Don’t dismiss the role of the UN Command

The UNC is a very useful security asset that has great strategic value.

Chang Se-jeong

The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo. On July 27, 1953, when the Korean War Armistice was signed at Panmunjom, an international event with a far-reaching impact on the post-war Korean Peninsula was held in Washington. Representatives of 16 nations that fought in the war as part of the United Nations Command (UNC) gathered in the U.S. capital and signed a joint declaration concerning the armistice. The declaration says, “We affirm, in the interests of world peace, that if there is a renewal of the armed attack, challenging again the principles of the United Nations, we should again be united and prompt to resist.”

The joint declaration was issued 70 years before the Washington Declaration signed between President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden on April 26 this year during the South Korean president’s visit to the White House to ensure security guarantees from America.

Soldiers from the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Canada sent as reinforcements to United Nations forces during the Korea-U.S. Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) military exercises show their determination to fight aggression from North Korea at a U.S. base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, Aug. 30. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Thanks to our founding President Syngman Rhee’s persistent effort to establish a military alliance with the United States, the Mutual Defense Treaty was provisionally signed in Washington on Aug. 8, 1953, followed by its official signing on Oct. 1 that year. The treaty took effect from November in 1954. In a letter to the South Korean president, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower vowed to defend the independence and stability of South Korea from outside aggressions and highlighted the joint declaration in Washington and the Mutual Defense Treaty as two pivotal mechanisms to ensure the security of the ally. His pledge translated into an assurance of the joint declaration seven decades ago as powerful as the ironclad alliance.

Concerns are mounting that North Korea may be tempted to provoke South Korea militarily after being motivated by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Under such volatile circumstances, the existence of the UN Command in South Korea is drawing keen attention just like the declaration in Washington 70 years ago.

In the nick of time, the Korean government hosts a conference of defense ministers from 17 UNC member nations in Seoul on Nov. 14 to mark the 70th year of the historic armistice. The meeting will be attended by more than 300 officials representing each delegation.

The JoongAng Ilbo met Major General (Ret.) Chang Kwang-hyun — current secretary general of the Korea–UNC Friendship Association and former Deputy Chief of Staff of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) and chief representative of the UNC Military Armistice Commission (MAC) — to delve into the raison d’être of the UNC and UN forces.

A graduate of the Korea Military Academy, Chang, 63, also serves as a board member of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy in Washington and the Council on Korea-U.S. Security Studies in Seoul after serving as commander of the 51st Infantry Division and commander-in-chief of the Korea Army Air Operations Command and vice president of the Military Mutual Aid Association. As the chief representative of the UNC MAC in August 2015, he, together with the MAC and the Defense Ministry, collected tangible evidence of North Korean soldiers having killed South Korean soldiers with wooden box mines along the front and let the rest of the world know the mines were maliciously planted by North Korea in advance.

Q. What significance do you attach to the UNC ahead of the United Nations Day on Oct. 24?A. Over 1.94 million youths from foreign countries fought the war for three years in the name of the UNC and 40,668 were killed and 108, 231 injured. We enjoy a free democracy thanks to their noble sacrifices. In retrospect, the dramatic recovery of our democracy was possible thanks to the miracle the UNC worked in the Korean peninsula. Since its launch to collectively protect world peace after World War II, the UN led by the U.S. swiftly intervened in the Korean War. A result of the intervention was the UNC. UN forces were dispatched to South Korea based on the UN Security Council Resolution 83, and the UNC was set up in Tokyo on July 24, 1950 — based on Resolution 84 and modeled after the U.S. Far East Command during World War II. Since its relocation to Seoul on July 1, 1957, the UNC has been keeping peace and stability of the peninsula.

What are examples of North Korea ignoring the Armistice? Since the armistice seven decades ago, North Korea has violated it more than 420,000 times. High-tension violations such as its shelling on the Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 exceed 260. After the UNC named a South Korean general as the chief representative of the MAC in 1991, the North responded by expelling the Czech and Polish delegations from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission. In December 1994, North Korea withdrew from the MAC and opened the office of its representative at Panmunjom. Despite its hostile campaign to neutralize the MAC and even a declaration to abandon the armistice in 1996, the UNC has faithfully carried out its missions to maintain peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula over the past 70 years.

Can the UNC effectively deal with the North’s military provocations against the South? The closer military relations among North Korea, China and Russia amid the North’s sophistication of nuclear weapons and its rush to develop military reconnaissance satellites deepen our security concerns. What can dispel such anxiousness effectively is the invincible alliance, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the UNC. In particular, the UNC is not only a trustworthy ally given its crucial role as “force provider” in times of war, but also is a very useful security asset that has a great strategic value. The UNC plays the critical role of providing soldiers, equipment and logistics needed to launch a joint Korea-U.S. military operation in the Korean Theater of Operations (KTO).

[During the Korean War, 16 countries sent their combat troops in tandem with the Security Council resolutions. The number rose to 17 after Ethiopia and Luxembourg withdrew from the UNC but instead Denmark, Norway and Italy — formerly medical suppliers — joined it. Appearing in an interview in August 2020, former Rep. Song Young-gil, then-chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, dishonored the history and integrity of the UNC by claiming it had been dominated by the U.S. During the dovish Moon Jae-in administration, Germany could not become a member of the UNC due to the government’s antagonism toward the UNC. Since 2011, UNC member nations have sent their combatants to South Korea for joint drills, but the military exercise was greatly downsized in the Moon administration. However, as the Yoon administration is positive toward Germany’s joining the command, it will be comprised of 18 members pretty soon. Secretary General Chang said that if South Korea becomes a member of the UNC, it can participate in the command’s more diverse activities in the peninsula and rear bases in Japan. South Korea is currently not a “force provider” but a “force user.”]

Will the UNC members dispatch their soldiers to South Korea in an emergency? The West submitted a UN resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine shortly after Russia’s invasion. But the resolution was vetoed by Russia and China. Some predict that the UN would not be able to do anything if North Korea launches a surprise attack on South Korea, as Russia and China will certainly take the North’s side. But in times of crisis, our alliance with the U.S. will work normally with the UNC carrying out its mission as the “force provider” without restrictions. The UNC still can fulfill its missions stipulated 73 years ago without any separate UN resolutions because it is a body established by the two resolutions.

Isn’t there a possibility of the UNC being dismantled? If that happens, it’s a different story. If another war breaks out in the peninsula after the UNC is disbanded, a new Security Council resolution will be required to help South Korea. But China and Russia will most likely vote it down. Here lies the reason why you can’t dissolve it. If you compare the UNC to an insurance program, it’s like a safety insurance plan devised by the international community exclusively for Korea’s sake. North Korea has consistently demanded the dissolution of the UNC as a precondition for an end-of-war declaration or a peace accord. The North calls for the disbanding of the UNC for fear of the supply of soldiers through the command. If you denigrate the UNC or call for its dismantlement just like the pro-North Korean forces in South Korea, it only backfires. You must not disband the UNC unless the North abandons its goal to communize the South.

What roles do the rear UNC bases in Japan play? The rear bases just 1,150 kilometers (715 miles) away can assure an easier and more effective response to a contingency in the peninsula than the distant U.S. bases in the mainland. The UNC has been operating seven strategic locations out of more than 80 U.S. bases in Japan and Okinawa. The rear bases play the key role as a stopover for combat troops, ammunition and equipment from UNC member nations to safely arrive in South Korea. In this respect, the government also needs to improve relations with Japan. If the UNC is disbanded, these rear bases must shut down. That will deal a critical blow to our joint drills with the U.S. This is another reason for us to cherish the UNC.