SEOUL, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea has called for a review of the command of the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
Gen. Burwell Bell, who has led the U.S. forces and the United Nations Command since Feb. 2006, said that the command structure for the troops monitoring the DMZ should be examined to ensure that the chain of command is prepared to respond to potential border disruptions, the Voice of America reported Thursday.
"We must organize ourselves so we have unity in our chain of command: from armistice, through crisis escalation, and into war -- should war break out," he said.
The U.N. Command is tasked with monitoring the adherence to the 1953 armistice that brought an end to the Korean War.
Under present agreements, Gen. Bell would command South Korean forces if war broke out with the North.
However, the United States is currently arranging to meet the request by the South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun for wartime control of South Korean forces to be returned to Seoul by 2012.
Bell cautioned that the U.N's inability to automatically call on South Korean troops after the hand-over will diminish the effect of deterrence.
"Unless addressed, this situation will make it impossible to credibly maintain the armistice," the general said.
Given the height of tensions between the two countries, even small incidents on the Korean peninsula could, in Bell's words, "almost instantaneously" escalate into war, the VOA reported. Therefore, it was imperative that all chains of command dealing with the Korean situation be examined, Bell said.
