Research On The Wartime Operational Command Power Of The Korean Army Under The US-South Korea Alliance

This article first sorts out the history and status quo of U.S.-ROK Alliance from the legal basis,cooperation institutions and cooperation system.From the legal basis,the U.S.-ROK alliance is mainly supported by three legal documents: Mutual Defence Treaty between the United States and the Republic of Korea,Korea-U.S.Agreed Minutes and the U.S.-South Korea Status of Forces Agreement.From the perspective of cooperative institutions,U.S.-ROK alliance relys on following institutions.The first stage is from 1953 to 1977,relying on United Nations Command and U.S.-ROK Security Consultative Meeting.The secend stage is from 1978 to present,relying on U.S.-ROK Military Committee?Meeting and U.S.-ROK Combined Forces Command.From the perspective of the cooperation system,the U.S.-ROK alliance has formed a security cooperation system mainly consists of information cooperation mechanism and joint command training mechanism.The issue of ROK’s Operational Control is the the key focus of the U.S.-ROK Alliance.After administrition of Roh Tae-Woo successfully got the Peacetime Operational Control,the issue focused on the time and method of recovering the Wartime Operational Control.Roh Moo-hyun’s administration actively proposed to recovering Wartime Operational Control,although the transfering time was initially set,but it was influenced by frequent nuclear tests of DPRK and the lack of strength of South Korean military,causing twice delay during the Lee Myung-bak’s administration and the Park Geun-hye’s administration.Regarded as a progressive,Moon Jae-in proactively improved the relationship with DPRK in name of Pyeongchang Olympics after becoming President of ROK.What’s more,U.S.-DPRK relations gradually eased.However,in this good external environment,the transfering of Wartime Operational Control was still delayed for the third time.The essence of Wartime Operational Control is the issue of how to maximize their own interests.Whether and when ROK’s Wartime Operational Control is transferred is deeply influenced by the understanding of South Korea and the United States on their own strategies and the current world situation.For ROK,whether to recovering Wartime Operational Control is mainly considering two points.Firstly,the transfer of Wartime Operational Control is not expected to exacerbate ROK’s external threats,especially military threats from North Korea.Secondly,ROK has enough military force to denfense itself.For the United States,it also has two concerns.One is whether it is conducive to its implementation of the Asia-Pacific Strategy and the other is whether it can reduce the cost of military expenses.In the future,the transfer of ROK’s Wartime Operational Control will be mainly affected by three important factors: Firstly,the actual effect of ROK’s ongoing Defense Reform 2.0;Secondly,next ROK administation’s attitude to the issue;Thirdly,changes of peninsula issue and adjustment of the US’s Asia-Pacific strategy.It can be seen that because of the many uncontrollable factors involved,it is difficult to predict whether ROK’s Wartime Operational Control can be successfully transfered in accordance with the agreed 2023.In addition,with the growth of ROK’s overall strength and the enhancement of its willingness to autonomy,the U.S.-ROK Alliance has gradually transformed from a subordinate alliance to a certain degree of equality alliance.As the focus of U.S.-ROK Alliance,if ROK’s Wartime Operational Control is successfully transferred,it will have a significant impact on operating mechanism and cooperation characteristics of the U.S.-ROK Alliance.