Ruling party lawmaker accuses USFK chief of violating S. Korea's territorial sovereignty

Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Saturday accused the commander of US Forces Korea of infringing on South Korea's territorial sovereignty over recent remarks concerning the Military Demarcation Line.

Kim, a retired four-star Army general and member of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, called on Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of 28,500 strong USFK and the United Nations Command, to withdraw the remarks and apologize.

"His remarks directly deny the territorial sovereignty of South Korea," Kim wrote on Facebook.

His criticism came after Brunson said at a policy forum in Washington on Wednesday that fences stand about 2 kilometers north and south of the Military Demarcation Line, adding that "the Republic of Korea starts at the southern fence." The Republic of Korea is South Korea's official name.

The southern fence marks the southern boundary of the Demilitarized Zone, while the MDL runs through the middle of the buffer zone separating the two Koreas.

Kim argued that the 1953 Armistice Agreement gives the UNC authority over access to and administration of the DMZ, but does not give it the power to determine South Korea's territorial sovereignty.

"These remarks crossed the line by infringing upon South Korea's territorial sovereignty," Kim said, calling on Brunson to retract them and apologize to the South Korean public.

Under South Korea's Constitution, the country's territory is defined as the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands.

Kim previously served as deputy commander of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command from 2017 to 2019, the highest-ranking post held by a South Korean officer at the binational war-fighting command. The CFC exercises wartime operational control over designated South Korean and US forces on the Korean Peninsula. Kim retired from the Army as a four-star general in 2019.

Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the Democratic Party, who chairs the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, also criticized Brunson's remarks Friday, saying they could create "serious misunderstanding" over the extent of South Korea's sovereignty.

Jin also sought clarification over another remark by Brunson in which the general questioned how sovereignty considerations should apply to an area he had been assigned to manage.

Jin called for South Korea to consider exercising operational control of its military in both peacetime and wartime, while also urging a review of the current plan for a future combined command after the transfer of wartime operational control.