The Death of an Alliance, Part 35
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld adds the second hint in about a week that more troops cuts are coming for South Korea.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on March 23 that South Korea and the United States have agreed on the transfer of wartime command of South Korean forces to South Korea, and that the two nations are discussing a timetable.
Rumsfeld confirmed this in a Pentagon news briefing yesterday and commented on the timing of the turnover, saying, “The timing depends on how quickly the Korean government develops its capabilities to assume [wartime command] responsibility. A greater South Korean role would allow further U.S. troop reductions.
Rumsfeld also said, “South Korea brought up the issue of transferring wartime command and talks are underway. Everyone agrees that 55 years after the Korean War, it is reasonable that South Korean forces increasingly take on more responsibility.“
This is overdue by at least a decade, and will be overdue by two by the time it’s done. The previous such statement, by USFK Commanding General Burwell B. Bell, here. Expect the announcement of the timetable in October.
Update: Meanwhile, the ChiComs have started piling their furniture on the lawn outside Kyongbukkung Place:
China’s ambassador to South Korea, Ning Fukui, on Wednesday offered a rare comment on a recent Korea-U.S. agreement to give the U.S. forces stationed here greater “strategic flexibility” so they can intervene in trouble spots elsewhere. “If it is targeted against a third country, China will have no choice but to shift attention to the matter,” the envoy said at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis. He expressed hope that “both sides will do nothing to jeopardize security and peace in Northeast Asia.”
Are you sure this qualifies for a DOA tag?
There is nothing new here about intentions since Rummy told the Korean’s about a year ago that the door was easily pushed open should the ROK’s want to take over wartime command. The English, Canadians, Japanese all command their own forces in wartime and peace time yet we have as tight an alliance imaginable with them. Its basing rights that will key the American-ROK alliance. Who knows how this will play out, but treating the Rok as a grown up seems smart to me and not terminal to anything.
I think this statement and the recent one by Gen. Bell are the only ones in which we’ve concretely stated that we were actually considering further reductions of forces below their current levels. Everything else I’d heard was either a Richard Halloran leak (not that I’m dissing Halloran; his leaks tend to hold up) or something much more vague.