Bell seeks enhanced U.N. Command

The U.S.-led United Nations Command on the Korean Peninsula should be enhanced to assume immediate wartime operations as a key supporting command to the South Korean military, the top U.S. military officer here said yesterday.

At a news conference held in Seoul, Gen. Burwell Bell, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, repeated his emphasis on the need to revise the UNC roles and missions ahead of South Korea`s regaining of wartime operational control from the U.S. military.

"It is important that we organize in peacetime as we will for war. There would be no time to make chances in our command structure while a crisis escalates," Bell who concurrently heads the UNC, told reporters.

The two nations and other UNC member countries will work out these details in a near future, he said.

<**1>The UNC is a 16-nation body commanded by a four-star U.S. general overseeing compliance with the armistice agreement on the peninsula and supervising two transportation corridors through the Demilitarized Zone between South Korea and North Korea. In case of a military crisis on the peninsula, the UNC will defend South Korea through the combination of multinational troops from member nations.

The UNC maintains seven rear headquarters in Japan for logistical support in case of conflict.

Bell said the upcoming changes in the alliance command structure could harm the UNC commander`s ability to quickly mobilize forces to enforce the inter-Korean armistice. He pointed out that once the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command is inactivated, the UNC commander will no longer retain immediate access to South Korea`s combat troops with his losing of command authority for them.

"The inactivation of the Combined Forces Command and the transfer of ROK forces operational control to an independent ROK military command will, however, create a military authority-to-responsibility mismatch for the United Nation Command," Bell said. "Unless addressed, this situation will make it impossible to credibly maintain the armistice."

ROK is the acronym of South Korea`s official name, Republic of Korea.

Seoul and Washington plan to transform their combined alliance structure to one headed by two separate commands between 2009 and 2012. The changes will coincide with the transition of wartime operational control between the two militaries.

"We must organize ourselves so we have unity in our chain of command from armistice to crisis escalation and into war, should war break out," the U.S. general said.

Bell also raised a need to enhance the roles of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission and the Military Armistice Commission. The two institutions are main UNC bodies mandated to supervise the armistice actions between South and North Korea. The MAC consists of 10 officers representing main belligerents of the Korean War while the NNSC comprises representing officers from neutral nations Sweden, Switzerland and Poland.

Analysts said the basic guideline implicates that the alliance shape will face a bigger metamorphosis than previously expected along with changes in a wide range of military details.

Some said Bell`s remarks hint that the U.S. military aims to upgrade the roles of the UNC through consolidating its command system along with organization reshuffling. They said Washington intends to maintain its leading military role on the peninsula through enhancing the UNC which would replace the CFC.

(davidpooh@heraldm.com)



By Jin Dae-woong