Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea addressed students and faculty at the National Defense University on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, as part of the university’s Presidential Lecture Series at Fort McNair in Washington. The event in Roosevelt Hall brought together senior U.S. and international military officers, interagency professionals and international partners to examine the evolving security environment on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific.

In his lecture, Brunson outlined why the Korean Peninsula should be viewed as a central pillar of U.S. and allied strategy, describing it as a hinge between the Asian continent and Pacific maritime approaches and highlighting the advantages of U.S. and allied forces already positioned inside the first island chain. He discussed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s deepening military cooperation with Russia, the regime’s abandonment of reconciliation with the South and the growing convergence of regional threats, emphasizing that forward posture and alliance modernization on the peninsula are essential to deterrence and crisis management.

Brunson also underscored the importance of maps, perspective and geometry in strategy, encouraging students to place Korea at the center of their mental picture of the Indo-Pacific and to think in terms of capabilities, networks and overlapping dilemmas for adversaries.

“Korea is not a side chapter in American strategy,” he said. “If you put the peninsula in the first chapter, the geometry of the region and the value of our alliances becomes impossible to ignore.”

The Presidential Lecture Series connects NDU students with senior civilian and military leaders to deepen understanding of contemporary security challenges and civil-military decision-making. NDU develops joint warfighters and strategic leaders capable of critical, creative and independent thought, preparing them to navigate volatility, great-power competition and rapidly evolving threats while strengthening the nation’s network of allies and partners.