Is our country, the Republic of Korea on the verge of a new dawn of darkness, a national nightmare?

To this question many of our countrymen and women feel strongly that it is. Officials have announced that the ROK-US Combined Forces Command will be disbanded on April 17, 2012. This action will certainly send a clear message to North Korea -- that the long-standing trip wire that this cooperative effort provided will be gone, that the Communist regime will realize one truth: the Republic of Korea will be more vulnerable than since North Korea carried out surprise attack our nation sixty years ago, at dawn, June 25, 1950.

This is no exaggeration. An expert on Korean security, Dr. Bruce E. Bechtole Jr., a professor of International Relations at Command and Staff College, U. S. Marine Corps, has warned that the transfer of the Wartime Operation Control to the ROK will certainly undermine our ability to defend against another attack, another war on Korean peninsular.

Dr. Bechtole further cites these disturbing figures: North Korea has advanced deployment of heavy armament and troops at or near the Demilitarized Zone. There are 600 short range ballistic missiles, multiple launch rocket systems and highly-trained special operations forces ready to pounce on our nation's people.

This concern is shared by the Korea Veterans Association, Korea Retired Generals and Admirals Association and more than 200 civic groups. Those groups have collected more than 10 million signatures of citizens who strongly oppose the abolition of the ROK-U.S Combined forces Command.

There have occasionally been encouraging signs that this decision could be reversed. Last month, Mr. Kurt M. Campbell, the undersecretary of state for Asia and the Pacific, offered a glimmer of hope that the issue could be settled through serious dialogue between the two countries.

But recent news accounts tell a different story that has made a lot of people disappointed. The President Lee, Myung-bak is known to be showing a negative attitude toward re-negotiating the deactivation of the command due to an unconfirmed counter condition such as a financial share the US government may ask for when the dialogue is initiated.

Not to mention, matters of national security always transcends financial concerns nonetheless.

If the second Korean War erupted, hundreds of thousands of U.S. military personnel could be again placed in harm's way. Therefore, we should not shamefully think that our national defense is like a bar tab, picked up casually. Much, too much, is at stake here. We in no way should believe that our national defense is someone else's responsibility; we always are deeply appreciative of assistance, especially from our long-time ally, the United States. Our national pride should remain strong, in no way should we expect to have our country defended for free.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates indicated in February before the House Armed Services Committee that the United States troops are heavily engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. troops currently stationed in Korea could be moved to other flash points in the world.

Re-activation of the command now in danger of being abolished can only be re-activated by the U.S. Congress. So how can we, as a united country, stand by while our national assembly approves only 200 soldiers for Afghanistan.

Mr. President, is there anything more crucial to our survival, our self-determination, than the potential abolishment of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command? The answer, as millions have said, a resounding "no."

How can we -- a proud and courageous people -- allow our hard-earned development, our growth, our very existence, to be a disposable item, like a rusted army jeep or airplane ready for the graveyard.

To allow such a horror, to allow this action, means that souls of our fallen heroes will one day move about our land, lamenting that the Republic of Korea could have, should have, been more deliberate in her future. By all means we must prevent our land from experiencing any unwanted catastrophe in the future.

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