During a House Armed Services Committee hearing held before the congressional recess, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) questioned Military officials about the U.S.-South Korea relationship.
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00:00I thank the gentleman for yielding, Chair, and I recognize the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. McCormick.
00:04Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's great to see you again.
00:07First of all, congratulations for a well-served career for Fleet Command Master Chief.
00:13It's phenomenal.
00:15That steely stare just kind of gives me flashbacks of when I was on the drill field,
00:19just wondering what the next fate was going to be.
00:21But I got a coin for you in the fine military tradition when we get done with this.
00:25I'd love you to accept it.
00:27You know, Admiral, when I was out there with your command recently, you gave the best brief I've ever gotten.
00:32Literally, I just thought phenomenal overview of the importance of that region,
00:3670% of the world's wealth going through that for trade, 70% of the world's population, a bunch of military forces.
00:42Really excited about what you bring to the future vision of the military.
00:46I'm really, what a great visionary you are, and I'm looking forward to working with you, too, General, in that really important region.
00:51I'm sure we'd love to turn in our ties for a flight suit or an M4 and go out there and be on the pointy end of the spear,
00:59but yet here we sit, determining the fate of the world as we seek it.
01:04I'm curious right now with what's going on in North Korea, and either one of you can speak on this,
01:10the instability of that region right now and seeing what their government's doing with their former government,
01:15their current government, and the importance of somebody we fought alongside of,
01:20not just in Korea but in Vietnam and other regions,
01:22what they can bring to the table still, and can we count on them in this regional conflict?
01:28Thank you for the question, sir, and I appreciate it sincerely that I can just share with you what I'm seeing there in Korea right now.
01:39Their system works.
01:41That's the first and foremost thing I would want everyone to know is that the Korean system works.
01:46We'll have an election soon.
01:48We'll have a new president.
01:51Our commander-in-chief recently made a call to the acting president of the Republic of Korea
01:56and our military relationships are absolutely sound and solid.
02:01We most recently exercised in large scale during Freedom Shield, one of our largest exercises,
02:06which includes the Republic of Korea's government as part of the exercise.
02:12We had some 4,000 Marines in the KTO exercising live, virtual, constructive, some 51 separate events that went on there.
02:22I believe that the situation we find ourselves in right now is one where we're going to continue to increase our capacity.
02:30There was talk earlier of investments being made.
02:32I'm very pleased with the investments that are being made by the Republic of Korea military writ large across their joint force,
02:38and I'm especially excited about the opportunities that we have to collaborate in a combined fashion to produce effects on the Korean peninsula.
02:47Fantastic.
02:47As a guy who spent several tours over there with the Rock Marines, knowing their motto,
02:52which means, you know, must win, victory, they only have one objective.
02:57They only have one battlefield, one enemy, and if they lose, they're all dead.
02:59So I hope they resonate around that message and understand their mission and their importance to us in that regional conflict.
03:09There's been a lot of questions, Mr. Ngo, about the tariffs and the impact of the relationships between our country.
03:16I'm going to ask you to agree with something I'm about to say because you say, you know, this is not really my field,
03:20and they've said, but you've got to bring it back to the Secretary of Defense, make sure he understands.
03:24One thing that we all understand as military guys who have seen what everybody understands around the world is strength.
03:31It doesn't matter if you're Asian.
03:33It doesn't matter if you're Arab.
03:36It doesn't matter if you're African.
03:37It doesn't matter if you're Latino.
03:40Everybody understands strength.
03:42And I think if we come from a position of strength, the results are obvious.
03:46What I've seen with the tariffs is now, for the first time in my lifetime, zero-zero tariffs reciprocating from Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Israel, India, the entire European Union, and more to follow.
04:01Fifty countries come to the table saying zero-zero.
04:03Could we ask for a better result in tariff negotiations that puts it in a position of strength?
04:10Because everybody understands fairness, and there's nothing more fair than a zero-zero tariff.
04:14And it's more beneficial to the United States because we've been at a disadvantage all this in time.
04:19And I think it puts us in a position where people understand strength and fairness, as well as anybody, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, where people understand the Bushido.
04:29They understand strength.
04:30They understand fairness.
04:31They understand honor.
04:33And I think it puts us in a very good position, if you have any comment on that.
04:35Congressman, of course, the president emphasizes needing to negotiate from a position of strength, and that's something Secretary Hexeth strongly believes in, as well.
04:50I think that pretty much sums it up, and I'm out of time at this point.
04:53But once again, to the Commander Master Chief, congratulations on a well-deserved career ending, and we look forward to finding things in the afterlife.
05:02Semper Fi.
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