ROK Army Takes on Increased Defense Responsibilities

The ROK Army has continued to take on missions central to the defense of the Korean peninsula as USFK prepares for transformation:

As of mid-January, South Koreans now are in charge of the maritime response to any invasion by North Korean special operations forces should war break out, Koenig said. The move marks South Korea’s goal of evolving from a ground-based military to a stronger multi-branch force, he added.

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One of the more public transfers happened in the fall of 2004 at the Demilitarized Zone, the border that separates North and South Korea. On Oct. 31, 2004, the South Koreans took control of patrolling the Joint Security Area, the compound where talks between the two Koreas occur and where millions of tourists on both sides visit each year.

But some of the more strategic changes include South Korea’s ability to protect supply routes in wartime and to counter and destroy North Korea’s underground missile system, which can hit Seoul repeatedly while barely revealing its weapons, Koenig said.

Improved technology for the South Koreans helped with this “counter-fire” transfer. Koenig said it’s right that South Korea is now responsible for defending such an attack on its capital city.

“That’s about the defense of Seoul,” he said. “It’s their capital, their center of society.”

All I can say is, that it is about time.