Ruling party head urges review of OPCON transfer deal with U.S.

By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- The chief of South Korea's ruling party on Thursday
joined growing calls for the review of a 2007 agreement on Seoul's takeover of
wartime operational control of its troops from Washington, citing the region's
changing security landscape.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFC) currently retains wartime operational
control, or OPCON, over South Korea's military, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean
War when the United States fought for South Korea against the North.
Under a bilateral agreement signed in February 2007 during the presidency of Roh
Moo-hyun, South Korea is to reclaim wartime OPCON of its troops from the U.S. as
of April 17, 2012.
But South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and other government officials
have recently spoken out about the need to revise the OPCON deal, citing a
possible security vacuum. Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt
Campbell also told a group of journalists in Seoul Wednesday that his government
is seriously considering concerns in Korea about the planned OPCON transfer and
is willing to closely discuss the issue.
"The OPCON transfer deal was an irresponsible decision made by the Roh government
without an objective assessment of security conditions," Chung Mong-joon,
chairman of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), said during a meeting with the
party's supreme council.
"(Campbell's remarks in essence) acknowledge the need to renegotiate the wartime
OPCON issue and is a fortunate statement," the chairman said, underscoring that
the North has further raised tension by conducting a nuclear experiment and
missile tests since the wartime OPCON transfer deal was signed.
Seoul, which is technically still at war with Pyongyang as the Korean War ended
in a truce rather than a peace treaty, regained peacetime OPCON of its forces
from the U.S. in 1994.
Despite repeated remarks from Washington on its commitment to South Korea, the
scheduled wartime OPCON transfer has spawned concerns over a weakening of South
Korea's defensive capabilities amid Pyongyang's continued nuclear ambitions,
which have resulted in atomic tests in 2006 and 2009.
"(Under such conditions) Assistant Secretary Campbell's remark on the need for
earnest talks (suggests) a big change and significant progress (from the previous
administration)," Chung said, adding that talks on revising the wartime OPCON
transfer would be "natural and fortunate."
Minister Kim called the slated date of the wartime OPCON transfer "bad timing"
during a local defense forum last month, indicating the South Korean government
may ask Washington to reschedule the transition.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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