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US, South Korea to speed up military command shift

* Washington, Seoul express concern over Pyongyang’s arms buildup

SEOUL: The United States and South Korea agreed on Friday to accelerate talks on switching the command structure of Korean forces in wartime in what would be a major shift in the half-century-old alliance.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reaffirmed the US commitment to South Korea’s Defence and to the provision of a nuclear umbrella to deter aggression from North Korea. But Rumsfeld, at the close of annual security talks with his South Korean counterpart Yoon Kwang-Ung, said that the alliance was evolving.

“And as the capability of the ROK (Republic of Korea forces) grow, they will assume more and more responsibility as they have been doing in previous years,” he told a press conference.

“Over time, clearly there will be adjustments in the command relationships.”Under the existing mutual Defence pact, South Korean forces come under the command of a US general in times of war. President Roh Moo-Hyun last month suggested that command be shifted to South Korea in wartime as well as in time of peace. Rumsfeld said there was no fixed schedule for the shift of command.

“It will take place at that moment that the Republic of Korea and the United States decided it was appropriate,” he said.

The proposal comes as the United States is in the process of reducing its forces on the Korean peninsula from 37,000 troops to 25,000 by 2008 and withdrawing them from the frontline with North Korea to bases south of Seoul.

At the press conference with Yoon, Rumsfeld said the United States was not planning to further reduce US force levels on the peninsula, although he said that the military routinely planned for all contingencies.

The United States also wants “the strategic flexibility” to deploy its remaining forces elsewhere in times of need. Prior to the meeting, General Leon Laporte, the commander of US forces in South Korea, said that the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea remained unchanged.

But he acknowledged that incidents along the demilitarised zone (DMZ) dividing the peninsula were down noticeably in the past 12-18 months. He attributed the reduced tension in part to South Korea’s “sunshine policy” which seeks reconciliation and cooperation with the North. However a joint statement issued after Friday’s meeting said the North remained a danger.

“North Korea’s continued development of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles along with a danger of proliferation of those weapons and technologies are causes of significant concern for the ROK-US alliance and the international community,” it said.

Responding to that danger, Rumsfeld said US forces would “preserve and strengthen the credibility of the deterrent against either overt aggression or nuclear blackmail.” The US-South Korea alliance which dates back to the 1950-53 Korean war has been strained in recent years over issues including differences in the handling of North Korea.

The US Defence secretary was asked about polls that show that most South Koreans regard the United States as a greater threat to peace than North Korea.

He said that the United States had invested the lives of a great many Americans and a great deal of money to help South Korea become the prosperous nation that it is today and was proud to have done so. The US Defence secretary later had talks with South Korean leader Roh and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon before a scheduled town hall-style meeting with US troops here. afp

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