Those Koreans who have resisted the transfer of wartime command of their forces, many of them in the older generation who remember US troops fighting for South Korea in the Korean War, fear that the transfer of operational control will lead the US to eventually abandon South Korea.
In a compromise, the US has trimmed its forces in Korea to 28,500 from 37,000 and is consolidating them in posts south of Seoul from which they will support South Korea if needed. To keep US forces in Korea, Seoul is paying for 90 percent of the US$2.5 billion cost of current construction at a post in Pyongtaek. Who will pay for the rest of the US$13 billion in total costs is being negotiated.
Richard Halloran is a freelance writer in Hawaii.
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