US mulls separation of forces with South Korea http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-13T112609Z_01_SEO274683_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-USA-MILITARY.xml&archived=False
Thu Jul 13, 2006
SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States is considering separating its forces from South Korea's and establishing an independent command to support the South's troops on the Korean peninsula, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea said on Thursday.
South Korea gave the United States command of its troops during the 1950-1953 Korean War. It later regained their peacetime control but U.S. forces would still command South Korean forces in the event of a war. "While no final decisions have been made, we are considering creating two independent commands -- one ROK (South Korean) and one U.S., with U.S. forces in a supporting role to take advantage of U.S. air and naval warfare capabilities," General B.B. Bell told a security forum in South Korea's parliament.
He said Washington and Seoul have been studying ways to change the command structure for months.
The United States has about 30,000 troops in South Korea working with more than 650,000 South Korean troops. North Korea has most of its million-strong military positioned near the fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula.
The two Koreas are technically still at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a truce and not with a peace treaty.
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