KB News Desk
South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the United Nations Command diverged Friday over the creation of a new unit tasked with security and enforcement of the 1953 armistice near the border dividing the two Koreas.
Earlier in the day, the UNC said it was working on an internal reorganization to bring together units responsible for security at the Joint Security Area and enforcement of the Korean War Armistice Agreement.
The proposed brigade-level organization, tentatively called the Security and Armistice Enforcement Brigade, would center on the UNC Security Battalion-Joint Security Area and incorporate functions of the UNC Military Armistice Commission, which monitors compliance with the armistice and handles access to the Demilitarized Zone.
The command said the effort was intended to improve command and control, coordination and support while maintaining its existing responsibilities under the Armistice Agreement. It also said South Korean counterparts had been kept informed throughout the review process.
However, later in the day, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Seoul and the UNC had agreed not to create the brigade.
Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Yongsan, central Seoul, Ahn said he had discussed the matter with Gen. Xavier Brunson, who heads the UNC, US Forces Korea and the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command.
“We talked about it and reached an agreement not to establish the UNC security brigade or hold a ceremony for it,” Ahn said.
Asked whether that meant the brigade itself would not be created, Ahn replied, “Yes.”
Ahn declined to say when he last met Brunson but said the two “communicate and meet frequently.”
The Defense Ministry separately said reports that the brigade had already been established were not true, while declining to disclose details of consultations between Seoul and the UNC.
The UNC, however, maintained that the proposed reorganization had not been withdrawn and remained under consideration.
The latest discrepancy comes amid a series of disagreements between the South Korean government and the UNC over the management of the DMZ and the scope of the command’s authority.
In November last year, a senior South Korean presidential security official was denied entry by the UNC while attempting to visit a site inside the DMZ where remains from the Korean War were being recovered.
The incident prompted questions in Seoul over the extent to which the US-led command should exercise authority over visits by South Korean government officials to territory south of the Military Demarcation Line.
Tensions over the issue continued this year as ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers pushed legislation aimed at giving the South Korean government a greater role in approving nonmilitary access to the DMZ.
The UNC publicly opposed the proposals, saying in January that the bills were “completely at odds” with the Armistice Agreement, while the Unification Ministry rejected that interpretation and said the proposed legislation still required consultations with the command.
Another disagreement surfaced in June over North Korea’s construction activities near the MDL.
The South Korean military described North Korea’s installation of fences and other work inside the DMZ as a “clear violation” of the Armistice Agreement.
The UNC took a different view, saying North Korea had previously notified it of plans for fence construction and road repairs and that the activities, as conducted north of the MDL, did not constitute an armistice violation.
Seoul and Washington have since held talks on ways to make the management of some areas of the DMZ more practical.
The Defense Ministry has stressed that the discussions do not amount to joint or divided control of the buffer zone and that Seoul continues to respect the UNC’s authority under the Armistice Agreement.
The UNC was established in 1950 under a United Nations mandate to repel North Korea’s invasion of South Korea and led multinational forces during the Korean War.
The UNC commander was one of the signatories to the 1953 Armistice Agreement, along with commanders representing the North Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteers. The agreement left the UNC responsible for maintaining and enforcing the armistice on its side of the border.
Much of the warfighting role previously carried out under the UNC shifted to the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command when the CFC was established in 1978.
The CFC serves as the bilateral warfighting headquarters and would exercise operational control over assigned South Korean and US forces in the event of war. The UNC retains its separate responsibilities for maintaining the Armistice Agreement and coordinating multinational support.
The two commands are institutionally separate but are currently headed by the same US four-star general, Brunson, who also serves as commander of US Forces Korea.
