Defense Ministry's Position

"It is far from true that taking back wartime command control will require more defense budget and increase taxes,” said the Ministry of Defense today in its report titled ‘Misunderstanding regarding Regaining Wartime Operational Control and Defense Budget.’

The ministry says under the current plan, only command structure will change while keeping the military budget unchanged in the case of emergency so the move is unlikely to incur an additional defense budget.

But some point out if Korea becomes fully responsible for wartime command control between 2009 and 2012, a bit earlier than originally planned, the military might need more budgets to increase deterrent power against North Korea.