hankyoreh

May 27.

The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) officially asked the South Korean government on Wednesday to reexamine the transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul, which is supposed in April 2012.

GNP Spokesperson　Cho Yoon-Sun said, “We strenuously ask the government to review the transfer of wartime operational control of our troops under the present possibility of a nuclear attack by North Korea.” Following a high level discussion between the ruling party and government officials, Cho said, “We asked the government to raise this issue during the South Korea-U.S. summit in June.” It is reported that the government did not offer an explicit answer to the request.

Wartime operational command of South Korean troops is currently in the hands of the commander U.S. and U.N. forces in South Korea. South Korea assumed peacetime operational command from the U.S. in 1994. The South Korean and U.S. governments agreed to transfer wartime operational command eventually. The GNP party, then opposition party, and far-right wing organizations opposed the agreement because of South Korean forces’ lack of preparation and possibilities of security instability.

GNP Chairperson Park Hee-tae spoke on the process of transfer and said, “Although the U.S. has promised to put South Korea under its nuclear umbrella, it is time to discuss the matter closely with the U.S.”

An assertion that South Korea should arm itself with nuclear weapons is being raised. Park Sun Young, Liberal Forward Party spokesperson said in an interview with MBC radio, on the premise of offering her personal opinion, “Don’t we have a need for a nuclear self defense, or don’t we need to announce that we will have one? As the country that is directly concerned with North Korea’s nuclear bomb test, this would be the strongest response we could respond with.”

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