 President Lee Myung-bak shakes hands with U.S. President Barack Obama at the end of their meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Toronto, Saturday. / Korea Times |
By Na Jeong-ju
Korea Times correspondent
TORONTO ― The leaders of South Korea and the United States have agreed to delay the transfer of wartime command control to Seoul by some three and a half years to Dec. 1, 2015, given the changing security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Cheong Wa Dae announced Saturday (local time).
Under the accord reached at a summit between Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Barack Obama here, defense ministries of the two allies will start working-level talks soon to address issues concerning the rescheduling, it said.
On the envisioned bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), Obama said he plans to present the accord to Congress for ratification next year.
Lee and Obama met in the Canadian business hub just before the two-day Group of 20 Summit opened amid fierce protests by activists.
"Seoul and Washington decided to readjust the timing of the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) because the security environment has changed significantly over the past years," the presidential office said in a statement.
In this sense, the inaugural two plus two strategic talks involving the defense and foreign ministers of the two countries, which are slated for next month in Seoul, will provide a crucial turning point for the progress of their defense alliance, Seoul officials said.
The initial accord on command arrangements, signed in February 2007, called for the handover of OPCON to South Korea in April 2012, about eight months before the country elects its new leader.
Under the agreement, the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) would have been disbanded and both militaries would instead establish separate command theaters here.
Seoul handed over both peacetime and wartime operational controls to the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-53) and later, transferred them to the CFC.
Korea regained peacetime control in 1994.
Last week, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yu Myung-hwan confirmed that talks have been under way between Seoul and Washington to reschedule the transfer of control, saying the government started to rethink the issue after North Korea conducted a second nuclear test last year.
North Korea's torpedo attack on the South Korean Navy vessel Cheonan in March, which claimed the lives of 46 sailors, and its continued threats of military action have brought about the U.S. change, presidential aides said.
"We had to address growing public anxiety over the North's threats and concerns about security volatility among foreign investors in Seoul," said Kim Sung-han, senior presidential secretary for security and diplomatic affairs.
The 2012 presidential election was also a factor.
As the transfer of OPCON has been a source of ideological and political conflicts, many analysts have worried that the issue could polarize the country again ahead of the polls if Seoul takes over the control of its forces that year as originally planned.
At their summit in Toronto, Lee and Obama shared the understanding that the decades-old Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance has played a key role in promoting peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia as well as on the Korean Peninsula.
They also agreed to keep cooperating in seeking U.N. action against North Korea over the sinking of the Cheonan, Cheong Wa Dae said.
Regarding the FTA, Lee and Obama said they would work closely to remove the remaining obstacles in getting ratification from the legislatures of both countries.
Obama said the U.S. will resume talks with South Korea to resolve issues that have blocked the passage of the accord.
The U.S. has called the deal, signed by the two governments in June 2007, unfair to American automakers, while Korea ruled out any further talks.
Korea's chief trade negotiator Kim Jong-hoon said Seoul was willing to talk to address Washington's concerns about the so-called imbalance in car trade for an early U.S. ratification of the FTA.
Obama said those discussions will be completed before the next G-20 Summit, slated for November in Seoul, adding he plans to present the accord to Congress for ratification next year.
"I want to make sure that everything is lined up properly by the time I visit Korea in November and then in the following few months, I intend to present it to Congress," Obama said at the end of the summit.
전작권 이양 2015년 12월로 연기
한미 양국은 당초 오는 2012년 4월17일로 예정됐던 전시작전통제권 이양 시점을 2015년 12월1일로 3년7개월여 연기하기로 합의했다.
G20(주요 20개국) 정상회의 참석차 캐나다 토론토를 방문중인 이명박 대통령은 26일 오후(현지 시간) 버락 오바마 미국 대통령과 정상회담을 갖고 이같이 결정했다고 청와대가 밝혔다.
두 정상은 한국 정부의 요청에 따라 전작권 전환 시점의 적절성을 검토한 결과, 변화하는 안보환경을 감안해 전환 시점을 연기하기로 합의하고 새로운 전환시점에 맞춰 필요한 실무작업을 진행하도록 양국 국방 장관에게 지시했다.
전작권은 참여정부 시절인 지난 2007년 2월 한미연합사에서 한국군으로 이양하기로 한미 양국간 합의됐으나 지난해 5월 북한 핵실험과 지난 3월 천안함 사태 이후 전환 시점을 연기해야 한다는 필요성이 대두되면서 양국간의 물밑 협상이 진행돼왔다. 평시 작전통제권은 이미 지난 1994년 한국군으로 이양됐다.
이 대통령은 천안함 사태와 관련해 오바마 대통령의 전폭적인 지지와 미국 정부의 확고한 대한(對韓 ) 방위 공약에 사의를 표명했으며, 양국 정상은 천안함 사태가 정전협정 및 유엔헌장 등 국제적 합의를 위반한 북한의 명백한 군사도발인 만큼 단호한 대응이 필요하다는 점을 재확인했다.
