South Korea To Launch Theater Command by '09

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) will become an independent theater war-fighting command with initial operational capability next year as Seoul moves to assume wartime control of its troops in 2012.

Lt. Gen. Lee Sung-chool, chief director of strategic planning for the JCS, said two separate war-fighting commands of South Korea and the United States will reach their full operational capabilities by 2011 to replace the current Combined Forces Command (CFC). A series of cooperation centers will be established to smooth the transition.

"Two separate theater commands of the South Korean and U.S. militaries will reach their full operational capabilities by late 2011 following several rehearsal training exercises for the transition of wartime operational control," Lee said in an exclusive interview with Defense News at the JCS headquarters here March 10.

The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) will begin preparting to launch its own theater war-fighting command in 2010, the three-star Army general said.

Beginning this year, South Korean and U.S. forces are scheduled to conduct two sets of joint drills each year until 2011. The exercises will focus on transforming the U.S.-led combined forces structure on the Korean Peninsula to a South Korean-led "joint defense system."

The Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises in spring will be led by the U.S. military. The Korean military will take the lead in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises in fall, Lee said.

A final exercise unilaterally conducted by South Korean forces will take place in March 2012, he said.

"That is, 2011 is the de facto year of inaugurating two separate but complementary theater operations commands - a joint military command of South Korea and the U.S. Korea Command - as the organization of the commands and establishment of required infrastructure, including the C4I digital command systems, will be completed by that time," Lee said.

The JCS chairman will concurrently serve as commanding general of the envisaged Korean theater command, he said. A chain of command for the U.S. command has not yet been decided, he added.

The four-star U.S. commander of the CFC concurrently serves as chief of the USFK and United Nations Command (UNC), and he has the authority to command both South Korean and U.S. troops in case of an emergency.

The six-decade-long U.S.-led combined-forces mechanism is to undergo major changes under a landmark pact on command rearrangement plans reached early last year. The two militaries are on track to put a South Korean-led "joint defense system" in place on the Korean Peninsula by 2012.

South Korean commanders will execute independent operational control (OPCON) of their troops during war beginning April 17, 2012, with the U.S military shifting to a supporting role under the agreement. The CFC is to be deactivated.

South Korea voluntarily handed over both peacetime and wartime operational controls to the U.S.-led UNC at the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. The command authority was later transferred to the CFC. Seoul took over peacetime control in 1994.

To help facilitate joint operations and strategic planning between the two war-fighting commands, they plan to establish an Alliance Military Cooperation Center (AMCC) under the Military Committee between the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the two militaries, and six other cooperation centers in 2009, Lee said.

The AMCC, led by one- or two-star generals from the two militaries, will be the backbone for strategic operations management, cooperation and coordination between the two commands, he said. Other cooperation centers include a joint operations center, joint intelligence center and combined/joint logistics cooperation center.

In addition, several agencies will help coordinate operations between South Korea's operations commands of each service and U.S. component commands, such as an "integrated aerial operations center" between South Korea's Air Force Operations Command and the U.S. air component command, Lee said.

The general is confident the separate command system will work.

"South Korea and the U.S. formulated the joint defense system after years of close discussions and consultations. There is no doubt that it will be one of the strongest and most exemplary defense systems in the world," he said.

He also dismissed calls by conservatives for delaying the transfer.

"I believe the OPCON transfer should be implemented on schedule not only because the agreement was made on the basis of consensus, but also, there have been no changes in the security conditions," he said.

If the timetable for the command transfer needs to be rescheduled, the two governments would be able to readjust the transfer agreement, including the timing, Lee said.

South Korean conservative forces regard the command changes as a U.S. move to reduce its security commitment to South Korea, arguing the smaller role of the U.S. military amid lingering threats posed by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs could tip the military balance on the peninsula.

Lee said Seoul will have difficulty securing enough strategic weapons before 2012, but the U.S. military's provision of overwhelming "bridging capability," including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, will help deter possible North Korean aggression and maintain stability on the peninsula.

He anticipated, however, U.S. reinforcements of ground troops in the event of war would be restricted by the U.S. military's worldwide operations, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even after the transition of OPCON, the UNC will remain intact to oversee the armistice on the peninsula and provide troops to South Korea in case of war, the general said. This situation will remain in place at least until a peace regime is established to replace the truce signed among the U.S.-led UNC, North Korea and China at the end of the Korean War. A permanent peace treaty has never replaced the armistice, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

The South Korean military, however, gradually will take over a large part of UNC's roles and missions, he said. Working groups of the two sides have been scrutinizing an "authority-to-responsibility mismatch" for the UNC after the transition.

The UNC is a 16-nation organization overseeing the armistice. The command has a small number of officers from the member countries and supervises two transportation corridors that run through the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, just 50 kilometers north of Seoul.

In the event of an emergency, the UNC is supposed to provide forces and logistical support to South Korean and U.S. troops via seven bases in Japan.

Lee downplayed concerns over a possible security vacuum from the U.S. "strategic flexibility" scheme, which allows the United States to dispatch, withdraw or move its forces to and from host nations to swiftly respond to conflicts in other parts of the world.

"The strategic flexibility involves both concepts of 'flow-out' and 'flow-in.' In terms of flow-out, I don't think the U.S. will deploy large parts of USFK to other regions, given Washington holds the strategic value of the Korean Peninsula in great account and will not ignore the security conditions on the peninsula facing North Korea's threats," Lee said. "Flow-in means the U.S. will dispatch its troops around the globe to the peninsula faster than ever before in case of an emergency, so that deterrence against North Korea will be further improved."

Lee was cautious about Seoul's joining the U.S. ballistic missile defense network, citing financial constraints, technology level, the close proximity of South and North Korea, and public sentiment.

He said the priority of South Korea's missile defense system was to build a low-tier missile shield to intercept incoming missiles from North Korea. He called the North's ballistic missile programs a grave threat to the security of the South.

The low-altitude missile defense system, dubbed the Korea air and missile defense network, will consist of Patriot Advanced Capability-2 interceptors and Aegis ship-based air defense systems with the tactical Standard Missile-2.

The terminal-phase defense is designed to take down low-flying, short- and medium-range missiles. North Korea is believed to have deployed near the border more than 600 Scud missiles with a range of 320 to 500 kilometers, and 200 Rodong missiles that can hit Japan.

The network is to reach full operational capabilities by 2012, when the state-funded Agency for Defense Development plans to complete development of a semi-indigenous ballistic missile early warning radar built with technological support from foreign countries. Three KDX-III Aegis-equipped destroyers also will enter service in 2012.