By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

The Ministry of National Defense said Monday that it would not buy a wartime command-control bunker in Seoul from the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), which will relinquish operational control of South Korean armed forces during wartime to Korean commanders over the next few years.

The response came after The Korea Times reported that USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp proposed the South Korean military purchase of the "CP TANGO" underground facility, the main command and control center from which U.S. military commanders would direct any war against North Korea.

CP TANGO is the acronym of Command Post Theater, Air, Naval, Ground Operations.

The proposal was made during the ROK-U.S. Key Resolve war games, which ended last week, said multiple military sources who participated in the 10-day exercise.

"The U.S. has not made any official request for South Korea to purchase the bunker," ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said in a daily press briefing. "However, we can't figure out what kind of private talks were held behind closed doors."

Won continued, "The Korean military has persistently been upgrading its military facilities, so we do not see any need to buy U.S. facilities."

USFK officials didn't attend the press briefing and neither confirmed nor denied the report.

According to officials from the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, the USFK has apparently asked South Korea to pay for the takeover or use of the bunker.

But the Korean authorities were negative about the proposal, saying they could use the "B-1" bunker in Seoul should war break out.

A senior ministry official revealed an ulterior motive.

He told The Korea Times, "It's true that the USFK has asked for the bunker purchase, but we don't have to react to the proposal in a hasty manner because we could take over the facility without cost or at least for a cheap price as the U.S. military has to leave the command bunker behind when it moves to Pyeongtaek."

Under a $13 billion base relocation project, most U.S. troops will be moved to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, over the next five or six years.

With the planned troop relocation and wartime command transfer, the USFK is seeking to expand its missions outside the Korean Peninsula instead of focusing on North Korean threats.

The USFK has made it clear that it would shift its roles and missions to naval- and air-centric support with the transition of wartime operational control.

Conservatives in South Korea and some U.S. experts have argued the command transfer should be delayed in order maintain the U.S. security commitment on the Korean Peninsula amid the lingering threat posed by North Korea's missile and nuclear programs.

The granite CP TANGO, which is estimated to cost at least 200 to 300 billion won, is reputed to be able to withstand even a nuclear blast as well as survive any biological and chemical attack.

The center, which is located on about 30,000 square meters of land, has a war room where top military commanders can receive battlefield situations around the clock and hold video teleconferences through huge monitor screens and banks of computers.

Commanders in the war room could immediately detect any provocative move by the North, such as the test-firing of missiles, with the help of the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) controlling information being received from U.S. satellites and spy planes, such as U-2s. SCIF could also allow U.S. military commanders to communicate with U.S.government officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Information Agency, National Security Agency, Department of Defense and the White House.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr



국방부는 22일 주한미군의 “CP TANGO”지하 지휘벙커 시설을 구매하지 않겠다고 밝혔다.

이와 같은 반응은 월터샤프 주한미군 사령관이 최근 키리졸브 훈련기간 동안 한국측에 탱고 시설을 판매 제안했다는 코리아타임스 보도에 대한 입장이다.

원태재 국방부 대변인은 이날 정례 브리핑에서 “미국이 한국측에 탱고시설을 구매하라는 공식적인 요청을 해 온 바 없다”고 밝혔다. 하지만 그는 “비공식 자리에서 나온 얘기였다면 확인하기 힘들다”며 관련 내용을 전면 부인하진 못했다.

원 대변인은 “한국군은 지속적으로 자체 시설을 개량해 오고 있기 때문에 (미 시설을 사야 할)필요성을 느끼지 못한다”고 말했다.

이와 관련 주한미군 관계자들은 사실 여부를 확인 해 주지 않았으며 이 날 브리핑에 참석하지도 않았다.

하지만 복수의 연합사, 국방부 관계자들에 따르면 주한미군은 최근 몇 년 동안 지속적으로 탱고 시설을 한국이 유상 인수하거나 사용료를 지불하기를 원했던 것으로 전해진다. 하지만 한국 측은 자체 “B-1”벙커를 개량해서 사용할 수 있다는 입장을 견지해 온것으로 알려진다.

한 국방부 관계자는 이 문제와 관련 한국측의 숨은 의도를 밝혔다.

그는 “주한미군이 탱고시설 판매를 제의해 온 것은 사실이지만 우리가 굳이 서두를 필요는 없다”며 “어차피 미군은 평택기지로 이전하면서 탱고시설을 놔두고 가야하기 때문에 조금 더 기다린다면 무상으로 혹은 헐값으로 시설을 인수 받을 수 있을 것”이라고 말했다.

일부 전문가들은 미군이 기지 이전과 전작권 전환을 통해서 한반도 붙박이 군 역할에서 해외차출 부대로의 역할을 확대해 나가는 과정에서 대북 핵심 억지 전력을 한국군에 모두 넘기겠다는 의도로 해석했다.

실제로 주한미군은 전작권 전환 이후 해.공군 중심의 지원 역할을 할 것임을 강조해 왔다.