The South Korean and U.S. presidents need to present a broad, strategic vision of their future alliance at their summit next month that would explain recent changes in the alliance and, at the same time, prevent misinterpretation by North Korea, a former White House aide said Thursday.
Michael Green, former Asia director for the National Security Council, said today's discussion on wartime operational control, a lynchpin issue in readjusting the bilateral military alliance, should not be seen or decided strictly from a military perspective.
"What's been lacking a little bit is the larger, strategic context that explains this," he said in a lecture arranged by the South Korean embassy.
"The whole thing has to be put in the context of the future vision for the alliance."
Given South Korea's raised status in the international community and U.S. needs for flexible redeployment of its armed forces around the world, the two countries are mapping out changes in a military alliance that dates back to the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Some 30,000 American troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the war.
One of the issues is wartime operational control of South Korean forces, which under current arrangements would go to a U.S. commander should war break out. Seoul wants to have control of its own military.
But some critics claim that such a transfer of control would undermine the alliance with the U.S. and lead to an American troop withdrawal. Differences over the timing of the transfer have also bred speculation that the two countries are in discord.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun comes to Washington next month and will hold summit talks with President George W. Bush on Sept. 14. The talks take place against the backdrop of stalemated North Korea nuclear talks, a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's missile launches, and efforts to conclude a bilateral free trade agreement.
Green, who had been at the NSC until December, said the two presidents in the past were mostly "managing issues."
"What we really haven't done is create a broadly accepted vision for what this alliance is about in the future," he said.
"I hope the people use the visit of President Roh to show that we are on the same side of this question of wartime operation control, but more importantly, that we have a common vision for where the alliance should go and how the transfer fits into that."
Green said the timing of the discussion may be wrong and could send the wrong messages to North Korea, which last month defied international pleas and warnings and test-fired advanced missiles.
"To accelerate and agree on dates for transferring wartime operation control in wake of North Korean provocation of this scale, to do it now might send a very bad signal," he said.
The U.S. Congress may also misinterpret, said Green.
"Does the Congress understand this? Will it support sustaining a U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula?" he asked.
Washington, Aug. 17 (Yonhap News)
Korea-U.S. summit should present future context for alliance: former NSC aide |
