Photos Fwd:[Press Interview against the 42th SCM: Promptly Recover Wartime OPCON Right! Step for the Peace Treaty in the Korean Peninsula!

* All the image and content source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea, Oct. 8, 2010

Abolish the Operation Plan 5015!

Abolish the Strategic Alliance 2015!

Abolish the ROK-US Defense cooperation guide line!

2차 한미연례안보협의회 에 즈음한 각계인사 선언 기자회견

“전시작전통제권 즉각 환수하고 한반도평화협정 협상에 나서라”

42차 SCM에 즈음하여 오바마 미 대톨령에게 보내는 공개 편지

각계인사 151인, 전작권 즉각 환수와 평화협정 촉구 <통일뉴스>

42차 한미연례안보협의회에 즈음한 공동대응 지역소식<대구>

Text Fw: Seoul seeks documentation of US troop strength in Korea

Korea Times
05-09-2010 19:07
Seoul seeks documentation of US troop strength in Korea
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

The presence of 28,500-strong U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula is expected to be stipulated in "defense guidelines" to be drawn up by Seoul and Washington in coming months, a government official said Sunday.

The move comes amid lingering speculation that the U.S. troop level in Korea will eventually decrease after 2012 when the U.S. military relinquishes its operational control of South Korean troops during wartime to Korean commanders.

"Despite repeated explanations by both governments, speculation continues about a possible drawdown of U.S. troops in Korea following the planned transition of wartime control," a senior defense ministry official said.

"To dispel such a misunderstanding and reaffirm the solid ROK-U.S. alliance, we're considering stipulating the presence of the current-level U.S. troops in Korea in a diplomatic and defense document," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The pledge on the U.S. troop-level is expected to be put in defense guidelines to be adopted in the forthcoming "2+2" meeting of foreign and defense ministers from Korea and the United States, which is slated for as early as next month in Seoul, or in the Security Consultative Meeting between the defense chiefs from the two allies in October, he said.

The guidelines, similar to the U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines established in 1996, would include key measures to strengthen military cooperation between the two governments, he said.

Among the topics are U.S. reinforcement plans in case of war on the peninsula and the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Under a 2007 deal on command rearrangements, the U.S. military on the peninsula is to shift to an air- and naval-centric supporting role with the Korean military taking over main combat operations in the event of military conflicts.

The ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) is to be deactivated and two separate theater commands of both militaries will be put in place instead.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr


* Related article

Yonhap News

2010/05/09 11:37 KST
S. Korea, U.S. to reaffirm current level of troop presence in writing: official
SEOUL, May 9 (Yonhap)

Text Fwd: S. Korea, US to Draw Up Defense Guidelines

Korea Times
12-16-2009 18:07
S. Korea, US to Draw Up Defense Guidelines
By Jung Sung-ki, Staff Reporter

South Korea and the United States are discussing a plan to draw up "defense guidelines" next year in a bid to upgrade bilateral defense cooperation, according to defense and foreign ministry officials Wednesday.

The guidelines, similar to the U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines established in 1996, would include key measures to strengthen military cooperation between the militaries, they said.

Among the topics are U.S. reinforcement plans in case of a war on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea and the stable presence of U.S. forces in Korea.

"The defense guidelines will be part of follow-up measures to materialize the Korea-U.S. alliance joint vision adopted at the summit between Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Barack Obama," an official at the Ministry of National Defense said. "The guidelines would include a comprehensive package of measures on how the two nations are to cooperate in the event of war on the peninsula."

In the summit meeting in Washington, D.C., Obama said the U.S. government would provide an extended nuclear umbrella to South Korea in response to increasing nuclear threats from the North.

Lee and Obama adopted a "joint vision for the ROK-US alliance" that calls for building a broader, strategic partnership in the realms of politics, economy, culture and other areas beyond the security arena.

In the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Seoul, Oct. 22, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates confirmed the increased defense cooperation with South Korea. In a joint communique issued at the end of the annual meeting, Gates reaffirmed "the U.S. commitment to provide extended deterrence for the ROK, using the full range of military capabilities, to include the U.S. nuclear umbrella, conventional strike and missile defense capabilities."

It was the first time that detailed plans of increased U.S. deterrence capabilities for South Korea had been revealed and even stipulated in a joint statement since 2006, when the then-defense ministers from both nations first addressed the issue.

Notably, Gates said the United States would use its capabilities not only on the peninsula but also "globally available U.S. forces and capabilities that are strategically flexible to deploy to augment the combined defense in case of crisis."

Previously, the U.S. military had only referred to reinforcement of troops from the U.N. Command's rear bases in Japan in case of an emergency.

Observers said Gates' remarks were construed as a response to a lingering concern here that the 2012 transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops from the U.S. military to Korean commanders will result in a smaller role of the U.S. military on the peninsula, and that it could tip the military balance between the two Koreas.

Under a 2007 deal on command rearrangements, the U.S. military on the peninsula is to shift to an air- and naval-centric supporting role with the South Korean military taking over main combat operations in the event of conflicts.

The ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) is to be deactivated and two separate theater commands of both militaries will be put in place here.

Speaking at a forum in the United States, CFC Commander Gen. Walter Sharp said the U.S. and Korean militaries have agreed to develop a single joint operational plan even after the OPCON transition. Both sides have already worked out an initial version of the operational plan and will complete the final one soon, he added.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr


* Related Activist Statements

Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea(SPARK)

Letter Sent to the Presidents of the Republic of Korea and the United States on the Occasion of the Korean-US Summit Conference
June 16, 2009

People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy(PSPD)
“Joint Vision for the Alliance of South Korea and the US” is retrograde absenting a future vision
:The Summit of the South Korea and the US triggers Conflict and Confrontation without Resolving the North Korean Nuclear
2009/06/22



* On SCM, Oct. 22, 2009

The annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) between Robert Gates and Kim Tae Young (Minister of the National Defense, ROK) was on Oct. 22. According to the Korean activists here, the SCM document, 2009 (check No. 546, HERE), for the first time, explicitly expressed 1: the strengthened U.S.-S.K. alliance regarding Missile Defense, 2: the expansion of the alliance beyond the Korean peninsula (strategic flexibility).