By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea will assume more responsibility in maintaining the armistice on the Korean Peninsula by 2012 when it commences independent operational control of its armed forces during wartime, the top U.S. defense official said Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said South Korea and the United States are working on a plan to transfer a large part of the current roles and missions of the United Nations Command (UNC) to the South Korean military over the next four years.
``I think the roadmap is actually in the process of being worked out,'' Gates said in a joint press conference after talks with South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo in Seoul.
``In accordance with the roadmap, both sides agreed to complete the armistice maintenance responsibility adjustment between the UNC and the ROK military before the transition of wartime operational control in 2012,'' said a joint communique issued at the end of the 39th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). The SCM is the annual defense ministerial meeting between Seoul and Washington.
The South Korean military is expected to take over administrative affairs such as endorsing civilian entry into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas, and investigations of incidents in the buffer zone, ministry officials said.
The UNC, however, will continue to handle key armistice affairs including regular reports to the U.N. Security Council on the situation on the peninsula, they said.
The UNC is a 16-nation organization overseeing the armistice signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. A permanent peace treaty has never replaced the armistice treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.
The commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) concurrently serves as chief of the UNC and the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC).
The command with a small number of officers from the member countries takes charge of supervising two transportation corridors that run through the heavily fortified DMZ, just 50 kilometers north of Seoul.
In the event of an emergency on the peninsula, the UNC is supposed to provide both forces and logistical support to South Korean and U.S. troops via seven bases in Japan.
However, how to reshape the UNC's roles and missions has been debated since Seoul and Washington agreed on plans to rearrange the combined command structure of South Korean and American troops here early this year.
Under the agreement, Seoul will exercise independent wartime control of its military beginning April 17, 2012, with the U.S. military shifting to a supporting role.
The two militaries are to run separate commands after deactivating the CFC.
Meanwhile, Kim and Gates said North Korea still poses a threat to the security of the peninsula despite recent progress at six-nation talks to disable the North's nuclear weapons programs.
``Although it is true that North Korea has begun the process of disabling its nuclear weapons programs, we cannot say that the threat from the North has been reduced tangibly,'' Kim said. ``North Korea is continuing to pursue the acquisition of asymmetrical weapons. So we cannot conclude that the threat is reduced.''
He added there has been no intelligence indicating the North is reducing its military capabilities.
Gates said North Korea's nuclear and missile threats ``remain a focal point'' of the alliance's combined deterrent and defense posture.
``We are starting on the path, but we are far from reaching the destination,'' he said, adding the next step is Pyongyang's declaration of all its nuclear facilities and activities.
North Korea began disabling its nuclear facilities early this week and has pledged to declare a full list of its nuclear programs by the end of the year following the Feb. 13 deal signed by the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
Under the deal, Pyongyang promised to disable its nuclear weapons programs in return for political concessions and economic aid from the five other countries.
Gates said North Korea should first meet the criteria to be removed from a U.S. list naming states who sponsor terrorism, without giving details.
Pyongyang was put on the list in 1988 after its agents blew up a South Korean passenger plane, killing all 115 people aboard. The list also includes Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.
Gates said Washington's commitment to the security of South Korea will remain firm, even after the transfer of wartime control.
The USFK maintains about 27,000 personnel in Korea. The troop level is to be reduced to 25,000 by the end of next year under Washington's global troop repositioning plan.
Asked about the possibility of additional troop cuts, Gates said that depends on the security condition on the peninsula.
``The level of our troops will depend on the security situation,'' he said, adding any decision on troop strength will be made in a joint appraisal with South Korea.
Meanwhile, Minister Kim reaffirmed his position that he will not deal with a redrawing of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea during the forthcoming inter-Korean defense ministerial talks in Pyongyang.
He made it clear that the NLL is the de facto sea border with the North, and any rearrangement should be a result of consultations with the UNC, which drew the line at the end of the Korean War.
Kim and Gates also discussed a range of issues of mutual concern including the relocation of U.S. bases to the south of Seoul, South Korea's continued troop deployment in Iraq and U.S. legislation to improve Seoul's foreign military sales (FMS) status, officials said.