S. Korea, U.S. may discuss security measures to allay N. Korea fears: expert

By Tony Chang

SEOUL, June 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States may propose new security measures at their summit this week to calm jitters about escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula, an expert here said Sunday.

"A written guarantee to put South Korea under the U.S. nuclear umbrella is an
example of one kind of measure they may take," Lee Sang-hyun, head of the
security research division at Seoul's Sejong Institute, said in an interview with
Yonhap News Agency.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak heads to Washington for talks Tuesday with
U.S. President Barack Obama. The leaders will meet as they face host of
challenges from North Korea, which in April launched a long-range missile and
shrugged off ensuing international condemnation by conducting its second nuclear
test the following month.
The North's saber-rattling has angered South Korea's conservatives, who say the
recent series of events prove Seoul and Washington must consider readjusting
their half-century-old military alliance, including the planned transfer of
wartime command of South Korean troops back to Seoul in 2012.
The research official said the two presidents are "very unlikely" to change the
scheduled transfer despite such concerns.
"The two nations could, rather, reaffirm the promise to implement it by 2012,"
Lee said.
Wartime operational control, or OPCON, was given to the U.S. at the onset of the
1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce that left the two Koreas technically
in a state of war. Seoul and Washington agreed two years ago to transfer the
command in April 2012.
Given the renewed tension, the leaders may discuss ways to supplement joint
security initiatives, including an unequivocal U.S. commitment to protect South
Korea under its nuclear umbrella, the researcher said.
While North Korea's nuclear weapons program is expected to top the agenda between
the two leaders, Lee predicted the U.S. would also want to address cooperation
outside of Korean issues.
"The South Korea-U.S. alliance in the future will likely move towards
cooperations on a global scale, on the premise that the North Korean threat
attenuates in the future," he said.
The Obama administration would want to work together not only on North Korea and
bilateral trade, but also "on overarching global agendas in both military and
non-military aspects," said Lee.
On a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that has been pending since 2007, Lee
said its ratification in the U.S. will require more time -- at least until the
American economy shows signs of recovery. Once the downturn begins to abate,
Congress should be able to make a public deliberation on the politically
sensitive deal, he said.
"The leaders will probably reach only a broad agreement that ratification of the
FTA would be in the interest of both countries," Lee said.
The free trade accord has been held up in the legislatures of both countries
since it was signed, stymied by demands to renegotiate on auto and agricultural
trade, among other issues.