Seoul, July 16
Chun Yung-woo, former national security advisor, on Wednesday called for the early transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops from the United States to back home, stressing the need for the South's armed forces to strengthen their independent defence capabilities.
Chun, who served as national security advisor to former conservative President Lee Myung-bak, made the remarks in his keynote speech at a symposium hosted by the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, which he founded and leads.
"It is more important to regain it as soon as possible and strengthen the South Korean armed forces' sense of ownership, even though their operational command capabilities still remain insufficient," Chun said, proposing the early return of OPCON.
"It wouldn't be good to keep postponing" the transfer, he noted.
During a parliamentary confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Defence Minister nominee Ahn Gyu-back suggested that the Lee Jae Myung government aims to retrieve OPCON of South Korean troops within his five-year term, although Lee's office later described Ahn's remarks as his personal opinion.
In 2006, the administration of then liberal President Roh Moo-hyun agreed with the US to transfer OPCON back to South Korea in April 2012. The planned transfer was postponed once to December 2015 under the subsequent Lee Myung-bak administration, and, later, the following Park Geun-hye administration reached an agreement with Washington to indefinitely postpone it until conditions are met, reported Yonhap news agency.
Chun also warned of the risks of South Korea's dual diplomacy aimed at maintaining close relations with both the United States and China, saying it could backfire and create misgivings on both sides.
"It may seem like a kind of blessing to receive competing calls from both the US and China, but (South Korea) could instead find itself misunderstood by both sides and in hot water if it takes ambiguous positions to avoid provoking either," he said.
Chun was referring to South Korea's long-standing diplomatic approach of balancing its relations with the two world powers by aligning closely with Washington on security while relying on China for trade.
He pointed to years of economic retaliation by China over the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD) in South Korea, saying the move taught Seoul how "complacent and dangerous" such a dual policy can be.
"If there's a way South Korea can get along with China without sacrificing its relations with the US, it should definitely take that path, but it's easier said than done," he noted.
To tackle the issue, Chun proposed reducing South Korea's "excessive" reliance on China for its economy by diversifying its sourcing channels for "strategic items" away from China and boosting its competitiveness in major technologies and trade items crucial to the Chinese economy.
"When it comes to survival, (South Korea) should prepare itself with the South Korea-US alliance as its primary insurance and supplement it with South Korea-US-Japan cooperation as secondary insurance while also working with like-minded countries that share similar threat perceptions," he noted.
