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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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South Korea leader to end US control over army SEOUL, Oct 1 (AFP) - President Roo Moo-hyun gave a strong indication on Saturday that he plans to end the United States' right to control South Korea's armed forces in case of war, a source of lingering resentment here. Roh, elected on a wave of anti-American sentiment in December 2002, made the remarks at a ceremony to celebrate the armed forces' 57th anniversary. "The recently announced military reform programme reflects our determination to achieve independence in defence capability. When completed, this reform will transform our armed forces into advanced, crack units," Roh said. "It will be reborn as independent armed forces that fit its name and reality as well, especially by exercising our own wartime operational control," he added. Under a controversial 1950 accord, operational control over South Korea's 680,000-strong armed forces would be exercised by the commander of US troops stationed in South Korea in case of an armed conflict. The recovery of the wartime operational rights, handed to US military authorities during the Korean War, is seen by many South Koreans as a matter of national sovereignty. South Korea last month unveiled a military reform programme highlighted by a 26 percent cut in troops to 500,000 by 2020 and a drastic increase in fire-power. South Korea hosts 32,500 US troops. President George W. Bush has nominated the current commander of US Army forces in Europe to lead the US forces in Korea, the Pentagon said last month. If confirmed by Congress, General Burwell Bell III will replace General Leon Laporte as head of the combined US-South Korean forces command. Ties between the two allies have been strained over how to rein in North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and Roh's rejection of a joint plan for armed intervention in the event of instability there. Other contentious bilateral issues are the sharing of defense costs and a plan for redeployment of US troops. However, Roh stressed the alliance is stronger than ever, as shown in the
two sides' joint efforts to resolve the dispute over North Korea's nuclear
weapons program. |
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