US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-Kil agreed Friday to transfer certain missions to South Korean forces as part of a plan to pull US ground forces back from demilitarized zones.
In a joint statement, the two defense ministers reaffirmed agreements reached earlier this month on a plan to move the US garrison out of Seoul at the earliest possible date and deploy US forces south of the Han River.
"The secretary and the minister agreed to move forward with the transfer of selected missions from US to the Republic of Korea (ROK) forces in conjunction with the development of enhanced combined ROK-US capabilities," the statement said.
The statement did not say what missions would be affected but said Rumsfeld and Cho agreed that South Korea's "growing national strength provides an opportunity to expand the role of the ROK armed forces in defending the Korean peninsula."
US defense officials said one of the most important missions that could go to the South Koreans is countering North Korean special operations forces.
US officials believe that in a war, North Korean strategy would call for special operations forces to infiltrate and attack frontline forces from the rear, via small boats and tunnels.
The mission of stopping them now falls largely to US forces who hunt for infiltrators with AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, defense officials said.
Other missions that could go to the South Koreans are weather forecasting and counter-battery fire, the officials said. North Korea is reported to have some 12,000 artillery pieces near the demilitarized zone, many of which target Seoul, making their destruction a key task at the outset of a conflict.
More generally, the Pentagon would like the South Koreans to take over ground missions now performed by US forces.
However, South Korean forces are not as mobile as their American counterparts, a weakness that will require South Korean investment in more helicopters, armored personnel carriers and networked communications and intelligence, the officials said.
US officials are urging the South Koreans to consider acquiring the army's new Stryker medium weight armored vehicles. They could then operate with US Army's Stryker brigades, which have been earmarked for deployment in South Korea.
The US has 37,000 troops in South Korea, including 15,000 from the 2nd Infantry Division arrayed in camps near the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea.
Washington now believes that it can deter North Korea more effectively with long distance precision firepower and at the same time lighten a ground presence that has been the source of political controversy in the south.
RSS