U.S. Naval Forces Korea is a major shore command of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

that serves as the shore support agency for all U.S. Naval activity in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

. Known by the initials "CNFK", an abbreviation of the address format of the unit ("Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea"), its headquarters are at Busan Naval Base,

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

. CNFK is jointly under the command of the operational command of

United States Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of t ...

, responsible for the support of all U.S. naval forces on the

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic of ...

, and

United States Forces Korea United States Forces Korea (USFK) is a sub-unified command of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). USFK is the joint headquarters for U.S. combat-ready fighting forces and components under the ROK/US Combined Forces Command (CFC) – a s ...

. CNFK is also CNIC's assigned Region Commander with administrative control over what is currently the only naval installation in South Korea, which is Fleet Activity Chinhae. CNFK is commanded by a

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regard ...

(lower half) who serves as the Navy liaison to the Commander of the

. In times of war, CNFK becomes a ground-based task force of

History

U.S. Naval Forces, Korea, was established on 1 July 1957, with headquarters in Seoul. The command was created by the reorganization of the Naval Forces, Far East Command into the separate commands of Naval Forces Japan and Naval Forces Korea. Commander, Naval Forces Korea, assumed the following additional duties: * Commander, Naval Component Command, United Nations Command * Chief, U.S. Naval Advisory Group, Korea, and Navy Advisor to the Republic of Korea * Commander, Naval Component Command, U.S. Forces Korea * On-Call Member, United Nations Military Armistice Commission The principal mission of CNFK was acting as part of the

United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first international unified command in history, and the first a ...

. In this regard, the commander exercised command of U.S. Naval Forces assigned or attached, and operational control over the Republic of Korea Navy. Rear Admiral Mark A. Schafer assumed command of CNFK in September 2021.

List of commanders

References

External links

CNFK
official website
CNFK on Navy.mil

U.S. 7th Fleet

United States Forces Korea
* United States military in South Korea Commands of the United States Navy *Commander, Naval Forces K {{US-navy-stub