By Bernama,
Seoul : South Korea and the United States need to enhance their military command capabilities before Seoul retakes the wartime operational control of its troops from Washington, as North Korea’s asymmetric warfare or nuclear capability continues to grow, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday.
Gen. Burwell B. Bell noted South Korea and other Asian nations in the region will continue to be threatened by the communist North’s conventional and nuclear weapons even after Seoul takes back the wartime operational control, or OPCON, of its troops in 2012.
“Therefore, it is extremely important that what we do here in transformation not only enhances the alliance security mechanism, but also enhances our leading edge combat proven capabilities and technologies,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted the USFK commander as saying in a speech at the opening of 14th ROK-U.S. Defense Analysis Seminar.
The American general said Seoul and Washington have a detailed timeline that would carry both nations through the 2012 transition of wartime OPCON and leave no holes in their joint combat capabilities.
Bell clearly dismissed any possibility or need to abandon the arranged transfer of OPCON, saying no country “ever surrenders command of its troops,” but his remarks may be seen as hinting at a possible delay of the scheduled transfer, depending on future conditions.
The upcoming transfer comes as the result of a 2006 agreement signed between the U.S. and South Korea’s former administration of Roh Moo-hyun, whose five-year term was often described by his critics as a struggle against the United States.
However, the new conservative government of Lee Myung-bak has been voicing some concerns, although tacitly due to fear of shouldering additional burdens, that 2012 may be too soon for South Korea to face possible hostilities from nuclear-armed North Korea by itself.
Washington has dismissed the concerns or any need to reschedule the transfer of OPCON, saying threats from Pyongyang’s unconventional and nuclear weapons have been thoroughly examined and accounted for while arranging the April 2012 transfer of the OPCON.
Bell said the work to transfer the wartime OPCON of South Korean troops back to Seoul was currently on the mark with exercises scheduled annually until 2012 to test and prepare the combat readiness of the countries’ militaries following the transfer.
“The ROK-U.S. alliance has effectively deterred aggression over the past decades,” he said. “It will remain the most powerful in the world as it is today,” he said.
The United States currently maintains some 28,000 troops here as a deterrent to possible threats from North Korea.
Initiated in 1979, the biennial forum, Defense Analysis Seminar, offers initiatives and defense strategies to the militaries of the two nations.
This year’s forum aims specifically to deal with the upcoming OPCON transfer, as it is being held under the theme of “Joint Military Transformation: Preparing for Future Warfare through Efficient Force Development and Employment.”
Over 70 specialists and officials from Seoul’s Korea Institute for Defense Analyses and various U.S. military research and analysis centres are taking part in the Seoul forum that will end Wednesday.