美军驻韩第八集团军司令称部队须准备执行半岛以外任务
US troops in South Korea must be ready for missions beyond peninsula, commander says
美军驻韩第八集团军司令乔·希尔伯特表示，部队奉命时必须准备部署到朝鲜半岛以外，驻扎地点不限制其执行任务。希尔伯特称，第八集团军是全球兵力的一部分，并以参与亚太多国联合演习为例说明其半岛外活动。
The commander of the US Eighth Army in South Korea said his troops must be ready for deployment outside the Korean peninsula if ordered, arguing that it would be “irresponsible” to focus “myopically” on threats there.
Lieutenant General Joe Hilbert said that while his command’s focus was on fulfilling US commitments under its mutual defence treaty with Seoul, the Eighth Army’s location did not limit the missions it could undertake.
It would be “irresponsible to focus myopically” on threats on the Korean peninsula alone, he told the South China Morning Post by email, or to “suggest that we cannot do other things simply because we are in Korea”.
Describing the Eighth Army as part of a “global force” that trains for “readiness so that we can deploy where needed by our national command authority,” Hilbert cited the Eighth Army’s participation in multinational exercises across the Asia-Pacific as an example of its activities beyond the peninsula.
来源：南华早报 · scmp.com