Pentagon cautious on relabeling North Korea
By Park Ji-won
A Pentagon spokesman has reacted cautiously to Seoul's move to stop labeling North Korea as its “main enemy” in its defense white paper to be published in December, saying any decision about it is up to South Korea.
Spokesman Christopher Logan also said it was the two Koreas' decision to withdraw troops from 10 guard posts in the inter-Korean border region, refusing to comment further.
“It was ultimately their decision. That's a South Korean document. We work as an ally. But ultimately their decision, when it comes to any product they put out, is theirs,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by Radio Free Asia.
However, he declined to comment on the remarks by United States Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Vincent Brooks who told reporters Wednesday he supports the two Koreas' decision to unman the guard posts, saying it was part of trust-building with the North.
Meanwhile, South Korea's ruling and opposition parties showed mixed opinions about the government's move to re-label North Korea in the white paper. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) welcomed the ministry's decision saying “it was a necessary move,” while the largest opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said “the government was disarming the country.”
“Amid a reconciliatory atmosphere between the South and North and talks over pushing for a peace treaty between the North and U.S., the deletion of the word in the white paper can be a possible measure for this,” DPK spokeswoman Baek Hye-ryun said Thursday. “We should admit it is a tactical move which is necessary to respond to the changing era.”
However, the LKP continued to criticize the ministry's move, saying the decision endangers people's lives.
“The Moon Jae-in government's follow-up measures for the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration are sophistry, and destroying the South's military preparation against the North's threat, even though South Korea's army is the last bastion for the protection of people's lives and safety,” LKP senior spokesman Rep. Yoon Young-seok said in a statement.
“The North's hostile threat still stands. In the rule book of the North's Workers' Party of Korea, the party still aims to seek unification through annihilation.”
On Wednesday, Brooks also made a comment on the U.S. Army's defense regarding the issue. “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 unman 10 guard posts near the border and could expand the number further. “We will start withdrawing troops from ones located less than one kilometer from the border,” Song said during a National Assembly session Tuesday.
The abandoning of the guard posts is part of a measure to materialize an agreement made at the April inter-Korean summit to turn the DMZ into a “peace zone.”
The South's defense ministry had said Wednesday that it was considering removing the phrase “main enemy” from its biannual white paper to be released in December.
South Korea designated North Korea as its enemy back in 1995. In 1994, North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire” if a war broke out on the peninsula. The label was used until the South replaced it in 2004 with “direct military threat.”
The South again label North Korea as its main enemy in 2010 when the North launched an artillery attack on the South's westernmost border island of Yeonpyeong, killing two marines and two civilian residents.