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A scaled-down honor guard ceremony to celebrate the 28th anniversary of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command at Yongsan's Knight Field made a forlorn impression on Tuesday morning. Gone were the three days of sports events that used to accompany the anniversary, while the number of participating military units and officials was much reduced, with only some 100 civilians including retired generals Paik Sun-yup and Han Chul-soo and former defense minister Lee Sang-hoon attending. Birthday honors for the doomed command were trimmed on the orders of U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Burwell Bell.
Participants speculated the event was pared down to reflect the CFC¡¯s imminent dissolution when Korea takes over sole operational control of its troops. It was the first ceremony held since the two allies last month agreed on the handover of wartime control of Korean troops between October 2009 and March 2012. "Today, we take the first step to breaking down the Korea-U.S. alliance,¡± one retired general at the ceremony commented. Former defense minister Lee Sang-hoon, who also served as CFC deputy commander, said, "We are in a situation where we have to strengthen our alliance with the U.S., which has the nuclear weapons to respond to a nuclear-armed North Korea, but we are making the mistake of weakening that alliance instead.¡± He called for the two countries to resume talks next year to ensure the survival of the CFC.
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An honor guard ceremony marking the 28th anniversary of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command at Yongsan's Knight Field on Tuesday.
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Experts see problems ahead when joint defense changes to a mutual defense pact once the CFC is disbanded. Thus a Military Cooperation Center or MCC to be set up when combined command is gone will be chaired by generals from both sides but does not have the authority to command military units like the CFC. Instead, it will be controlled by the bilateral Security Consultative Committee and the Korea-U.S. Military Committee (MC). Pundits worry that the new body may not ensure efficient cooperation between the allies. The government says the new system will work based on an equal partnership, but the U.S. will in reality need to take the lead in military operations since Korea depends heavily on American men and materiel for intelligence gathering and aerial strength.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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