Korea’s Old Guard Sees the Writing on the Wall

Could it be that the old guard of Korea’s security sees that the hand over of war time command is actually the end of the US-ROK alliance as we know it?:

A group of senior military experts including 13 former defense ministers have urged Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung to stop seeking the return of wartime operational control from the U.S. The meeting came at Yoon’s invitation on Wednesday.

It is rare for the contents of such a meeting to be made public, especially when it focuses on a call to end a core government project.

The group included Lee Sang-hoon and other former defense ministers as well as retired Gen. Paik Sun-yup and former vice defense minister Lee Jung-rin. They said now is not the time to reclaim wartime operational control of troops but rather the moment to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance.

The old guard of Korea understands what a strong alliance with America has brought the country since the devastation of the Korean War.  I have met Gen. Paik Sun-yup on a couple of occassions and he is one of the greatest heroes of the Korean War generation and is one of the strongest US-ROK allaince supporters out there.  So it isn’t surprising that he and his colleagues are against what the Roh administration in one presidential term has done to the US-ROK alliance that they spent decades creating and strengthening.

However, the damage has already been done and the “writing is on the wall” that the US-ROK alliance is in the midst of some massive changes possibly this year.  The old guard is in the middle of damage control right now, but it may be to little to late, but I have to give them credit for trying with comments like this:

Former defense minister Kim Sung-eun added Korea does not have the military intelligence power to exercise operational control on its own and needs U.S. support. Other former defense chiefs were unanimous in demanding to know why the government is going the way it is when the reverse course, of strengthening the alliance with the U.S, is the need of the hour. After the meeting, Lee said he told Yoon, “I’ve sought a meeting with Gen. Burwell Bell, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea. If I meet him, I’ll suggest that he ignores what the South Korean government says.”

I think if the recent uni-lateral hand over of USFK camps to the Korean government is any indication, General Bell is already ignoring them.