By This is interesting because this is the first time I have read about US Senators criticizing the transfer of wartime control to South Korea:
Senior U.S. senators are pushing to speed up the transfer of wartime operational control to the Korean military.
South Korea and the United States plan to carry out the transfer in April 2012, three years later than the 2009 target initially sought by Washington.
Senator Carl Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it’s "essential" to push the date forward. Levin made the remark in a confirmation hearing Thursday for the new commander of U.S. forces in Korea, Lieutenant General Walter Sharp.
Senator John Warner, the ranking member of the committee, said carrying out the transfer by 2012 is “unacceptable,” adding that there’s no reason for four more years to pass. [KBS Global]
What should be particularly noted about this is that Senators Levin is one of the most powerful Democratic Congressmen while Senator Warner is one of the most powerful Republican Congressmen. This shows bipartisan support in Washington at a very high level for the speed up of the OPCON transfer to Seoul. The Senators called on the incoming USFK Commander General Walter Sharp to work on speeding up the transfer when he takes command.
I was a big supporter of the 2010 OPCON transfer date until the ROK government decided to delay it to 2012. I said then that the 2012 transfer date would just give the South Korean government more time to play delay games and that is exactly what happened this year as the South Korean government has been working to delay the OPCON transfer date even further. I would be surprised if Washington is able to speed up the OPCON transfer date because at this point it appears getting the Korean government to meet the 2012 transfer date is going to be quite a challenge.
11:53 am on April 5th, 2008 1
I believe it is both opportune and realistic on the side of the US senators to give wartime control back to the South Koreans as well as withdrawing US troops from a country that is more than capable of defending itself. The US troops in Korea have been a drag on relations between the two counties for the last decade as South Korean politicians have abused the stationing of US troops for thier own political gain. This has resulted in unpopular sentiment among many South Koreans toward the US. The removal of US troops will waken the South Koreans to a need for better relations with the US as well as improving thier own defense needs at thier own expense. A win-win situation.
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2:33 pm on April 5th, 2008 2
My opinion …
Speed up the transfer date and hand OPCON over to the ROKs whether they are ready or not.
Bottom Line: The Second Korean War would be fought from the Blue Ridge anyway.
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5:44 pm on April 5th, 2008 3
The US needs to maintain OPCON, increase the number of troops in USFK, and get ready to challenge and contain China.
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6:58 pm on April 5th, 2008 4
DELETED PERSONAL ATTACK
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9:43 pm on April 5th, 2008 5
Instead of talking and talking, just get out. Very simple. Then voila, no more having to listen to all the constant belly achings and wishes for another Korean war. I suggest pulling all US troops out and deploy them into Iraq where they will fight and die for their honor.
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12:34 am on April 6th, 2008 6
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3:27 am on April 6th, 2008 7
Yep well the relocation thing is turning into a big joke. Just yesterday I notice brand new construction beginning at Yongsan…relocation…Sure
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6:52 am on April 6th, 2008 8
Shattered, with spewage like this, it’s easy to see why Tom and dada have attitudes. Well, now you have an American ex-pat who considers you to be a worthless troll. That is my last word to you.
If it came to KWII, Jax is probably right. However, let’s review what the ROKs have: absolutely substandard C2 systems, a marginal littoral navy, an absolutely useless air force (that is the no-shit truth I speak of from experience), a great Special Warfare Command and Marine Corp (w/o aviation), and, GI please correct me, a decent bunch of ground pounders. The key point being that their current and available methods of command and control are completely incompatible with the US standard. Therefore, inclusion of any US ground forces would require procedural deconfliction and a seam in the lines in order to sectorize US and ROK forces. Any other alliance members would no doubt cast their lot into the US command and control sector.
It is my understanding that the USAF will still operatate the C2 aspect of the Air Component Command, for which I, and ultimately the ROK public, will be grateful should the shit hit the fan of death.
Another troubling aspect: while the profession ROK forces are a decent group of potential warriors, I am very concerned about the generally pussified and large group of conscripts that currently serve. I have doubts about the ability of their basic training methods to turn these metros into warriors. They seriously appear to lack the appropriate spirit.
