An excellent piece by Steve Lee and helps dispel the disinformation about @UN_Command. UNCMAC is one of 4 entities managed by UNC HQ which is a multinational HQ committed to the restoration of peace on the Korean Peninsula. I am proud to serve with great people on this mission. https://t.co/ErLtU7hpjd
On the anniversary of the founding of the Colombian Army, UNC is proud to witness the presentation of a Defense Meritorious Service Medal to Colonel Luis Cordero of Colombia. He served with distinction while leading a team of UNC logisticians for over a year.#PatriaHonorLealtadpic.twitter.com/pIsXF5yinw
— United Nations Command 유엔군사령부/유엔사 (@UN_Command) August 7, 2020
Today, UNC welcomes its newest Senior Member to the #MilitaryArmisticeCommission. ROK Army Major General Kang In-soon accepted responsibility to act as the UNC Commander's lead delegate for #Armistice maintenance & enforcement. He follows in a long line of Korean…(1/2) pic.twitter.com/rUrMzqhYUU
— United Nations Command 유엔군사령부/유엔사 (@UN_Command) May 27, 2020
Here is the latest dustup between the Moon administration and the American led United Nations Command:
Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command / Korea Times file
A feud between the government and the United Nations Command (UNC) seems to be intensifying as the former has complained of a series of recent decisions by the command regarding inter-Korean issues.
Some critics, including senior government officials, say the U.S.-led UNC, which administers the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), has overstepped its authority regarding the Moon Jae-in administration’s peace initiatives on the Korean Peninsula as part of efforts to maintain its presence here.
The latest friction occurred, Tuesday, after the UNC concluded that both South and North Korea violated the Armistice Agreement when they gunfire was exchanged inside the DMZ, May 3, adding that it was unable to determine whether North Korean soldiers fired intentionally or by mistake.
The findings are in stark contrast to the Ministry of National Defense’s conclusion that the shots fired by North Korean troops across the border were accidental, a stance later echoed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. As a result, the ministry expressed regret over the UNC’s findings immediately after its announcement, saying in a press statement that the command reached its conclusion without a practical investigation of the gunfire from the North.
If there was no evidence to support that it was an accidental firing than that is what the UNC should report. The UNC was doing its job while the Moon administration would rather they support the political position they took on shooting incident.
Former presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok said in a recent interview with a local magazine that the UNC was trying to exceed its authority.
“The command has to do only what it has to do over entry into and exits from the DMZ and passage over the MDL, but it is acting like it has special rights. This needs to be fixed as soon as possible,” he said.
Moon Chung-in, the special security adviser to President Moon, also said in a media interview, last September, that the UNC was the “biggest barrier” to improving inter-Korean relations.
“The UNC blocks North-South Korean transactions across the DMZ. According to the Armistice Agreement, it only has to administer the DMZ and the MDL. Should it continue doing so, South Korean people may have antipathy toward the command,” he said.
Im Jong-seok makes it seem that the UNC should just be gate guards that allow free passage of anything the Moon administration wants to do to include violating sanctions.
I have been saying that after the April elections that if the Moon administration did not feel like that their was momentum in their inter-Korean strategy that they would eventually play the anti-US card. This may be their first trial balloon towards playing the anti-US card.
