U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson has recognized the "centrality" of Korea in the U.S. security strategy in the Indo-Pacific, noting how it hosts "the only United States forces assigned to the Asian continent inside the First Island Chain." Brunson made the remarks during a closed-door discussion themed "Korea as Strategic Key Terrain During Competition, Crisis, and Conflict" held as part of the Honolulu Defense Forum, hosted by Pacific Forum, which took place in the namesake U.S. city from Monday through Tuesday, according to excerpts of the commander's remarks shared by the USFK on Friday. "I think that there's a recognition now of the centrality of Korea and of the peninsula," he said, when asked about views that assess the military commands in Korea as being isolated from other regional security issues. "When we moor ourselves to the peninsula, when that mythology is allowed to continue to exist, what we do is we present less dilemmas to the adversaries of the region," he said. "We show ourselves to be less able and less capable to project power from the peninsu