The Center for Asia Pacific Strategy CAPS conducted a roundtable on United Nations Command’s past, present and future on 26 February 2021. MG (ret) Chang Kwan Hyun, ROKA, former Senior Member, UNC Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC), Brigadier Andrew Cliffe, British Army, former Commonwealth Member, UNCMAC, and MG (ret) Urs Gerber, Swiss Army, former Head of the Swiss NNSC Delegation, shared their experiences, perspectives, and expectations as panelists under the moderation of MG (ret) Paul Hurley, USA.
Mandated by the UN through UNSCR 84 on 07 July 1950 as unified command under U.S. leadership and created at the outset of the Korean War, UNC fought the war as “Southern coalition” against the NK aggression, negotiated and signed the Armistice on behalf of the South, and indeed enforced and maintained the Armistice ever since as main mission. UNC Rear based in Japan with its UN designated installations are tasked to supporting force generation. 17 Sending States are providing different kind of support on- and off-peninsula.
Key questions of the roundtable addressed most relevant issues such as: What is the current perception of UNC after more than 70 years of existence? What is the Korean perception about UNC? What role can UNC play in future in order to secure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond given the volatile situation in North East Asia?
All panelists agreed on UNC’s significant contribution to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and even beyond. MG (ret) Chang emphasized the Korean perception that UNC successfully kept deterrence against North Korea, from 1978 together with the Combined Forces Command CFC, but also added significantly to de-escalation and mitigation of incidents in and around the DMZ. He also reiterated the increasing lack of knowledge on UNC and its role, thus creating ambivalent reactions within political as well as military circles in the ROK. Though based on a U.N. mandate, UNC’s legal status is ultimately to be decided by the U.S. A dissolution would automatically imply a closure of the U.S. run U.N. bases in Japan within 90 days, a decision of far-reaching consequences.
Apart from its immediate mission and tasks, UNC acquired and built upon crucial ingredients for its current roles now and in future. Out of their experience, Brigadier Cliffe from an inside and MG (ret) Gerber form an outside perspective mentioned transparency, crisis management, deterrence, consistency for more than 70 years, credibility and legitimacy as important UNC assets. With all these ingredients UNC is to play a crucial role until a comprehensive peace has finally been achieved.
The roundtable largely agreed that there are some challenges ahead in order to play this crucial role. The volatility of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and indeed the whole of NE Asia is likely to require UNC flexibility and adaptation, not least with regard to a post-OPCON transfer and even post-AA stage. UNC and the ROKUS Alliance ought to clear out misunderstandings and misperceptions on UNC towards the whole range of ROK politics and indeed population.
UNC’s unique role as important contributor if not process manager to peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula until a complete and irreversible peace is also offering the momentum in exploiting this unique setting of a multilateral coalition in East Asia as basis for an extended role as multilateral security platform well beyond the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
