Intelligence expert sworn in as deputy S. Korea-U.S. military commander

(ATTN: ADDS background in 3rd para, last 4 paras; TRIMS 2nd para)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- A four-star South Korean intelligence officer took
over Monday as the deputy chief of the combined U.S.-South Korean military
command, vowing to sharpen joint operational plans against North Korea.
"I will put forward my best efforts to further develop operational plans and
combined exercise systems," Gen. Hwang Eui-don said in a speech at the Combined
Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul.
Hwang took over from Gen. Lee Sung-chool, who had worked with the CFC commander,
U.S. Gen. Walter Sharp, since March last year. The U.S. has 28,500 troops
stationed in South Korea and has maintained the wartime operational command of
South Korea's 655,000 troops since the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce.
"Gen. Hwang comes to us with a wealth of military experience," Sharp said in a
separate speech as the three generals took part in a change of command ceremony
amid sporadic downpours.
"His last assignment as the director of the Korean Defense Intelligence Agency
will set him up well for this command," Sharp said of Hwang, who also headed
South Korea's Zaytun division from 2004-2005 as part of a U.S. campaign in Iraq.
Hwang oversaw military intelligence on North Korea before taking office as the
deputy CFC commander. His promotion was part of a broad military reshuffle that
included the appointment of Gen. Kim Tae-young, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, as defense minister.
Kim, who underwent a parliamentary confirmation hearing last week, has been the
highest-ranking South Korean military official in charge of an operational plan
which the allies are preparing for a possible regime collapse in Pyongyang.
Concerns over such a scenario mounted last year when U.S. and South Korean
officials said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il -- who has yet to publicly name a
successor -- apparently suffered a stroke.
Kim has since apparently recovered well enough to reassert his control over his
regime. North Korea this year conducted its second nuclear test and launched a
rocket that South Korea and the U.S. fear could be developed into a long-range
ballistic missile.
The appointment of Hwang also comes as the CFC moves to dissolve itself after
South Korea reclaims the wartime operation control of its troops from the U.S. in
2012. The peacetime control was returned in 1994.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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