U.S., Korea start to repair the alliance

The 50-year U.S.-South Korea military alliance saw a meaningful development Dec. 5 at the Pentagon. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jun and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed terms of reference for a new blueprint for the alliance. It was the first time the two countries had reached a binding agreement to update their alliance.

"The agreement will allow the two countries to work in the next two years on a draft of the future vision of the alliance," a source from the policy planning department at the South Korean National Defense Ministry said. "The draft will include the size and the role of the U.S. Forces Korea and the alliance's relations with regional security organizations."

The agreement got little attention in South Korea, although it would mark a starting point to redraw the framework of the alliance. As anti-American sentiment spread rapidly here, revising the Status of Forces Agreement between the two countries has become the focal point of the public attention. "The surging anti-Americanism in South Korea should induce discussions on the future of the alliance," a U.S. Embassy source said.

Seoul and Washington are moving to update the alliance in the light of the post-Cold War era and anti-U.S. sentiment. "Managing the existing alliance and investing more will lengthen its lifespan," Yoichi Funabashi, a columnist of the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun said. "In addition to the anti-American sentiment and South Koreans' demands that the U.S. forces should go home, Washington may say it has Japan to replace Korea. Taking into account all factors, the U.S.-South Korea alliance needs redefinition."

In 1996, Washington and Tokyo refurbished their alliance to reflect Japanese complaints, economic friction and other political factors. The U.S.-Japan Joint Declaration of a Security Alliance for the 21st Century changed their alliance from a one-way relationship to a bilateral one; the alliance's activities were extended to the Asia Pacific region. The United States reduced the scale of its bases in Okinawa by 20 percent to ease anti-U.S. sentiment in Japan.

NATO in 1999 reinforced its alliance with the United States. "The new concept shows NATO's awareness of the new security climate in the post-Cold War era," Park Hong-kyoo, researcher of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security said. "The move also shows that the alliance will no longer be a mere military partnership; NATO and the United States showed their intent to contribute to stabilize European security."

Then, how should the U.S.-South Korea alliance be updated? Experts called "regional security" and "horizontal partnership" the key words.

"In view of North Korea's threats and the instability on the peninsula, as well as post-Cold War changes and globalization, it is vital to develop the U.S.-South Korea alliance in terms of regional security," said Yun Deok-min of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. By doing so, South Korea will be able to play more important roles in regional security organizations such as the ASEAN Regional Forum.

It is not easy to expand the scope of the South Korea-U.S. alliance. China and Russia may oppose that, and Korea's economic and human resource burdens may increase. China has interpreted the past joint declarations of the United States and Japan as an attempt to build a framework to contain it.

The inclusive and horizontal alliance that South Korea desires can be achieved through reconceptualizing it to reflect South Korea's heightened status and democratization. The current hierarchical, vertical relationship would become a horizontal cooperative one.

Kim Changsu of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said, "It is possible that a South Korean general will head the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command."

"Having military power capable of self-defense is a precondition to make the South Korea-U.S. alliance an equal one," said Kim Hee-sang, former president of the Korean National Defense University.

by Oh Young-hwan