By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea-U.S. relations have undergone 54 years of ups and downs with remarkable development as one of the strongest alliances in the world.
Now the relations are likely to receive a fresh boost following the landslide victory of ``pragmatist'' Lee Myung-bak, who campaigned on a pledge to strengthen Seoul-Washington ties, in the Dec. 19 presidential election that ended 10 years of liberal rule, security experts here and abroad say.
On the positive side, the experts say, the incumbent Roh Moo-hyun government has tried to develop the half-century alliance toward a mature, more equal relationship with the aim of emerging from the decades-long U.S. security umbrella.
But such efforts often triggered friction in an alliance already strained by differences over how to deal with a nuclear-armed North Korea, they say.
``The Roh government has argued the Korea-U.S. alliance remains strong, but mutual distrust, in fact, has deepened to a great extent over the past five years,'' Rep. Hwang Jin-ha of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), a member of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, told The Korea Times.
``Few issues of mutual concern were resolved smoothly over the past few years. The government was just trying to patch up ties with Washington after stirring up controversy over outstanding issues of mutual concern, such as the deployment of troops in Iraq and relocation of U.S. bases in South Korea,'' said Hwang, a retired Army major general.
``This time around will be different certainly,'' the lawmaker continued. ``The Lee Myung-bak government will focus on building mutual trust through an open dialogue and close consultation on sensitive issues including the North Korea nuclear problem.''
South Korea has deployed troops to Iraq since 2004 to support the U.S.-led Operation Iraqi Freedom as the second largest coalition partner of the United States after the United Kingdom.
The mission of the contingent, the Zaytun Division, has been extended three times since then amid much controversy, as the pro-government party backed by progressive civic groups failed to give outright support for the deployment.
The troops' fate is now again the subject of heated argument. Most lawmakers of the 142-seat United New Democratic Party are vowing to block the passage of a motion calling for an extension of Zaytun's stay in Iraq until the end of next year, in cooperation with the progressive Democratic Labor Party.
A plan to reposition U.S. bases also met severe opposition in recent years. Violent clashes occurred last year between thousands of riot police and anti-U.S. protesters and farmers at a village in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, where a consolidated U.S. military base is to be built.
The timeline for the U.S. base consolidation program, originally scheduled for 2008, has been delayed to around 2012.
Under a 2004 agreement, the United States promised to gradually return 170 square kilometers ― housing 42 military bases and facilities ― across the country to South Korea by 2011.
In return, South Korea is to offer 12 square kilometers of land to help triple the size of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek to transform the base into a hub base U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). About 27,000 American men and women in uniform serve in South Korea.
The new military headquarters will accommodate about 44,000 U.S. servicemen, their families, base workers and South Korean reinforcements. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in November.
Cha Doo-hyun, a researcher of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, anticipated the Korea-U.S. alliance will be more dynamic and stronger beyond the military and political alliance under the Lee administration.
``Like he did as a chief executive officer before, Lee is expected to implement foreign and North Korea policies based on a thorough calculation and assessment,'' said Cha. ``The inauguration of the Lee government is likely to set the stage for a stronger Korea-U.S. alliance based on economic ties beyond the military and political relationship.''
Most experts forecast Lee Myung-bak's pragmatic ``give-and-take'' policy toward North Korea will increase coordination with the United States in six-party talks over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and on other issues such as human rights in North Korea.
``Lee's pragmatic demand for reciprocity in engaging Pyongyang will enhance allied leverage in the six-party talks,'' Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, a U.S. conservative think tank, said in an article on the outcome of South Korea's election.
Klingner said inter-Korean relations could be delayed in the short-term because of Seoul's tougher stance on the North, imposing conditionality on its aid to Pyongyang.
The President-elect made it clear that the North's full denuclearization is the key condition to the South's economic assistance. In a press conference last week, Lee also said he would not hesitate to criticize North Korea's ``shortcomings'' including its human rights violations.
``Criticism that comes with affection can help make North Korean society healthy and improve the lives of its people in the long run,'' said Lee, who is to be sworn in on Feb. 25.
For 10 years, the Seoul government under liberal presidents has not taken up the human rights issue openly for fear of harming inter-Korean ties.
Professor Moon Jung-in of Yonsei University in Seoul was worried, however, that an abrupt about-face in foreign and North Korea policies would backfire.
He said the Lee government needs to keep in mind that the Bush administration had faced a backlash after pursuing an ``Anything But Clinton'' policy of rejecting the former government's foreign policies unconditionally.
``It would be undesirable for the incoming government to deny the former governments' stance and all negotiation tactics on North Korea,'' said Moon, who served as a foreign policy advisor for the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments.
The agreed transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops from the U.S. military to Korean commanders is expected to be a major litmus test of the alliance.
With the focal point of achieving self-reliant defense capabilities, the Roh government pushed for taking over OPCON.
Under a deal struck early this year, South Korea is to exercise independent OPCON of its troops during wartime beginning April 17, 2012. The U.S. military will shift to a naval- and air-centric supporting role.
The two sides also agreed on a package of command rearrangement plans including operation of separate military commands after disbanding their Combined Forces Command (CFC).
The President-elect pledged earlier that he would consider renegotiating the timeline for OPCON transition unless North Korea's nuclear threat is diminished substantially.
South Korean and U.S. conservatives are also echoing the need for rescheduling the timetable. They have expressed concern that the smaller role of the U.S. military amid lingering threats posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs could tip the military balance on the Korean Peninsula.
``The timing for OPCON transfer should be decided after evaluating the security condition and North Korean nuclear threats in a careful and measured way,'' said Rep. Hwang of the GNP. ``The problem was the Roh government dealt with the issue from a political and nationalistic point of view.''
Klingner said, ``The U.S. could announce that the planned 2012 transfer date is contingent on both a sufficient reduction in the North Korean threat and satisfactory progress in improving South Korean military capabilities, and that is open to discussion as to the feasibility of the transfer by the currently agreed upon date.''
The U.S. government officially downplayed the possibility of rescheduling the timeline for the command transfer.
``As I said, the strategic transition plan was already agreed upon and it is being implemented,'' U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said in a security forum earlier this month, adding the agreed five year-framework is enough to prepare for new command rearrangements between the two militaries.
South Korea voluntarily handed over both peacetime and wartime operational controls to the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) at the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. The command authority was later transferred to the CFC. Seoul took over peacetime control in 1994.
Currently, the four-star U.S. commander of the CFC has the authority to command both South Korean and American troops in case of an emergency.
The commander concurrently serves as chief of the USFK and the UNC.