Status and Future Role of the United Nations Command

Status and Future Role of the United Nations Command

The Armistice structure management and the status of the United Nations Command (UNC) in the process of transitioning wartime operational control and its role in the peace process on the Korean peninsula are emerging as critical issues. To define a new relationship between the UNC and ROK forces, considering the contingency of North Korea, will exert a formidable impact on regional stability as well as the peninsular security. Further, it will require strategic insight and a prudent approach. First, unless the North Korean threat becomes extinct, the UNC will exist even after signing of a peace treaty to firmly establish a peace regime on the peninsula. Second, the role of the UNC in the event of contingency on the peninsula needs to be clarified. Along with the UN Security Council resolution, the UNC, consisting of member states forces, policemen, and NGOs, should be in charge of carrying out the Peace Keeping Operation (PKO) mission and providing a nuclear umbrella and achieving force provider’s mission to form coalition forces. Fourth, the wartime relation between the ROK Forces and the UNC requires defining the supported role of ROK forces and the supporting role of the UNC in intelligence, maritime and air campaigns. Finally, it is important for them to have trilateral strategic talks among South Korean, the U.S. and China to prevent mutual confrontation by reaching a consensus of joint measures against a possible North Korean contingency situation.

The Armistice structure management and the status of the United Nations Command (UNC) in the process of transitioning wartime operational control and its role in the peace process on the Korean peninsula are emerging as critical issues. To define a new relationship between the UNC and ROK forces, considering the contingency of North Korea, will exert a formidable impact on regional stability as well as the peninsular security. Further, it will require strategic insight and a prudent approach. First, unless the North Korean threat becomes extinct, the UNC will exist even after signing of a peace treaty to firmly establish a peace regime on the peninsula. Second, the role of the UNC in the event of contingency on the peninsula needs to be clarified. Along with the UN Security Council resolution, the UNC, consisting of member states forces, policemen, and NGOs, should be in charge of carrying out the Peace Keeping Operation (PKO) mission and providing a nuclear umbrella and achieving force provider’s mission to form coalition forces. Fourth, the wartime relation between the ROK Forces and the UNC requires defining the supported role of ROK forces and the supporting role of the UNC in intelligence, maritime and air campaigns. Finally, it is important for them to have trilateral strategic talks among South Korean, the U.S. and China to prevent mutual confrontation by reaching a consensus of joint measures against a possible North Korean contingency situation.