Intellectuals Oppose Command Transfer

A group of some 730 intellectuals, including professors and lawyers, protested against the transfer of wartime operational control of Korean troops from the ROK-US Combined Forces.

The Advanced People’s Conference (APC), a moderate conservative civic group, held a press conference Tuesday morning to announce the “Declaration of Intellectuals against Independent Wartime Command Control.”

Numerous scholars, including former and incumbent professors of humanity and social science, participated in the joint declaration. The statement is particularly salient since it signifies the first movement of intellectuals against the wartime control takeover. Security experts and people with military backgrounds have been the only ones actively raising their voices against the control transfer.

This will likely to trigger a big ripple effect since it involves a collective action by professors. Professors have seldom responded collectively on social issues.

Some 20 people participated in the conference including Professor Lee Myung-hyun and Professor Park Woo-hui of Seoul National University, Professor Min Jun-gi of Kyunghee University, Professor Jeong Jin-ui of Yonsei University, Professor Kim Dong-seong of ChungAng University and Lee Suk-yeon, a lawyer.

The statement which was read by Park said, “The present U.S.-ROK alliance is based on an equal partnership and it is in the optimum status at least when it comes to the security collaboration system. President Roh’s administration is, however, approaching this matter without considering the efficiency in maintaining security but he is politicizing this matter.”

“Independent wartime command control costs an enormous amount of money and should be discussed after Korea becomes an advanced nation. We have not yet been equipped with enough capabilities in carrying out independent wartime control. The discussion on wartime operational control takeover wouldn`t be too late if it is taken after North Korea abandons its pursuit of nuclear weapons and turns to establishing a peace system between the two Koreas,” the statement said.

“You have to think and act at the right time (in consideration of circumstances). The ongoing discussion on wartime control transfer is premature yet and it could lead to a national tragedy,” Lee Myung-hyun said to reporters after the reading was finished.

“The command control issue is deeply related to the dignity of man like safety and happiness of the people. Hence, the early transfer of wartime control can be viewed as a violation of the Constitution,” said Jo Byung-yoon, the dean of the law school at Yonsei University.

“The most important factor to look at when we talk about the wartime control transfer issue is the efficiency in security. But the government is politicizing security matters by emphasizing the ‘freedom’ and ‘sovereignty’. This has caused confusion to the people,” Professor Kim Dong-seong stressed.

“We collected signatures by sending an e-mail to some 7,000 influential figures in the society asking whether they agree or not on the transfer of the wartime command control. We have been collecting signatures just for the past three days, so we believe many more intellectuals will participate in signature collection,” said Kwon Tae-geun, vice secretary general of the AOC.

snow@donga.com