|
An advisor to the ruling Uri Party and former campaign chief for President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday the president before assuming office already had grave misgivings about Korea¡¯s lack of wartime operational control of Korean troops. ¡°In 2003 when Roh was still president-elect, he saw a TV show on the wartime operational control issue and expressed worries that it would be disastrous if the U.S. strikes North Korea,¡± Chyung Dai-chul told the Chosun Ilbo in a phone interview. When special delegates whose job was to visit the U.S. to explain the foreign policy line of the new administration visited Roh at home in Seoul before leaving, ¡°Roh talked about the TV program about the wartime operational control issue,¡± he added. Chyung led the special delegation.
The broadcast said the U.S. could strike North Korea over its nuclear program, which could lead to war on the Korean Peninsula, and the South Korean head of state would be unable to prevent this because he did not have independent wartime operational control of Korean troops. The program was made from a progressive perspective.
A ruling-party official quoted Roh as saying at the time, ¡°Could the U.S. carry out a bombing raid on North Korea as it wishes without our knowledge? It is possible. South Korea can¡¯t even claim the status of a sovereign state.¡± ¡°People who heard him say that thought Roh was a hardliner¡± in his U.S. policy, the official added. Since then, the president repeatedly raised the question of taking over wartime operational control from the U.S., in interviews and at military events. But Chyung recalled the delegation meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the time. ¡°Rumsfeld talked about reforming the U.S. Forces Korea¡¯s military structure and hinted at handing over wartime operational control to us,¡± he said. ¡°Roh was briefed on all this.¡±
The advisor added Roh ¡°just used different expressions for political purposes to make it look as if Korea is claiming wartime operational control of its troops, which would have been handed over by the U.S. anyway.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
