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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Korea, U.S. Delay Decision About Troop Control Handover |
| 2013-10-07 |
| Seoul and Washington have agreed to put off talks about the transfer of full operational control of Korean troops to Seoul until next year. The handover, originally slated for 2012, is now scheduled for December 2015, but Seoul wants another delay for fear of a security vacuum if Combined Forces Command is dismantled. Until they make a decision, the two countries will carry out a comprehensive review of the South Korean military's capability to respond to the nuclear threat from North Korea. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel reached the compromise at the 45th Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting here on Wednesday. They also agreed to launch this month a joint working group headed by assistant ministers to study the issue. The group will review necessary conditions and the timing of the transfer. A senior Defense Ministry official said the compromise opens "the possibility of re-delaying" the handover. In last year's joint statement, the two countries specified the date for the transfer, but this year they did not. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Good Political "Dialecticism" = combo of factors, not just one or two = ... > China slamming Japan for its agreement to base US UAVS, X-Band ABM-BMD Radars, F-35's, Ospreys, + Cyberwar assets on its soil. > Pending arrival of new US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. > NOKOR's anticipated upcoming Nuke test + reports it has dev a small Tacnuke warhead. > FYI the US + SOKOR have reinterated their agreement to preemptively attack NOKOR's milfors iff the latter shows clear signs of deploying de facto Nuke-WMD weapons in war. The US knows that any China-involved mil conflict in East Asia will focus on PLA attempts to dominate iff not takeover the OKINAWA-TAIWAN-NORTHERN PHIL TRIANGLE, i.e. "Mahanist" China's equivalent of "Hawaii/Pearl Harbor" + other Pacific Islands into WESTPAC + FAR EASTERN PACIFIC to achieve greater international status. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-10-07 19:50 |
| #2 If the budget/economy tanks, most likely there won't be any talks, just an exit. I doubt any of the countries currently on the military welfare rolls are planning to pick up the whole tab of keeping the Americans around. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-10-07 07:30 |
| #1 Perhaps the real reason is that SKor wants to talk with a grown up and not Champ or one of his minions..... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2013-10-07 00:07 |