Korea-U.S. Nuke Umbrella Talks Begin

Seoul and Washington agreed Thursday to define the U.S. guarantee of providing a "nuclear umbrella" to South Korea in order to cope with the threat imposed by North Korea’s nuclear test.

The agreement was made on the day between Gen. Rhee Sang-hee, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Peter Pace, during the 28th round of the alliance`s Military Committee Meeting (MCM) at the Pentagon in Washington, Rear Adm. Ahn Ki-seok, chief of the JCS’ strategic planning department, said.

“The joint statement, which will be announced on October 20 by the two countries’ defense ministers, will include (Washington’s) more detailed promise to provide a nuclear umbrella than before,” Ahn said.

South Korea asked the U.S. to provide a concrete guarantee of a nuclear shield in case of North Korea’s nuclear threats during the meeting, and, in response, the U.S. ordered Gen. Burwell Bell, commander of the Korea-U.S Combined Forces Command (CFC), to begin working on how to specify the U.S. nuclear shield.

Bell is expected to come up with a follow-up measure within a couple of years. He is likely either to revise or supplement ROK-U.S. contingency plan OPLAN 5027, or draw up a separate countermeasure against North Korea’s nuclear threats.

In regard to the timeline for the transition of wartime operational control, Seoul repeatedly suggested that it wants to retrieve the wartime command by 2012. However, the two allies were unable to narrow their differences over the timing of transfer as the U.S. insisted the shift will be made in 2009.

Meanwhile, the two countries signed on an agreement over the ROK-US Command Relationship Studies (CRS) that states changing the existing ROK-U.S. CFC Defense System into a joint defense system. In line with this, the CFC will be dismantled and the Military Cooperation Center (MCC), which will connect each country’s independent command, will be established.

“The U.S. delivered latest intelligence about the signs of North Korea’s second nuclear test,” Ahn added.

According to sources, the U.S., which believes the North is highly likely to push ahead with an additional nuclear test, has been closely monitoring the moves of North Korea with all the available spy satellites since it detected suspicious activities.

ysh1005@donga.com