Legislators call for delay of troop control transfer

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea must postpone retaking of wartime
operational control of its troops from the United States as it will leave serious
loopholes in defense against North Korea, a number of ruling party legislators
said Monday.

The statements reflect Seoul's concerns over possible changes in the South
Korea-U.S. alliance following the scheduled transfer.
Seoul is set to retake wartime operational control of its troops, known as OPCON,
from Washington in April 2012 under an arrangement reached in 2006 by the
previous left-leaning Roh Moo-hyun government.
While the conservative Lee Myung-bak government has said the timing of the
transfer does not need to be reconsidered, it has repeatedly indicated that the
need to do so may arise in the future, depending on the outcome of exercises
aimed at preparing Seoul for full wartime control.
"It is a clear fact that the OPCON transfer will leave a critical defense vacuum
if it is done while our military lacks adequate deterrence against North Korea
and there are no significant changes in North Korea's military threats," said
Rep. Kim Sung-hoi of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), a member of the
parliamentary defense committee.
The Assembly committee on Monday began its three-week inspection of the Defense
Ministry and related offices, which include the office of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff and the headquarters of all three armed branches.
Kim, a retired Army colonel, claimed the OPCON transfer could also lead to the
complete withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53
Korean War.
"When U.S. forces have OPCON (over South Korean troops), then, as a key
participant in the Korean War, they have a duty to remain in South Korea. But if
OPCON is transfered to South Korea, U.S. forces will become simply a support unit
and thus have no reason to stay here and pay for its own (maintenance) costs," he
said.
Another ruling party member of the National Assembly Defense Committee, Kim
Ok-lee, noted the OPCON transfer could also destroy the very foundation of the
South Korea-U.S. alliance, which she said has kept in place the strategic balance
of power in the Northeast Asian region as well as on the Korean Peninsula for
over half a century.
The 60-year-old lawmaker also said nearly 7 million people nationwide, including
21 former defense ministers and 21 former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
have already signed a petition calling for the scrapping of the 2012 transfer of
OPCON.
Wartime operational control, as well as peacetime control, of South Korean troops
was handed over to Washington at the outset of the Korean War, when South Korea's
armed services were just three years old.
Peacetime control was handed back to Seoul in 1994, while wartime control remains
in the hands of the top commander of U.S. Forces Korea, who also heads the South
Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command.
The Defense Ministry has denied any need to reschedule or delay the 2012 transfer
of OPCON, saying the country is fully experienced and ready to take command of
its own troops.
Gen. Walter Sharp, who has repeatedly expressed his support for the on-time
transfer of OPCON, described the move as "the right thing to do."
Washington currently maintains some 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent
against possible aggression from the communist North. The two Koreas technically
remain at war as the Korean War ended only with a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.