한국과 미국이 내년 12월1일로 예정된 전시작전통제권(전작권) 전환 시기를 재연기하는 방향으로 가닥을 잡고, 재연기 시기와 조건을 둘러싼 협의에 착수한 것으로 알려졌다.
한•미 양국은 15일(현지시간)일부터 이틀간 미국 워싱턴D.C. 펜타곤에서 제5차 한미 통합국방협의체(KIDD) 회의를 열고 전작권 전환 재연기에 대해 집중 협의했다. 회의에는 우리측에서 류제승 국방부 정책실장, 미국측에서 마크 리퍼트 미국 국방장관 비서실장 등이 참석했다.
양국의 실무협의가 순조롭게 진행된다면 오는 10월 미국에서 열리는 제46차 한•미 안보협의회(SCM)에서 전작권 전환 시기를 최종 도출할 수 있을 것으로 보인다. 일각에선 버락 오바마 미 대통령이 25일 방한해 전작권 전환 문제에 박근혜 대통령과 논의가 있을 것으로 예상하고 있다.
<관련 영문 기사>
Allies discuss OPCON transfer
South Korea and the U.S. opened high-level defense talks Tuesday over an array of bilateral security issues, including the delay in the transfer of wartime operational control.
Represented by Deputy Defense Minister Yoo Jeh-seung and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Helvey, the two sides discussed the issue at the two-day Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue at the Pentagon.
Seoul and Washington reportedly agreed on the need to postpone the OPCON handover and are discussing the right conditions for the transfer. Observers say they might make their decision on the delay in October when the allies’ defense chiefs meet for their annual Security Consultative Meeting in the U.S.
A senior Seoul official who declined to be named indicated recently that the allies were inclined toward the postponement.
“(Security) situations have changed very significantly, compared with the time when the allies agreed to transfer the OPCON,” he told reporters. “The allies’ judgment will be made in a direction that would strengthen our joint defense capabilities and help ensure peninsular security.”
Last October, the two sides agreed to continue their consultations over the delay of the transfer based on their fresh evaluation of “conditions.”
Seoul requested last year that the allies reconsider the timing of the transfer in light of increased nuclear threats from North Korea, which conducted a third nuclear test in February of the year following its successful launch of a long-range rocket in December 2012.
Observers predict that President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss the OPCON transfer when the latter arrives here next Friday for a two-day visit as part of his Asia tour.
Initially scheduled for April 2012, the transfer was postponed to the end of 2015 in June 2010 amid North Korean provocations, including the torpedoing of the South Korean corvette Cheonan that killed 46 sailors.
On top of the OPCON transfer, the two sides also discussed how to strengthen deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction, and how to counter the newly emerging threat from the North’s military drones, at the KIDD talks.
Launched in 2011, KIDD is a comprehensive defense meeting between the allies that integrates the three existing consultative meetings -- the Security Policy Initiative, Extended Deterrence Policy Committee and Strategic Alliance 2015 Working Group.
By Song Sang-ho (
sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
