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The Korean defense ministry wants more control over its troops in deterring outside threats although U.S. forces are stationed here. In line with South Korea's goal to change its military defense capabilities to become more self-reliant, the government wants to replace the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command with a new organization. The U.S.-led Combined Forces Command is the wartime command unit set up to deter North Korean aggression against the South.
The CFC has operational control over around 600,000 Korean and U.S. soldiers stationed south of the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas. Government sources here say South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff are devising a plan to replace the CFC that would put South Korea on a par with the U.S by giving its military an independent operational command center. If the plan is realized, Korea¡¯s armed forces will have an autonomous command with more say in how it wants to coordinate its troops in a joint military operation.
Efforts to find a new substitute for the CFC are part of on-going discussions on transfer of wartime operational control of Korean forces to Korea. The Defense Ministry reportedly will draw up a roadmap by June and brief U.S. defense officials about the plan at the annual Security Consultative Meeting in October.
Defense officials here say if all goes as planned, the two governments should have discussed the overall procedures needed to establish the independent command structure by then, including legal and personnel matters.
Arirang News
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