杜朝平
By Du Zhaoping
美韩2021年度夏季联合军演日前落幕，韩方原计划演练的战时作战指挥权接收能力课目未能实施，这意味着韩国短期内收回战时指挥权的希望再次破灭。
The US-ROK joint summertime military exercise 2021 recently wrapped up, but the wartime combat command handover that the ROK planned to exercise didn’t take place, indicating that the ROK’s hope of retracting wartime command soon once again burst into bubbles.
联演未练相关课目
Wartime command handover canceled during the exercise
8月16日至26日，美韩2021年度夏季联合军演在周边国家的一片反对声中举行。此次演习主要以电脑模拟方式进行，目的是检验美韩双方应对潜在突发事件进行防御和组织反击的能力。
From August 16 to 26, the US and ROK held their joint summertime military exercise amid a wave of objections from surrounding countries. The exercise, mainly carried out in the form of computer simulation, was aimed to check the two militaries’ ability to organize defense and counterattack in the event of potential emergencies.
演习前，韩国媒体曾披露，此次演习与以往最大的不同是，美韩商定，此次演习将验证由韩军将领担任指挥官、美军将领担任副指挥官的未来联合司令部是否具备完全作战能力。韩国执政党共同民主党党首宋永吉也表示，美国从阿富汗撤军凸显出韩国需要迅速从美国获得战时作战指挥权的必要性，“我们必须以阿富汗危机为契机，通过移交战时指挥权加强自卫能力”。然而，演习并未按计划进行验证课目的演练，该课目演练推迟至明年进行。
Before the exercise kicked off, ROK media revealed that it differed from previous ones because the two sides had agreed to verify whether their future combined command, where an ROK military official will be commander and a US military official deputy commander, was capable of full-scale operation. Song Young-gil, leader of the ruling party Minjoo Party of the ROK, said Washington’s hurried pullout from Afghanistan underscored the necessity of ROK quickly retracting the wartime combat command from the US, saying “we have to take the Afghan crisis as an opportunity to enhance our self-defense capability through the handover”. However, the exercise did not carry out that subject as planned, which was postponed till the next year.
此前，韩国再三要求演练战时指挥权移交所需的完全作战能力，美国一再拒绝。2020年8月的美韩联合军演中，韩军计划在演习中完成对收回战时作战指挥权后美韩未来联合司令部完全作战能力的评估，美国以“疫情下难以调遣兵力”为由对该评估工作持消极态度，只进行“预备评估”。今年3月韩美举行上半年春季联合军演，韩方再次希望验证该能力，美方故技重施，以疫情为由再次拒绝。
Previously, ROK has repeatedly demanded exercising the full-scale operation capability required for the handover of wartime command but was also repeatedly rejected by the US. During their joint exercise in August 2020, the ROK military planned to evaluate the operating capability of the future combined command that would be formed after it retracted the wartime command, but the US side was passive about the request and only agreed to “preliminary evaluation” on the excuse of the difficulty in deploying troops during the pandemic. During their joint spring exercise in March this year, ROK once again requested verifying the capability, which was again rejected by the US on the same excuse.
“收权”之路充满艰辛
A thorny road of command retraction
自朝鲜战争以来，韩军指挥权一直掌握在美国手中。随着韩军实力的增强，韩国多次努力试图收回作战指挥权。1994年，韩国收回平时指挥权，但战时指挥权一直被美国牢牢攥住。文在寅2017年就任总统后出台“国防改革2.0”方案，大幅增加国防支出，推动国防自主，强调建立以自主国防力量为基础的韩美联合防御态势，多次向美方表示希望能在2022年5月任期结束前完成“收权”。
The command of ROK troops is in the hands of the US ever since the Korean War. As the military has grown in strength, the ROK has tried many times to retract the command, and did take back the peacetime command in 1994, but the wartime command is still firmly seized by the US. After Moon Jae-in took office in 2017, he rolled out the “National Defense Reform 2.0” to significantly increase defense expenditure and push for defense independence, aiming to establish an ROK-US joint defense front based on independent defense forces. He has also repeatedly expressed to the US side his wish to retract the wartime command before his term expires in May 2022.
由于没有战时指挥权，韩军包括作战计划、军事演习等所有军事行动都由美国做主。更重要的是，战时韩军必须听从驻韩美军调遣，甚至韩国政府在重大军政决策上都不得不对美国言听计从。
Without the wartime command, the ROK troops have to follow US orders in all military operations, including combat plans and exercises. More importantly, they are deployed by US troops stationed in ROK during wartime. Even the ROK government dares not say no to Washington on its major military and political decisions.
根据韩美间达成的协议，实现作战指挥权移交应满足韩军具备主导联合作战能力、韩国能够应对核导弹袭击、朝鲜半岛及地区安全环境有利等诸多条件。不难看出，这些条件都无法量化，是否具备、如何衡量，几乎都是美国说了算。因此，只要战时指挥权对美国控制韩国有利、对美国介入半岛事务有用、对美国在东亚地区进行“大国竞争”有益，美国就不会轻易放弃，韩国“收权”之路仍很漫长。
According to their agreement, a series of conditions have to be met before the wartime command can be handed over, including the ROK military being capable of commanding combined operations, coping with nuclear missile attacks, and the Korean Peninsula and region in a favorable security environment. These conditions are hard to quantify, so it all depends on what the US says. Therefore, as long as having the wartime command is good for the US to control ROK, interfere in the peninsular affairs, and engage in “major-power competition” in East Asia, it won’t easily give it up. There is a long way to go before the ROK can take back its wartime command.
