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“북 대량살상무기 제거 전담 부대 한·미연합 키리졸브 훈련 참가 중”
Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises include elimination unit training March 12, 2010
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Gen. Walter Sharp, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said yesterday that South Korean and U.S. troops have a shared responsibility for locating, securing and eliminating any weapons of mass destruction that threaten South Korea. Sharp said that the U.S. Task Force Elimination unit under the 20th Support Command in Maryland is helping conduct the joint military exercises, and has done so in the past. The task force is conducting simulation training for both the Korean and American troops involved in the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises. “They are here for this exercise and if we ever went to war, they would naturally come also,” Sharp said. “They will also come here even after the transfer of wartime operational control from the U.S. to the South.” The general made his comments during a press conference with reporters at the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command in Yongsan Garrison, central Seoul, as the military exercises involving 18,000 U.S. and 20,000 Korean soldiers continued. Sharp said the joint drill is meant to examine South Korea and U.S. preparedness if they had to go to war today. The general had mentioned in an international conference last Oct. 30 that Seoul and Washington had agreed that the United States will take control of removing Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction and joint marine landing operations in case of an attack. But yesterday was the first time he identified the nature of the U.S. unit. Sharp also said yesterday that the South and the United States are jointly examining ways to pinpoint the location of long-range artillery in the North that could destroy the South’s metropolitan areas in wartime. “On a tactical level, we work very hard every day to make sure we are prepared to deal with the long-range artillery north of the demilitarized zone,” he said, adding that both countries are strengthening their training levels to cope with the North’s artillery this year. North Korea has sharply protested the joint drills, but Sharp said the Key Resolve exercises are defensive and in keeping with military practice worldwide. He declined to detail the scenario for Key Resolve, but said, “What we are training for is all the threats that North Korea can throw at us. “We watch very closely what North Korea is saying, doing and developing and we adjust our war plans based upon that,” he said. “We adjust our exercises based on how we think it would attack.” Sharp also said that he does not agree with some U.S. experts’ opinions that the transfer of wartime control from the United States to the South should be delayed. He said he is confident the transition will proceed as scheduled in 2012. By Kim Min-seok, Lee Min-yong [smartpower@joongang.co.kr] Related Korean Article 샤프 주한미군사령관 밝혀 월터 샤프 주한미군사령관은 유사시 북한의 대량살상무기(WMD)를 제거하기 위한 전담 부대가 8일부터의 한·미연합 키리졸브(Key Resolve) 연습에 참가하고 있다고 11일 말했다. 샤프 사령관은 용산 한미연합사에서 열린 기자회견에서 “미국은 WMD 전문 제거부대를 운영하고 있다”며 이같이 밝히고, “이 부대는 실제 전쟁이 일어나도 참전할 것”이라고 설명했다. 북한 WMD 제거 부대의 키리졸브 연습 참가 공개는 처음이다. 미국의 WMD 제거부대는 육군 제20지원사령부에 소속돼 있으며, 한반도 유사시 한국군 화생방사령부와 ‘WMD 제거 연합기동부대’를 구성해 임무를 수행한다. 그는 이어 “(북한의 WMD에 대한 대응은) 한·미 양국의 공동 책임이라고 생각한다”며 “WMD의 위치 파악과 확보, 제거에 관해 양국이 긴밀히 협조·대응해갈 것”이라고 강조했다. |
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