It’s well known that the United States has a detailed plan for deploying military force in response to North Korean aggression if such action is required, though few details have been made known. But the commandant of the Coast Guard offered a small peek behind the curtain this week, saying the Coast Guard had a specific part to play.
“We are written into the campaign plans for North Korea,” Adm. Paul Zukunft said this week in an interview with Military.com at the Coast Guard’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. “So I’ve got a force identified; if called upon, it must be ready to carry out that mission as well.”
North Korea’s aggressive missile testing this year, including unprecedented tests with intercontinental ballistic missiles, has caused global consternation.
President Donald Trump and other U.S. leaders have said repeatedly that “all options are on the table” when it comes to defending against a North Korean threat, although officials have stressed they continue to lean on traditional tools, such as sanctions and diplomacy with China, North Korea’s sole ally. Reuters reported earlier this year that the United States was also quietly pursuing direct diplomacy with North Korea.
However, military contingency plans regarding North Korea date back decades. The United States and South Korea collaborated in 2008 to develop OPLAN 5029, a document the laid out a military plan of action in the event that the North Korean regime collapsed due to a coup, revolution, or external factor such as a national disaster.
Predating that is OPLAN 5027, another joint plan dating to the 1970s that plots a course of action in case of North Korean invasion.