web.”
 
If this plan is implemented, targets identified by the South Korean military will be tracked by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis-equipped destroyers, while the US military will be able to mobilize various means to strike.
 
At the same time, South Korea would stand on the very front lines of the US-China conflict, meaning we would have to bear the risk of being roped into unwanted military conflict while experiencing significant constraints on our strategic autonomy.
 
Brunson would be wise to drop this plan, which is politically unfeasible and extremely dangerous militarily, and return to reality so that he can faithfully carry out the duties assigned to him.  
 
In an interview with the Japan Times on Wednesday, Brunson emphasized the importance of merging the military capabilities of the US and its allies into one. “We have to link these complementary capabilities into a kill web that achieves combined, joint, all-domain effects,” he said. “None of these [US] alliances can afford to exist in isolation.”
 
A kill web is an elevated version of a kill chain, a linear decision-making process that is utilized when detecting, identifying, tracking and destroying military targets. Following this process would lead to a swift, effective utilization of the entirety of an alliance’s military capabilities, which would be woven together like an intricate spider’s web.
 
In sum, Brunson is suggesting that US allies’ armed forces and space and cyber forces be integrated into one comprehensive network that could be utilized to the fullest.
 
To make this happen, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines would need to integrate their respective intelligence and command systems into a single framework for collective security — in effect, following the example of NATO. Japan would need to revise its pacifist constitution, and South Korea would need to decide whether it wants to boost military cooperation with Japan and the Philippines to the level of a military alliance. 

In short, the ongoing China-Japan conflict in the East China Sea (Taiwan) and the China-Philippines conflict in the South China Sea will become security issues that we in Korea have to address and respond to.  
 
If we think about the considerable hiccups that arose between South Korea and Japan on the real-time sharing of intelligence on North Korean missile launches, it is plain to see that this plan will not become a reality any time soon.
 
Brunson has repeatedly ignored the complicated circumstances of US allies while expounding on the importance of US military interests. This kill web plan bears the marks of being proposed with the intention of shifting the burden of defending the first island chain, where the US and China clash, onto its allies. South Korea must prioritize its national interest and issue a decisive response.

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