South Korea's defense ministry intends to revive a joint US-South Korean contingency plan to cope with unrest in North Korea after president-elect Lee Myung-bak takes office, a report said yesterday.
The Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, quoting military sources, said the ministry reported last month to Lee's transition team that the joint contingency plan was scheduled to be formulated by the end of this year.
It would likely revive a military operational plan codenamed OPLAN 5029 which was shelved by President Roh Moo-hyun, Dong-A said.
OPLAN 5029 contains military strategies to handle political turmoil and a sudden exodus of refugees, natural disasters that include floods and earthquakes, or the regime's loss of control over nuclear and biochemical weapons.
North Korea reacted angrily to OPLAN 5029, describing it as a preparation for war, and Roh's government stopped discussion of the plan in January 2005, citing a possible breach of national sovereignty.
But it has been preparing a watered-down scheme, CONPLAN 5029, which does not include detailed military operation plans.
Lee, who will be sworn in on Feb. 25, has stressed the need to strengthen the US-South Korean alliance.
The defense ministry refused to comment on the newspaper report.
Experts cited in the newspaper article point out that Seoul is set to regain wartime operational command over its own military forces by 2012.
They said Seoul needs its own military plan to take the lead in transporting North Koreans to safe areas in case of any massive fight, and to offer humanitarian aid to the North in case of natural disasters.
Some 28,000 US troops are stationed in the South to help 650,000 South Korean forces face the North Korean army, which Pyongyang says has 1.2 million members.
Under a mutual defense treaty, the South Korean military comes under US command in times of war. But this is set to change by 2012.
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