SEOUL, April 15: South Korea said on Friday it had vetoed a joint US and South Korean combined forces plan for armed intervention in North Korea in the event of instability there. The country’s National Security Council said it had ordered the classified plan to be scrapped because it could infringe on South Korean sovereignty.

Under a bilateral treaty, the South Korean military comes under US command only in times of war.

Analysts said the US military may have wanted control of South Korean forces to handle massive disruption envisaged by the potential collapse of impoverished North Korea which has been in a standoff with the outside world for more than two years over its nuclear weapons drive.

The goal of the top secret military operation, codenamed 5029, would be to secure North Korea’s nuclear weapons sites and materials, they said.

In a statement from the nation’s top decision-making body on security matters, the NSC said it had killed off the plan earlier this year.

“After receiving a report in December 2004 from the joint chiefs of staff that the combined forces command has been working on Operation Plan 5029, the NSC, along with related government agencies, studied its contents,” the statement said.

“After reviewing it, the NSC determined that some points in the plan could serve as factors limiting South Korea’s exercise of its sovereignty...

“In January 2005, the NSC’s standing committee concluded that it is necessary to stop the promotion of the operation plan. The defence ministry, then, notified the Combined Forces Command of its decision.”

The US military declined to discuss the statement issued by the NSC.

“As a matter of policy, the United States does not discuss matters relating to operational plans, or the existence or non-existence of particular operational plans,” it said.

“All questions regarding policy statements or positions from the ROK (Republic of Korea) National Security Council should be addressed directly to them.”—AFP