YONHAP NEWS

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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