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Taking back wartime operational control of the nation¡¯s troops from the U.S. will mean a shift to a joint defense system where the nation¡¯s armed forces play a leading role and the U.S. Forces in Korea a more supportive one. The projected ¡°military cooperation center¡± is to come under control of generals from Seoul and Washington, the Ministry of Defense said in a roadmap for the forces control takeover to the National Assembly. That was the official announcement that the Korea-U.S. combined defense system, and with it Combined Forces Command, will be dismantled 34 years after they were set up by mutual agreement in 1978.
Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said Korea aims to take over independent control of its forces by 2012, but this was merely a plan, with concrete deliberations to start in 2010. Yoon made the remarks in answer to a question from ruling-party lawmaker Kim Jin-pyo suggesting Korea try to see where it stands in terms of achieving the goal in 2010, and then decide the final timetable. Yoon¡¯s answer suggests that the timeframe could chance.
Asked ¡°Can the military cooperation center give strategic orders?¡± by Song Young-sun, a Grand National Party lawmaker, on Thursday, Yoon said it can give ¡°cooperative orders.¡± That suggests that once Korea exercises sole wartime operational control, it can only ask for cooperation from the USFK but cannot jointly give orders to them via the CFC as it does now. ¡°The two commands currently under the same roof will be divided into two separate ones, and instead the pair will forge very close cooperative ties,¡± Yoon added.
Under the Defense Ministry¡¯s roadmap, discussions on a new bilateral alliance military structure will continue until 2010, operational plans and detailed engagement orders will be completed by 2011 and a strengthened Joint Chiefs of staff will be created by 2012 so the nation will be able to exercise sole wartime operational control. The roadmap projects a new military structure for the Korea-U.S. alliance by 2010 as the first step on the road to sole wartime control. The new alliance is to be built around a joint defense structure instead of the current combined forces structure. The idea is that the Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. Forces Korea will establish commands filling separate roles. Putting together all this, the final decision whether to take back wartime operational control will come in 2012 according to schedule.
The roadmap says all concrete plans will be completed by 2011.
The Korean military plans to draw up individual sets of operational plans that would replace the current OPLAN 5027 combined strategy for dealing with North Korea. ¡°Of course detailed operational plans and even engagement orders for individual bases will be hammered out by 2011,¡± the ministry said.
In the preparations, a Joint Chiefs of Staff matched in scope to its new role will be established, and Seoul is to secure the capability to deter the North independently by 2012.
A plan to build up nation¡¯s military capability to deter North Korea between 2010 and 2012 was also suggested.
Two or three all-purpose satellites that can be used for reconnaissance will be launched, and four AWACS aircraft will be put into use by then. The C4I system providing real-time computer-based battlefront information to the unit commanders will be readied, and the network for collating the combat data will be complete by 2014. The Defense Ministry also plans to obtain 40 F-15K fighters, nine 3,000 t submarines, and 900 GPS-guided smart-bombs.
There are concerns, however, whether the two allies, while operating their own commands independently in cooperation, will be able to carry out effective military operations in wartime. ¡°The critical factor in carrying out successful operations in wartime is the establishment of one single consistent command structure,¡± former defense minister Kim Dong-jin said. ¡°The roadmap talks about something unimaginable. How can the two nations ¡®cooperate¡¯ in wartime operations when they have two separate commands?¡± Lee Sang-hoon, also a former defense chief, said, ¡°The most important principle in waging a war is to have a unified command structure, and I doubt whether a mere ¡®cooperation¡¯ center will do.¡±
Critics stress that cooperation is the most that can be expected. ¡°The CFC is the world¡¯s best military structure, and its function has been verified and improved for several decades. A military command center will be no replacement for the CFC.¡± Former defense minister Choi Se-chang said. Lee Jung-rin, another former incumbent, said the proposed center ¡°is based on mutual trust only and does not have any binding power like the CFC. Under the new structure, if differences come up while the two nations discuss important bilateral issues and walk out of the meeting, that¡¯s it.¡±
The shift to a new military structure reflects the Roh administration¡¯s priority of inter-Korean relations before the Seoul-Washington alliance, some say. One of them is Lee Sang-hyun, the director of the Security Studies Program at the Sejong Institute. ¡°We need to pay attention to the fact that when Defense Minister Yoon talked about the need to ¡®withdraw¡¯ wartime operational control from the U.S., ¡°he seemed to mean that it is also necessary to improve inter-Korean relations," Lee said. Under a military structure like the cooperation center, the two allies could end up disagreeing over the ultimate goal of military operations they carry out.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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