USFK chief backs removal of border posts
U.S. General Vincent Brooks, commander of the United Nations Command, U.S. Forces Korea and Combined Forces Command, speaks during a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club, Wednesday. He expressed support of two Koreas' decision to remove guard posts near the inter-Korean border despite risks. / Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
United States Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Vincent Brooks expressed support for the two Koreas' decision to remove some guard posts near their border, Wednesday, calling it a “trust-building” measure. But he also stressed that Seoul and Washington must continue to pressure the North.
When asked during a press briefing in Seoul about the South Korean defense minister's announcement Tuesday that the two Koreas had agreed to remove 10 guard posts from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Brooks, who also serves as commander of the United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command, said, “As a U.N. commander, I support this initiative that can reduce military tension along the Military Demarcation Line.”
However, he mentioned there are risks in doing so. “I have some concerns about what that means militarily for the ability to defend the border,” he said.
“I believe there is a reasonable degree of risk involved in this, not an excessive amount of risk.”
His remarks came after Defense Minister Song Young-moo said the South had reached an agreement with the North to remove 10 guard posts and could expand the number further. “We will start withdrawing ones located less than one kilometer from the border,” Song said during a National Assembly session.
The removal of the guard posts is part of a measure to realize the agreement made at the the April 27 inter-Korean summit to turn the DMZ into a “peace zone.”
About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea today, after the Korean War was halted in 1953 in an armistice that left the Koreas technically at war.
Brooks urged the North to take “earnest” steps to seek denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and stressed the importance of international pressure on the North.
“We still have to see earnest actions being taken on those matters of great concern like denuclearization. There is still a need for continued pressure so that there is not a reason for North Korea to back up,” the commander said. "Actions to reduce tension can be done concurrently with broader international pressure.”
Regarding the declaration of the end of the war, Brooks said its definition should be spelled out first.
Asked about South Korea's retaking wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S., Brooks said more time is needed.
"Among those conditions for the transfer are the command and control structure for controlling forces, some critical military capabilities that need to be in the possession of the Republic of Korea armed forces, the actual conditions of the environment,” he said.
"All these things are factors that are taken into account. We are making progress in each of these areas, but the time is not ripe to make a change yet.”