Roh’s position on wartime control of the CFC brought the ire of 13 former ROK Defense Ministers in August, and just over a month later 160 former senior diplomats have come forward to add their protests. From the Joongang Ilbo, Diplomats join transfer protest:

In what seems to be turning into a full-scale revolt against the Roh administration’s military policies, a group of former diplomats, including three one-time foreign ministers, have issued a statement opposing the return of wartime control of Korean troops to Seoul.

A group of former police chiefs also joined the ranks of transfer foes. President Roh Moo-hyun has championed the change as the redress of a slight to Korean sovereignty.

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The former diplomats who issued the statement, 160 strong, have all served as ambassadors or in the ministry’s senior positions…

Gong Ro-myung, a foreign minister in the Kim Young-sam administration, said yesterday that President Roh was “viewing international politics with ideology rather than reality.” He continued, “Wartime control is a matter of efficiency and has nothing to do with self-reliance or sovereignty.”

Yesterday, Foreign Ministry officials seemed loath to comment on the action of their former colleagues, although some called it “unprecedented.” But one official there, asking for anonymity, said, “The arrow has already left the bow. At this point, it’s best to try coming up with a way to implement the transfer in a way that best serves the national interest.”

The ministry officially responded to the “diplomatic protest” by dismissing the concerns raised by the group, reiterating that the negotiations with Washington were based on the common goal of defending South Korea. The statement, however, did not direct any barbs directly at the signers. That was a contrast to the Defense Ministry’s reaction to a protest by a group of its former heads. Yoon Kwang-ung, the incumbent minister, said his predecessors were out of touch with current realities and had no sense of this country’s defense capabilities.

Also yesterday, Mr. Yoon again faced a grilling by Grand National lawmakers at the National Assembly, and several Uri colleagues also said they were worried. An Uri lawmaker, Cho Sung-tae, said, “If a sudden change in the North occured and was linked with China’s ambitions toward the old Manchurian area ― with the South Korea-U.S. defense alliance broken, I am concerned about what South Korean forces could do on their own.”

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