New UN command plan needed for Korea: US general

SEOUL, Jan 18 (Reuters) The United Nations command that has maintained an armistice since the end of the Korean War more than 50 years ago must be restructured following a US-South Korea military deal, the head of US Forces Korea said today.

Washington and Seoul have agreed that between 2009 and 2012 they will transfer wartime command control of South Korean troops to Seoul, which will have a knock-on effect on other command structures formed as a part of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Shaking up the structure of US and South Korean combined forces would raise further questions over command and what role the nations in the UN command would take.

''The UNC commander will no longer have immediate access to ROK (South Korea) combat troops which are postured along the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) and elsewhere, as he has had under the combined forces command,'' General B B Bell said.

''Unless addressed, this situation will make it impossible to credibly maintain the armistice,'' Bell added.

The US has about 30,000 troops in South Korea to support that country's 670,000-strong military. North Korea positions most of its 1.2 million-man army near the DMZ that divides the peninsula.

The head of US forces in South Korea has been the head of the U.N. command in the country.

Britain, Canada and Turkey are among the 16 countries, including South Korea, that supply troops to the UN command. Five more countries lend logistical support.

Bell said the UN command helps deter North Korean aggression. In the future, he proposed the head of US forces in South Korea will still lead the UN command, and both groups will lend support to South Korea's troops.

''It is important that we organise in peace time as we will for war,'' Bell said.

''This is particularly true here in Korea where crisis escalation could quickly, indeed almost instantaneously, lead to combat operations.'' He added the United States would consult with the other countries in the UN command about any change.

Last week, Bell told a news conference in Seoul that North Korea was likely to test another nuclear device -- after detonating its first device in October -- but declined to comment on news reports that an explosion was imminent.

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