Some analysts warn Washington's move toward a new role of U.S. forces in South Korea and disputes over financial burden sharing would further damage bilateral security ties already strained by differences over how to deal with a North Korea accused of developing nuclear weapons and counterfeiting U.S. currency. Some observers say the longtime partners are getting close to divorce.

The concern was sparked earlier this week when a senior U.S. military official floated the idea of transforming the U.S.-led U.N. forces in South Korea into a multinational coalition command.

At a Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing Tuesday, Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said the United States would seek to increase the function of participant nations in the United Nations Command in South Korea.

"It is the (U.N.) command's intent to create a truly multinational staff by expanding the roles of the member nations and integrating them more fully into our contingency and operational planning and operations," Bell said.

Seoul's defense officials on Friday downplayed Bell's comment as his personal opinion. But Bell's reMark was largely considered as a move to enhance the role of the U.N. Command that oversees the Korean armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, while scaling down the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command that has played a key role in deterring another armed conflict on the Korean peninsula.

Bell heads the U.N. Command, comprised of 16 nations, which joined forces to rescue a South Korea that was almost occupied just days after North Korea, backed by China and the Soviet Union, launched a surprise invasion on June 25, 1950.

Bell is also leading the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command that controls South Korea's 690,000 troops and 32,500 U.S. troops. Under a mutual defense treaty reached at the end of the Korean War, the United States has stationed more than 30,000 troops in the South to deter another attack by the communist North.

Since then, South Korea has heavily relied on U.S protection for its national security, while focusing its resources on rebuilding the war-torn economy, which now stands as the world's 11th biggest.

In a departure from his pro-U.S. predecessors, President Roh Moo-hyun, elected in late 2002 on a strong wave of anti-U.S. sentiment, has declared that his country would emerge from the decades-long U.S. security umbrella within the early 2010s.

Roh has said his nation would no longer be locked into the U.S.-led alliance, a decades-long security framework in Northeast Asia counterbalancing the communist alliance led by China. He has pledged to lay the groundwork for a self-defense system independent of the United States within 10 years during his five-year term that ends in early 2008.

Roh's government has also pushed to regain wartime operational control of South Korean troops. South Korea got back the peacetime operational control of its forces from the United States in 1994, but its wartime operational control still remains in the hands of a four-star U.S. army general who concurrently heads the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.

Some defense analysts express concerns that the smaller role of the U.S. military in South Korea may weaken their joint deterrence against North Korea, which has a 1.2 million-strong army.

Washington has already unveiled a plan to reshape American troops in South Korea as "rapid deployment forces" to interfere in military conflicts in Northeast Asia, under the posture of "strategic flexibility."

Under the plan, the United States would slash one-third of its 37,500 troop level by 2008. It currently keeps 32,500 troops in South Korea after having withdrawn about 5,000 soldiers in 2004.

Fueling security jitters in South Korea, Adm. William Fallon, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said Thursday he anticipates a further cut in the U.S. troop size in South Korea if it assumes a greater role in defending itself

"If that's the case, then I would expect that there will be additional negotiation regarding what role the U.S. forces play," Fallon said in an interview with South Korea's Yonhap news agency after testifying before the House Armed Services Committee.

The U.S. military also said it is looking for stronger trilateral military cooperation with South Korea and Japan as it seeks to adjust to changing security environments targeting China. This is likely to trigger frictions with Seoul, which has made clear that it would not join U.S.-led military cooperation against Beijing.

The U.S. military has also called for Seoul to pay more to maintain American forces in South Korea, saying any shortfall would compromise their combat readiness. Bell called for "a balanced defense burden sharing arrangement... fundamental to the strength of the alliance," pointing to South Korea's growing economic improvement.

South Korea and the United State remain differed over U.S. base relocation costs, estimated at about $5.5-6.8 billion.

Kim Seung-hwan, a professor at Myongji University in Seoul, said a weakened Seoul-Washington security alliance would hurt much-needed policy coordination to curb North Korea's nuclear aspirations.

"Further troubles in the South Korea-U.S. alliance would fuel uncertainties in the security conditions on the Korean peninsula," said Kim, who is now advising for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

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