U.S., Korea sign exchange of airlift agreement

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill., (USTCNS) --- A Mutual Airlift Support Agreement (MASA) between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) was signed recently. Signing for the U.S. was Gen. John Handy, and for the ROK, Gen. Han-Ho Lee, ROK Air Force chief of staff.

The MASA is a government-to-government level international agreement replacing an obsolete 1981 agreement. It has been under negotiation for several years. Gen. Handy was authorized, as the USTRANSCOM Commander, by the Department of State and the Department of Defense, to negotiate and sign the agreement on behalf the United States. Gen. Lee, signed on behalf of the ROK government at a brief ceremony at ROKAF headquarters in Daejon, ROK, on June 25, 2004. Gen Handy signed on behalf of the U.S. Government on July 6.

The original agreement (1981) gave the U.S. operational control of designated Korean Airlines aircraft in the event of hostilities on the Korean peninsula. The new agreement (2004) retains this feature, but expands the agreement to include the mutual exchange of airlift, on a reimbursable basis, provided by both the military aircraft of the parties as well as any civil aircraft under contract to the parties," said Kevin Spradling of the Chief Counsel's Office. "In other words, the new agreement allows either party to request airlift from the other, using any resource available. The old agreement was limited to the U.S. obtaining access to Korean Airlines assets."