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The South Korean flag and the UN flag in the DMZ. (Yonhap News)

The US-led United Nations Command (UNC) released its “2019 Strategic Digest,” in which it said it would continue to ensure support and cooperation “through Japan” in the event of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

But with the Korean-language version only mentioning the continuation of “support and force cooperation with Japan” while omitting the phrase “through Japan,” observers are questioning whether it was hinting at Japan’s inclusion as a country provided with military capabilities in a crisis situation. In its recent push for an expanded role for the UN Command, the US has emphasized the importance of trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan in the Indo-Pacific region.

In a copy of the “2019 Strategic Digest” posted on its website on July 11, the US Forces Korea (USFK) Command said, “UNC continues to seek out UN Sending State augmentation to the mission of [. . . ] Armistice education [and demilitarized zone (DMZ) access control.”

“Additionally, UNC continues to ensure the support and force flow through Japan that would be necessary in times of crisis [on the Korean Peninsula],” it continued. The Strategic Digest is an official document published around this time each year by the USFK Command.

But controversy has been raging over the USFK Command’s Korean translation of the Strategic Digest, which replaces “support and force flow through Japan” with “support and force cooperation with Japan.”

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense (MND) said the difference “appears to be a translation error.”

“We have never discussed or considered force cooperation with Japan in the event of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula,” the ministry said.

In a press release the same evening, the UNC said that it “continues to work closely with members of the Republic of Korea government on all aspects of the UNC organizational structure.”

“UNC has not offered, nor has Japan requested Sending State designation,” it added.

But with recent signs that the US is attempting to expand the UNC, observers said the wording cannot be viewed as a simple error in translation.

The UNC expansion could coincide with the US’ strategy of containing China through stronger alliances in the Indo-Pacific region. It also ties in with the recent push by Japan to amend its Constitution and empower it to fight in wars. In an April 2015 amendment of their Guidelines for Defense Cooperation, the US and Japan opened the way for the global expansion of the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ military capabilities. Military experts also predicted Japan would not shy away from UNC participation.

MND denied the possibility of Japanese forces being introduced in the event of a Korean Peninsula crisis.

“The UNC sending states are among the countries providing forces to UNC according to the UN Security Council resolution adopted in 1950 that was resolved in the Washington Declaration to commit forces again if war occurs again on the Korean Peninsula,” explained deputy spokesperson Roh Jae-cheon.

“Japan did not participate in [the Korean War], so it cannot act as a sending state,” Roh stressed. The current list of UNC sending states consists of 16 countries, including the UK, France, and Canada.

The US’ push to expand the UNC is being seen as an attempt to reduce its responsibility for defending the Korean Peninsula while building a US-centered multilateral military cooperation regime in Northeast Asia. Indeed, the US was confirmed to have explored Germany’s possible participation in the UNC without seeking South Korea’s consent. As a result, Germany’s announcement at the Asian Security Summit (Shangri-La Dialogue) in Singapore last May that it intended to send a liaison officer to UNC was rejected by the South Korean government, which said no prior discussions had taken place. Germany is classified as a medical support provider, having dispatched a medical team of 117 staff members after the armistice agreement between May 1954 and March 1959.

Observers have voiced concerns that an expanded UNC would result in Northeast Asia acquiring a multilateral military cooperation regime along the same lines as NATO in Europe, which could trigger an outcry from other countries in the region and create obstacles to the Korean Peninsula peace process. Some analysts have speculated that UNC may end up as an operational command keeping US controls in place after the return of wartime operation control to the South Korean military. At their Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) last November, South Korea and the US agreed to “develop the mutual relationship of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, USFK Command, and UN Command.” The UNC said in its statement that there was “no plan to make UNC an operational command.”

By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer

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