Former defense chiefs urge S. Korea to scrap plans to regain wartime command

A group of former South Korean defense ministers asked the government Wednesday to reconsider plans to regain wartime operational control of its forces from the United States.

In a luncheon meeting with Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung, they also stressed that the government should bolster the existing combined forces command as well as the alliance with the U.S. rather than seek to create an independent operational command.

"I told Yoon that South Korea and the U.S. should not agree on a roadmap for the turnover of wartime operational control during the upcoming talks of their defense chiefs in Washington in October," said Lee Sang-hoon, who served as defense minister for three years from 1988.

In response, Yoon said he will take into full account their opinion and convey it to President Roh Moo-hyun, according to the Defense Ministry.

"Since the late 1980s, the two sides have been consulting with each other and studying the issue, so it did not surface all of a sudden recently to cause jitters," Yoon said, noting that the continued presence of U.S. troops here will guarantee the support of the U.S. in a contingency.

The participants were 13 former defense ministers as well as a legendary Korean war hero, retired Gen. Paik Sun-yup, and Lee Jung-rin, a former vice defense minister. "During the meeting, they voiced concern about the government's move to exercise sole command of wartime operational control at a time when tension over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs is higher than ever," said Lee, who served as vice defense minister for five years starting from 1994.

At South Korea's request, the two sides have been discussing the timeline of and roadmap for the transfer of wartime operational control. The final results will be announced at an annual gathering of the South Korean and U.S. defense ministers in October.

The U.S. has proposed to return wartime operational control of troops to South Korea by 2009, citing its improved defense capabilities, while South Korea hopes to take over the wartime command only after 2011.

South Korea voluntarily put the operational control of its military under the American-led U.N. Command shortly after the Korean War broke out in 1950. It regained peacetime control of its forces in 1994, but wartime operational control remains in the hands of the top U.S. commander here.

Since October last year, the two allies have been reviewing a proposal to create separate command systems in the place of the Combined Forces Command (CFC), as they are in favor of running two separate operational commands that they believe can better suit the needs of the two countries.

Currently, about 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The U.S. plans to cut the number of its troops here to 25,000 by 2008.

The Seoul-Washington alliance, forged in blood during the Korean War, has faced fundamental changes in recent years, as South Korea demands a greater role in its military operations to reduce its 680,000-strong military's dependence on the U.S. military.

The U.S., for its part, has also begun transforming its fixed military bases in South Korea into more mobile, streamlined forces as part of its global troop-realignment plan.

Seoul, Aug. 2 (Yonhap News)