Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has asked South Korea to pony up more for US forces on the peninsula as Seoul pushes for greater control in a new command relationship. The Korea Times reports that Rumsfeld wrote in a letter to South Korean officials that Seoul should shoulder an “equitable” portion of the country’s defense. Rumsfeld also noted that the US would prefer to shift operational control by 2009, but Seoul wants to wait until 2012.
Congress is getting closer to saving the E-7 Wedgetail from the Pentagon chopping block, with the House of Representatives preparing to pass the presumptive final version of the National Defense Authorization bill this week.