Kingkitty, new construction is a time-honored harbinger of an impending base closure. C’mon man, you’ve been around through a few BRACs, haven’t you?
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7:17 am on April 6th, 2008 9
I had no hope for the reformation of USFK much less pulling it out, but if Obama somehow manages to win the election, who knows? Or if the democrat party gains a significant majority in Congress + the talk of budget cuts and such becomes a mantra – maybe then too…
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2:00 pm on April 6th, 2008 10
Dave in Songtan,
That was a good run-down of the ROK’s lackluster capabilities, but it doesn’t change the fact that 50+ years of a so-called Alliance has failed to produce any change. So why bother waiting at this point?
The US might as well realign its force posture into a PACOM-based reaction force with an absolute minimum economy of force remaining on the peninsula to fulfill UNC armistice duties. The ROKs are good enough to stall a nK invasion north of Seoul, thereby allowing UNC the time to properly stage and execute a counterattack into nK.
As a former commander in 2ID, me and my peers overwhelmingly believed that US forces fighting within ROK lines would be an absolute disaster in terms of confusion and accidental fratricide … not to mention the strong possibility of intentional ROK on US hostilities.
In response to Pete, staging US forces in the ROK as a deterrent to China is a pipe dream. For many years to come, the US and China will never willingly engage each other again in an all-out ground war, so having US forces in Japan is a good enough deterrent. A fight with China would be asymmetric anyway, especially since China prefers an intact nK to supply cheap labor for its Northeast Project.
In response to Shattered and Tom, you both need to get a life !!!
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5:24 pm on April 6th, 2008 11
Dave, I think you need a hug.
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1:08 am on April 7th, 2008 12
One of the biggiest reason I laugh at this blog is that the moderator GI Korea does not believe in filtering out human wastes such as this idiot ’shattered’ ruining this site with his mentally demented worst form of racial slurs, false accusations, and outrageous hypocricy.
The moron thinks he is protected behind his computer monitor, talking trash on his keyboard all day long…
But with enough resources, mentally deformed racists like shattered can easily be tracked down, properly investigated and charged with him racially cursing other posters such as Tom, Dada and Koreans in general, for his extremely racist slandering hate crime.
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2:40 pm on April 7th, 2008 13
I agree that the site would benefit from some judicious filtering of sub-mental postings by the likes of shattered.
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8:53 pm on April 7th, 2008 14
Deleted shattered’s comment number four. At times when I’m busy with work I do not read every single comment left on the site.
Shattered you are welcome to comment as long as no racial remarks, cuss words, and personal attacks are directed towards other commenters. Next time your IP address will be banned.
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9:13 pm on April 7th, 2008 15
In response to Dave’s comment the ROK Army’s frontline DMZ units I have worked with I have found to be quite good and competent. Some of their rear echelon elements are crap. The KATUSAs I found to be slowing getting worse but the majority of them I think are still pretty good. Overall the health of the ROK Army I think is quite good and LMB should restore some pride to the military after the Roh years.
I’m more worried where the ROK military will be at in 10-20 years. That is why I believe USFK needs the transformation to happen, a reduced footprint, and the wartime control handover to happen as soon as possible and stop the Korean delay games. This would force the ROK government to spend the money necessary to upgrade the ROK military. With all the money that will end up poured into LMB’s canal just imagine what that money could do to further modernize the ROK military instead?
In response to Jax by moving the remaining elements of USFK south of Seoul that would greatly eliminate the fratricide concerns that I fully agree with you would happen if an attack from North Korea happened right now.
I also agree that it is very unlikely the US and China will get a ground war against each other. Both sides would take huge losses and gain nothing from it. To much to lose on each side and any conflict between the two nations would be more like Cold War-lite with asymetric actions like Jax mentioned happening.
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10:06 pm on April 7th, 2008 16
“and personal attacks are directed towards other commenters”
Maybe you should take a look at Observer’s comments. “this idiot shattered”
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