Kim Byeong-ju, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, must apologize for violating South Korea's territorial sovereignty (comprehensive)

Demanding Brunson withdraw his ‘statement about the southern limit of the territory’… “Korean territory is not under the jurisdiction of foreign powers.”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Pyeong-cheon = On the 17th, Rep. Kim Byeong-ju of the Democratic Party of Korea, special adviser to the President on defense policy, shared on social media the statement made by Brunson, commander of the US Forces in Korea, saying, "The Republic of Korea begins at the southern barbed wire fence," and criticized it as "a remark that crossed the line and violated the territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Korea."

Rep. Kim wrote on Facebook that day, “Commander Brunson should immediately withdraw his remarks that violated sovereignty and apologize to the people of the Republic of Korea.”

Previously, Commander Brunson, who also serves as Commander of the United Nations Command, was reported to have said at a seminar hosted by the Gold International Strategic Studies Institute, a U.S. think tank held in Washington, D.C. on the 14th, that "From the perspective of the United Nations Command, the Republic of Korea starts from the southern barbed wire fence."

Rep. Kim said, “The authority granted to the UNC by the Armistice Agreement is limited to permission to enter the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and civil administration,” and added, “There is no authority to even determine the territorial sovereignty of the sovereign nation of the Republic of Korea.”

He emphasized, "The territory of the Republic of Korea cannot be under the jurisdiction of any foreign power, and it is our territory under the sovereignty of the Republic of Korea."

Rep. Jin Seong-jun of the Democratic Party, chairman of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, also said on Facebook, "It runs counter to our Constitution, which defines the territory of the Republic of Korea as the Korean Peninsula and its annexed islands. We must correct the UN commander's perception of denying the territorial sovereignty of the Republic of Korea."

Meanwhile, Democratic Party floor spokesperson Kim Seong-hoe met with reporters at the National Assembly on this day and responded to Commander Brunson's mention of changes in the conditions for the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON), saying, "There is no change in our basic position that the conditions must be quickly met and converted. We will cooperate with the Ministry of Defense and work hard to ensure that the conditions for the (transition) are well met."