Lieutenant General Christopher LaNeve, Commander of the U.S. Eighth Army in South Korea
Assumed Command of the Eighth Army in April Last Year
Lieutenant General Christopher LaNeve, commander of the United States Eighth Army stationed in South Korea, has been appointed as a senior military advisor to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
On the 25th (local time), the U.S. Department of Defense announced that General LaNeve, who currently serves as the commander of the Eighth Army and chief of staff of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, will be appointed as the senior military advisor to the Secretary of Defense.
Lieutenant General LaNeve assumed command of the Eighth Army in April last year. In his inaugural speech, he stated, "I will do my best to support the strong alliance between South Korea and the United States."
After graduating from Arizona State University, LaNeve was commissioned in 1990. He has served as commander of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division and as chief of operations staff at the Army Futures Command.
Meanwhile, Secretary Hegseth plans to skip South Korea during his first Asia tour since taking office, visiting only the Philippines and Japan. This decision appears to consider the political situation in South Korea. Previously, Hegseth’s predecessor, former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, also visited Asia for the last time at the end of last year during the Biden administration but did not visit South Korea. Austin had initially planned to include South Korea in his itinerary, but the visit schedule was adjusted following the December 3 emergency martial law incident.
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