[Editorial] Real Discussion About Wartime Command

The decision to speed up discussion on wartime operational command of the Korean military, made at the U.S.-Republic of Korea Security Consultative Meeting on Friday, comes at the right time. The issue was first brought up in detail at the Security Policy Initiative meeting last month in Washington, and now the question of transferring wartime operational control is an official item on the agenda. We hope to see the matter concluded through close and speedy discussion.

This year's Security Consultative Meeting is the 37th. They started in 1968 and have been a pillar in security discussion between the two nations. Last year the main issues were the reduction and relocation of United States Forces Korea (USFK) troops and adjusting the military roles of each country. This year the new items on the agenda have been transferring wartime command, finding vision for the alliance through security policy initiatives, and reform in the Korean military. What that means is that the main task now before the alliance is reorganizing it to make it fit the 21st century and reestablishing the roles and command systems of each country's forces. A new framework must be created through quality discussion, a framework that that can be sustained for at least the next generation.

What makes the issue of wartime command a particularly important one among those at hand is that it will be an important key in the course of creating a peace regime for the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia. Peace on the Korean peninsula requires, for starters, a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, but other main elements would be the signing of a peace agreement and getting rid of the cease-fire agreement with North Korea and mutual arms reductions. That, in turn, necessarily requires that the Korean military have independence and its own defense capabilities. The military also needs to be independent in order to "establish a structure of peace in Northeast Asia through a multi-party regime," as president Roh Moo Hyun called for on Friday.

As noted by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in Seoul for the consultations, the relationship has changed for the past 50 years and will continue to do so. We think there is no problem that cannot be resolved if both sides engage in dialogue with open minds, with the fundamental guidelines of peace and cooperation.

The Hankyoreh, 22 October 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]