전시작전통제권 전환과 유엔사의 역할 : 유엔사의 법적 지위와 정치적 함의를 중심으로

Abstract

The United Nations Command (UNC) was established at the beginning of the Korean War by UN Security Council resolution to restore peace on the Korean Peninsula and to save South Korea from communism. Even after establishment of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) in 1978, the UNC was had supervisory responsibility for managing the Armistice Agreement. As South Korea’s national strength enhanced and the Cold War ended, the role of the South Korean military in Korea’s defense expanded and the CFC’s Armistice OPCON was given to the ROK JCS in 1994. UNC kept its exclusive armistice management mission. Talks on the transfer of wartime OPCON from the US to the ROK began in 2005, but the move was postponed twice and the parties switched from a terms-based transfer to a ‘condition-based’ transfer as a result of the North Korean nuclear issue and serious provocations. The UNC continues to carry out the UNC’s original mission, including armistice management through the “Revitalization Program” Reportedly, the UNC wants to continue to serve as the warfighting command on the Korean Peninsula as if it were a high-ranking organization in the ‘Future CFC.’ Even though transfer of wartime OPCON is not appropriate now given the North Korean nuclear threat, it’s a fait accompli by ROK-US agreement. According to resolutions of the UN GA/SC since its inception and agreements between the ROK and the US, the UNC’s legal status and role is not supposed to change for armistice management and it should not become a warfighting command after wartime OPCON transfer. Therefore, it is necessary to review the “Revitalization Program” and develop a detailed separation of functions and cooperative relations between the ‘future CFC’ and the UNC.