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Senior military and security experts were joined by thousands of conservative activist groups on Friday in a rally against Korea¡¯s efforts to take over sole wartime operational control of its forces. Participants said President Roh Moo-hyun and his administration were destroying the Korea-U.S. alliance with efforts to take wartime control out of U.S. hands and called for Roh¡¯s resignation if they persist. Some slogans called for the president to be impeached.
Altogether 173 groups including the Korea Retired Generals and Admirals Association gathered in front of Seoul Station to protest against what they say is the dismantling of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, a ¡°scheme¡± to expel the U.S. Forces Korea and a ¡°plot¡± to destroy the alliance. They said the government efforts were singularly ill-timed now the country faces ¡°a crisis threatening its very existence¡± due to North Korea¡¯s missile tests early last month, adding this required a strengthening rather than a dilution of the alliance.
The leader of the National Action Campaign for Freedom and Democracy in Korea, Seo Jeong-gap, said Roh ¡°deceived the public by using the word ¡®withdrawal¡¯ into believing that wartime operational control, which actually is jointly exercised by the two allies, is exclusively exercised by the U.S.¡± Seo called for a referendum since the matter was vital to national security.
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Some 3,500 veterans and military experts rally to protest against the ¡®withdrawal¡¯ of wartime operational control of Korean forces from the U.S. and dissolution of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, at the Seoul Station on Friday./Newsis
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In a statement, the groups accused the government of unilaterally pursuing a plan threatening national security, and vowed to set up a nationwide network to defend the alliance and campaign for the resignation of the president and Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung.
Protestors demanded a halt to discussions to dismantle the CFC and an official apology from Roh, calling on politicians to make clear their opposition to dismantlement of the joint command structure. They also demanded that what they said were pro-North Korean groups pulling strings behind the scenes be investigated. A total of 5,000 people including 500 retired generals and admirals and 10 former defense ministers took part in the rally, police said. After announcing the statement, they marched to the historic Namdaemun or South Gate.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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