By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Calls to delay the agreed 2012 transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops from the United States have been mounting here since North Korea conducted a second nuclear device test and test-fired short-range missiles earlier this week.
Arguments against the 2012 transition are expected to receive a boost, analysts say, because a 2007 deal on the wartime command transfer was agreed upon under the presumption that North Korea's military threat would diminish slowly but surely with progress in the six-party denuclearization talks.
The 2007 agreement calls for reviewing security conditions every three years and readjusting the transition plan accordingly.
Lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties claimed the issue of rescheduling the timeline for the OPCON transfer should be discussed as a major topic at a summit between the leaders of South Korea and the United States slated for June 16 in Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan hinted in a parliamentary session that the government would consider including the OPCON issue as a major agenda item for the summit.
Washington maintains a firm position on the 2012 timetable, however, assuring that it will keep South Korea under its nuclear umbrella to deter North Korea's threats.
``Security conditions now on the Korean Peninsula are totally different from those in 2007 when a deal on the OPOCON transition was reached,'' said Rep. Kim Sung-hoi of the governing Grand National Party (GNP).
``It's premature for South Korea to take over the wartime command authority given the lingering and ever-increasing threats posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs,'' said Kim.
Rep. Hwang Jin-ha of the GNP said, ``Though our military power has been improved to some extent over the past years, it still lacks a deterrent capability against a nuclear-armed North Korea, and some of the arms acquisition programs that had been prepared for the 2012 transition have failed to materialize.''
Rep. Park Joo-seon of the main opposition Democratic Party said, ``If North Korea is recognized as a nuclear state either officially or unofficially, it would be pertinent for the two governments to discuss a delay in the OPOCON transition.''
South Korea voluntarily handed over both peacetime and wartime operational controls to the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. The command authority was later transferred to the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC).
Seoul retrieved peacetime control in 1994, while the four-star U.S. commander of the CFC still has the authority to command both South Korean and America forces in the case of an emergency.
After several years of negotiations, Seoul and Washington agreed in 2007 that South Korea would execute independent operational control of its armed forces during wartime beginning April 17, 2012. The CFC is to be deactivated by 2012 with the U.S. military shifting to a naval- and air-centric supporting role.
Associations of former military generals and war veterans have been pushing for a petition seeking to postpone the OPCON takeover. The groups said they has received about 8.5 million signatures and plan to hold a press conference against an early OPCON transfer on June 4.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
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