By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea and the United States have agreed to speed up talks on transferring operational control of the nation’s military back to Seoul, reflecting its increasing military and economic capabilities, the allies’ defense chiefs said Friday.
In a joint statement following an annual defense ministers’ meeting in Seoul, Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung and his U.S. counterpart Donald H. Rumsfeld also agreed to strengthen combined anti-terror measures for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Pusan next month.
They agreed to share terror intelligence during the international summit on Nov. 18-19.
``The minister and the (U.S.) secretary agreed to appropriately accelerate discussions on command relations and wartime operational control,’’ said the statement on the 37th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) at the ministry headquarters in Yongsan.
The 13-point statement, however, failed to say when the talks would begin, or how soon South Korea would be granted wartime control.
The debate over the defense arrangements between the two countries has grown in recent months after President Roh Moo-hyun repeatedly called for reclaiming wartime control of his armed forces from the U.S. as a precondition of building a self-reliant defense posture.
The country regained the authority to control its military during peacetime in 1994, but wartime control has remained in U.S. hands since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
``We have a relationship that has evolved over the last 50 years now, and it will continue to evolve in the years ahead,’’ said the U.S. defense secretary. ``As the capability of the Republic of Korea grows, obviously they will assume more and more responsibility as they have been doing in recent years.’’
``There will be adjustments in the command relationship, and those are the kinds of things allies discuss,’’ he added.
As for the North Korea nuclear issue, the two defense chiefs hailed North Korea’s commitment to abandoning all of its nuclear weapons as agreed upon at the latest round of six-way talks in Beijing last month, hoping that the joint agreement will ``facilitate the verifiable nuclear dismantlement.’’
Yoon and Rumsfeld, however, said the North’s continued development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and long-range missiles is still a matter of ``significant concern’’ for the ROK-U.S. alliance and the international community.
Yoon said he explained to Rumsfeld the background of South Korea’s military reform plan, which focuses on transforming its manpower-based armed forces into technology-oriented unit that can form part of a ``cooperative self-reliant’’ military capability. Rumsfeld promised his full support for the plan, as part of efforts to build a more solid alliance.
Stressing the development of a future-oriented relationship, Yoon and Rumsfeld also agreed on the need to maintain the United States Forces Korea (USFK) and the United Nations Command (UNC) here to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as in Northeast Asia, the statement said.
Both sides also reaffirmed the continuing importance of the strategic flexibility of U.S. forces on the peninsula and pledged to continue consultations on the issue.
In addition, they checked the status of recent agreements made between the two countries, including the relocation of Yongsan Garrison out of Seoul.
Rumsfeld dismissed any further reduction of the number of USFK beyond what has already been announced. Under Washington’s plan to realign its overseas forces, the U.S. plans to cut its 32,500-strong troops to 25,000 by 2008 in stages.
Rumsfeld paid a courtesy call on President Roh Moo-hyun at Chong Wa Dae later in the day. He continues his trip, which began in China on Tuesday, to Mongolia and Kazakhstan over the weekend.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr