Defense minister confident of ability to exercise independent wartime control

South Korea's top military official Thursday dismissed concerns about the country's plan to take over wartime control of its forces from the United States, saying the alliance between the two countries will not be compromised.

"I have strong confidence about our ability regarding takeover of wartime control and military reform. This will and ability should not be underestimated," Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said in a hurriedly arranged press conference.

Yoon told reporters that a 1953 mutual defense treaty between the two sides will guarantee the continued presence of U.S. troops as well as the present level of deterrent capabilities even if South Korea runs a separate command from that of the U.S. on the Korean Peninsula in the event of a contingency.

"The guarantee will be specified in Terms of Reference (TOR) of a roadmap for the takeover of wartime control saying the present readiness and deterrent will continue to be maintained," he said.

The U.S. proposed to transfer wartime operational control of troops to South Korea before 2010, citing its improved defense capabilities, while South Korea hopes to take over the wartime command by 2012, Yoon acknowledged.

"Initially, we thought we will be competent enough to exercise an independent wartime command by 2010, but we have come to the judgement that we will be safely able to do so by 2012," he said.

The sudden press meeting came just a day after a group of former defense ministers asked the government to immediately scrap plans to regain wartime control of its forces from the U.S.

Yoon countered the claim that the U.S. will pull its troops from South Korea and refuse to help the country in case of a contingency if it hands over wartime control rights.

"The key point of joint studies on the vision of future South Korea-U.S. alliance is to adjust and advance the present relationship in ways that will adapt to a changing future security situation," Yoon said.

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 unveiled at an annual gathering of South Korean and U.S. defense ministers in Washington in October.

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 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. 3 (Yonhap News)