Page 380 - 2018 Defense White Paper

the ROK and facilitate mutual cooperation for their respective security interests. The SCM has served as a
forum to discuss the future of the Alliance by providing strategic direction, set forth in documents such as
the “Joint Vision for ROK-U.S. Alliance (2006),” “Guidelines for ROK-U.S. Defense Cooperation (2010),” and
the “U.S.-ROK Tailored Deterrence Strategy (2013).” Such efforts have helped shape a relationship built on
mutual trust and shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

The SCM builds independent operational capabilities of the ROK armed forces and mutual defense
capabilities of the Alliance. In the 1970s, the U.S. provision of support for small arms factory construction
in Korea and of foreign military sales loans laid the groundwork for the ROK military’s modernization and
capacity-building for independent defense capabilities. During the 1980s and 1990s, the two nations
produced more tangible results at the SCM as they signed the “Mutual Logistics Support Agreement”
and agreed to expand their defense industry cooperation, strengthening alliance sustainment capabilities
and giving a significant push for the development of the ROK defense industry and defense science and
technology. In the past two decades, much of the SCM’s efforts have been focused on strengthening
the ROK’s independent capabilities as well as the Alliance’s response capabilities. In particular, the SCM
provided the necessary momentum for key policy decisions on operational control (OPCON) transition and
its implementation. In 1994, armistice operational control of forces was successfully transferred back to the
ROK, and the Alliance has since focused its efforts on attaining relevant preconditions for wartime OPCON
transition.

The SCM has helped deepen and expand the level of cooperation between ROK and U.S. forces.
The SCM is a key forum that strengthens bilateral cooperation and a concerted international response to
counter global security threats. Some of the efforts include counter terrorism, United Nations Peace Keeping
Operations, stabilization and reconstruction, counter piracy operations, and humanitarian assistance and
disaster relief. Moreover, the SCM helps extend bilateral cooperation in newly emerging security areas,
including cyber and space. To strengthen the Alliance’s comprehensive security capabilities, the SCM
oversees future-oriented cooperation in diverse areas ranging from defense science and technology to
defense industry and technology protection.

In the past 50 years, the SCM has grown into the symbol of the ROK-U.S. Alliance; an irreplaceable
consultative mechanism that has ensured security on the Korean Peninsula. With the SCM at the center
of the Alliance effort, we are able to wisely manage any emerging security challenge. Today, the security
environment on the Korean Peninsula, the Asia Pacific region, and around the globe faces a turning point. We
live in a volatile security environment which is why the SCM and the ROK-U.S. Alliance are more important

378 Appendix