Transfer of wartime control to S. Korea could be delayed again

Posted on : 2013-04-23 15:42 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
On May US visit, President Park likely to discuss S. Korea taking over amid North Korean nuclear threat
 November 2007.
November 2007.

By Gil Yun-hyung and Kim Kyu-won, staff reporters

Since North Korea’s third nuclear test, key South Korean and US authorities have been suggesting a possible postponement of the scheduled December 2015 transfer of wartime operational control to South Korea.

Speaking with reporters on an airplane to Beijing after meeting with his South Korean counterpart Jeong Seung-do, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Martin Dempsey said they had “exchanged opinions” on major issues affecting the alliance, and that the current situation with North Korea was a “central topic.”

As a concrete example, Dempsey mentioned the issue of operational control for wartime alliance activities on the Korean Peninsula being transferred to South Korea in December 2015.

The mention of this issue by a US military operational official is especially significant at a time when the North Korean nuclear threat has tensions on the peninsula at a high point.

Dempsey’s remarks echoed those of US Ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim back in February. At the time, Kim said the transfer would take place when both countries were prepared for the South Korean military to take command, and that they would “not proceed with the transfer” if South Korea wasn’t ready.

Retired general Burwell Bell, who headed the Combined Forces Command from 2006 to 2008, recently chimed in with his own “open letter” to the South Korean government and public, in which he said the handover should be postponed indefinitely until the nuclear issue is resolved. Bell argued that it would be difficult for the US military to respond effectively to the nuclear threat if operational control were in South Korean hands.

Meanwhile, the official position of the Park Geun-hye administration is that the transfer is to take place as scheduled. During a session of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee on Apr. 22, Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin said procedures for the transfer were “moving ahead normally” according to the previous agreement between the South Korea and the US.

But differing voices are already making themselves heard.

Kim Jang-soo, who heads the Blue House national security office, maintained on Apr. 18 that the schedule was still fluid. While stating that the government would “do our best to meet the agreed-upon deadline,” Kim also said it “may take some time to consider factors such as the national security situation or South Korea’s readiness to take over.”

The transfer has already been postponed once before, in 2010. Originally slotted for April 2012, it was pushed back to December 2015 after North Korea carried out its second nuclear test.

Yu Yeong-jae, who heads the US military issue team for the group Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea, said the delay currently being discussed would “serve the interests of the US, which wants a stronger military presence in Asia, and South Korean conservatives who would like to get a pledge from USFK to defend the peninsula.”

The topic appears likely to resurface in some form at a summit meeting between Park and US President Barack Obama that is scheduled for May 7.

At a briefing, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Kim Min-seok said the issue would “be decided through an agreement between the two leaders based on the spirit of the alliance and mutual trust.”

“In the process, we will be examining all aspects of the current security situation and military preparedness,” Kim added.

 

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