This should not be a shocker to anyone. The US is pushing the ROK to take over more duties. I would expect announcements like this to continue each month as we call President Roh on his request to take over the CFC.

Washington has told Seoul that it wants to pass to Korea most of the 20 functions the United Nations Command has performed in managing the armistice on the Korean Peninsula when it hands over full operational control of Korean troops.

Sources on Sunday said Seoul will $)C!0carefully negotiate!1 with Washington by June and determine what functions it will have to perform, considering that managing the armistice is extremely sensitive both politically and diplomatically. That suggests the handover of these functions could turn into yet another bone of contention between the allies. South Korea is to take over full operational control of its troops in wartime as well as peace sometime between October 2009 and March 2012.

If Seoul takes over the UNC functions, incidents such as shooting in the demilitarized zone will be handled by South Korea, instead of an investigation panel under the UNC. In the Korean movie !0Joint Security Area,!1 it was investigators from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission who probed a murder case in the DMZ. But south of the Military Demarcation Line, such investigations would then be handled by South Korea. Once Seoul takes over functions of the UNC, the secretary of the UN Military Armistice Commission, the body monitoring the armistice, will be filled by the South Korean instead of the U.S. military, the source said. North Korea will not like the idea.

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