U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Walter Sharp late last year told superiors that the headquarters of the Eighth U.S. Army should stay in Korea even under a new command structure once full operational control of Korean troops has been handed to Seoul in 2012.

U.S. military authorities in June last year decided to turn the Eighth Army, which has acted as a command post for personnel and administrative support here, into Operational Command Post-Korea (OCPK), which would have operational and intelligence functions, by around 2011.

But they had put off saying what will happen to the Eighth U.S. Army headquarters because they had reached no decision whether it should move to Hawaii or stay in Korea.

The Korean Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff had apparently asked the U.S. military to keep the headquarters here for fear that a move to Hawaii would trigger a sense of insecurity among Koreans.

If Sharp's word carries decisive weight, the Eighth U.S. Army headquarters would act mainly as a field command post supervised by a lieutenant general. Sources in the Defense Ministry and the USFK on Monday said Sharp apparently made the suggestion at Korea's request.

The sources said U.S. military authorities will probably give positive consideration to Sharp's suggestion, given the tradition in the U.S. military is to respect the opinion of overseas commanders on the ground.

(englishnews@chosun.com )