2012-11-14 07:20

Two-star general appointed to senior member of UN Command

A Korean major general was appointed to lead the United Nations Command's military armistice commission, which supervises the implementation of the armistice of the 1950-53 Korean War, the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-wook will lead the UNC's five-member military armistice commission team in the truce village of Panmunjom on the southern section of the demilitarized zone, which is co-supervised by five representatives on the northern side of the DMZ.

With 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the war, U.S. Gen. James Thurman now serves as commander of the U.N. forces, U.S. forces in Korea and Combined Forces Command, a joint military operation body.

The 56-year-old Jang was also dual-hatted as the CFC's deputy chief of staff.

The CFC, which has served as a control tower of the two allies' military partnership, will be dissolved in December 2015, when Seoul retakes wartime operational control of its forces from Washington.

Negotiations have been underway to create an alternative body to replace the joint military command structure between forces of the two nations when the CFC is abolished. (Yonhap)