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The top U.S. military commander in South Korea said Thursday that the United Nations Command (UNC) should maintain a vital supporting role even if Seoul exerts independent wartime control of its troops.

The future role of the UNC with the mission of overseeing the armistice on the Korean Peninsula has been increasingly called into question, as South Korea is set to take back its wartime operational control from the U.S. between 2009 and 2012. The Combined Forces Command of the two allies also appears destined to be disbanded.

"The inactivation of the Combined Forces Command and the transfer of ROK forces operational control to an independent ROK military command will, however, create a military authority-to-responsibility mismatch for the United Nations Command," Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) told reporters, using the abbreviation for South Korea's official name, Republic of Korea. Bell doubles as the chief of the CFC and the UNC.

He pointed out that once the CFC is inactivated, the UNC chief will no longer have immediate access to South Korea's combat troops, but stressed that, "the UNC must continue to be a vital component of our deterrent and war fighting capability in the Republic of Korea."

The four-star general warned that the situation, unless addressed, will make it impossible to credibly maintain the armistice on the peninsula. The two Koreas remain technically in a state of war since the three-year Korean War ended in 1953 with a cease fire and not a formal peace treaty.

"It is important that we organize in peacetime as we will for war," Bell said, citing the geopolitical situation on the peninsula, where he said, "crisis escalation could quickly, indeed almost instantaneously, lead to combat operations."

"There would be no time to make chances in our command structure, while crisis escalates," he added. "We must organize ourselves so we have unity in our chain of command from armistice to crisis escalation and into war, should war break out."

The commander said the U.S. will soon begin discussions and consultations with South Korea and the countries participating in the UNC to work out details of its revised role.

He reiterated hopes that Seoul and Washington will fix a deadline for the transfer of wartime control by this summer.

During their Cabinet-level Security Consultative Meeting last year, the two sides agreed on a target date for the transfer of between Oct. 15, 2009 and March 15, 2012.

The U.S. is pushing for the 2009 transition, while South Korea wants a few more years to better prepare.

As for the reported discrepancy on when U.S. troops here will move to a consolidated base in Pyeongtaek, a city located some 70 km south of Seoul, Bell said he was optimistic that the South Korean government will abide by a related agreement to complete the works by the end of 2008.

He said his 30,000 servicemembers in South Korea need to move out of their dilapidated Korean War-era barracks and other unsatisfactory garrison conditions, which lead to short and unaccompanied tours by the soldiers.

"The base relocation effort provides us with the single best opportunity to make that change positively...I don't want to miss the opportunity," he said.

The two allies have yet to reach a compromise on how to split the relocation costs estimated to hover around 10 trillion won (US$10.7 billion).

According to media reports, the South Korean government wants to postpone the relocation move until as late as 2013 due to a backlash by Pyeongtaek residents and financial constraints.
Seoul, Jan. 18 (Yonhap News)