Korea, US to Review OPCON Transfer, Base Relocation

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States will meet in Seoul this week to review the alliance of the two countries as South Korea seeks more independence from the U.S., which maintains about 30,000 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) on Wednesday comes less than a month before rare inter-Korean defense ministerial talks, which are to be held in Pyongyang under an agreement reached at last month's inter-Korean summit.

The two Korean leaders did not fix a date for the talks between their defense chiefs, only calling for the meeting to be held sometime in November. But Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-gi said it is likely to take place after a meeting between the prime ministers of the two Koreas next week.

"U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday," Kim said.

It would be the third time for Gates, a former CIA director who replaced Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon last December, to meet with his South Korean counterpart Kim Jang-soo.

They are credited with having quelled worries over a reported schism in the Seoul-Washington alliance, which dates back to the Korean War, by smoothly handling key pending issues.

During their first meeting in Washington in February, Gates and Kim reached a deal on the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul in 2012.

In June, the two sides signed a joint action plan for the agreement.

Defense Ministry officials refused to elaborate on the agenda of the SCM, but sources said it will focus on reviewing the plan for the OPCON transfer and the future role of the United Nations Command (UNC).

Also to be discussed is ongoing work to consolidate U.S. bases in Seoul and other areas into two hub compounds in Pyeongtaek, 70km south of Seoul, and Daegu, 300km south of the capital, they added.

The sources said the U.S. defense secretary is also expected to express appreciation for the government's decision to extend the deployment of Korean troops in Iraq till 2008.

Speaking at a parliamentary audit session last week, Defense Minister Kim warned that the alliance with the U.S. will be greatly affected if the National Assembly votes down the motion to extend the mandate for the deployment.

"The defense ministers of the two nations will focus on reviewing the alliance-related agreements already in place, rather than trying to reach a new deal at this week's talks," a source privy to the SCM said.

(Yonha)