hankyoreh

April 29.

Some officials within the government have stated that in the aftermath of the sinking of the Cheonan, wartime operational command should be delayed. The U.S., however, has drawn a line, stating that the Cheonan sinking and transfer of operational command are two different issues.

At a debate on Chinese-American cooperation on global issues hosted by the Brookings Institute in Washington, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said the sinking of the Cheonan and the transfer of operational command are not connected, and regardless of the investigation conclusions, it would have no impact on the transfer discussions. This was in response to a question posed as to whether one could consider adjusting the timing of the transfer, scheduled for 2012, if it were revealed that the Cheonan was sunk by North Korea.

While the U.S. Department of Defense has stuck to the original plan of transferring operational command by April 2012 as agreed upon, the U.S. State Department, judging the matter politically, has reportedly adopted a flexible position on the matter of willingness to discuss the timing if South Korea makes such a request. Accordingly, Steinberg’s comment has drawn even more attention as the opinion of the U.S. State Department.

Aside from this, Steinberg also hinted that the result of the investigation into the cause of the Cheonan sinking could have some effect on the nuclear issue. He said the way in which the U.S. deals with the issue depends first and foremost on clearly revealing the cause of the Cheonan’s sinking, and next on North Korea complying with its international duties and suspending threatening actions against its neighbors. The AP, Reuters, AFP and others reported this as the U.S. linking the Cheonan probe with the nuclear talks.

Steinberg said in response to the investigation that he would not rashly speculate on the results and would act based on facts determined by a thorough investigation. He said he would leave all possibilities open until the cause of the sinking was accurately revealed. Discussing a comment by South Korean Defense Secretary Kim Tae-young that it was highly possible the Cheonan was sunk by a torpedo, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley also took a cautious position, saying the matter was currently under investigation and a concrete response would be made based on clear investigation results.

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