By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) will take back control of a forthcoming computerized training exercise with South Korea, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday, amid growing concern about the ROK military's capability to lead combat operations against North Korea.
The decision follows the sinking of one of South Korean warships in the western waters off the disputed sea border with North Korea in March, which claimed the lives of 46 crew members.
An international group of investigators, including experts from the United States, Australia, Britain and Sweden, concluded last month that the ship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo attack.
The incident apparently revealed loopholes in the country's defense against the North's asymmetrical and irregular warfare tactics.
"South Korea and the United States agreed that the U.S. military will take the lead of the Ulchi Freecom Guardian (UFG) exercise this summer," ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters. "The number of troops participating in the war games would be almost the same with those of previous years."
The USFK and Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) hold the UFG, formerly known as Ulchi Focus Lens, in August annually. The exercise is aimed at improving interoperability between the allied forces.
About 56,000 South Korean troops and 10,000 American forces take part in the command and control, war-fighting exercise.
Since the governments of South Korea and the United States agreed on command rearrangements in 2007, the South Korean side has taken the leading role with the USFK taking a supporting role, as rehearsal training for the planned transition of wartime operational control from the U.S. military to ROK commanding generals.
The decision for the role change was made at the request of USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp, a source said.
The UFG 2010 would focus on evaluating the ROK-U.S. joint/combined deterrent against North Korea's provocations, including a submarine infiltration and a cyber attack, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Other scenarios of North Korean provocations would involve an infiltration by North Korean special warfare units into the South, launch of ballistic missiles and chemical warfare, he added.