Gov't mulling ways to increase Korea's presence in UN Command

Defense

Published: 09 Nov. 2023, 18:42

Gov't mulling ways to increase Korea's presence in UN Command

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, shakes hands with United Nations Commander General Paul LaCamera before a meeting with UNC officials at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Aug. 10. [YONHAP]

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration is reviewing the possible inclusion of a South Korean major general in the multinational United Nations Command (UNC) responsible for maintaining the Korean War armistice, sources have told the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Yoon administration is expected to propose ways to increase Seoul’s participation in the command during an inaugural meeting of defense ministers from South Korea and UNC member states scheduled for Nov. 14.

The gathering is set to take place the day after the 55th Security Consultative Meeting on Monday between South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The two defense chiefs are expected to hammer out details of the South Korea-U. S. Nuclear Consultative Group, launched in July to enhance the allies’ nuclear and strategic planning in the face of North Korea’s advancing military threats.

Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara is expected to join a meeting to discuss the three countries’ cooperation in sharing information on North Korea's ballistic missile launches, according to sources.

The Yoon administration’s pursuit of a greater voice for Seoul’s military in the UNC marks a break with the previous Moon Jae-in administration, which sources say eschewed an active South Korean role in the multinational command.

The UNC is headed by the commander of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) and is staffed by 50 military officers from 17 out of 21 countries that fought on the South Korean side of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The command was formally responsible for South Korea’s defense until that duty was passed onto the South Korea-U. S. Combined Forces Command in 1978.

The UNC proposed in 2020 that Seoul nominate military officers to assume around 10 leadership posts if the body expanded to 80 posts.

But the Moon Jae-in administration turned down the UNC’s offer in September 2021 after “prolonged discussions by the National Security Council that concluded that joining within a short period was not feasible,” according to an informed source interviewed by the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Moon administration also opposed the addition of German and Danish military officers to the UNC because it saw the change as an infringement of South Korean sovereignty, according to a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to the JoongAng Ilbo.

“It appeared that the Moon administration was uncomfortable with the UNC taking on a more active role,” the official said, adding that Seoul’s discomfort at the time stemmed “from concerns that the command could become an obstacle to improving relations with Pyongyang.”

Current South Korean participation in the UNC is limited to a Korean major general and a captain assigned to the command’s Military Armistice Commission.

According to sources, the Yoon administration is also considering ways to eventually boost South Korea’s profile within the UNC, such as nominating a South Korean for the the vice commander position currently occupied by British Lt. Gen. Andrew Harrison.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]