US-ROK Joint Exercises End Today... Has the Transfer of Wartime Operational Control Been Verified?

It has been reported that South Korea and the United States will begin joint military exercises starting on the 5th. The photo shows a US 2nd Infantry Division M1A2 SEP tank crossing a pontoon bridge during the South Korea-US joint river crossing operation training held at the Hantan River in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province, in December 2015.

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Although the ROK-US joint military exercises conclude on the 28th, there are criticisms that the verification process for the wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer is only a half-measure. Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), reinforcements from the U.S. mainland as well as personnel from the Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Forces Japan were unable to enter South Korea.

According to the military on this day, the exercise was originally scheduled for the 16th but started on the 18th due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The latter phase of the Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) was conducted in two parts: Phase 1 Defense (18?22) and Phase 2 Counterattack and Debriefing (24?28).

The core of this exercise was the verification of the OPCON transfer. The full operational capability (FOC) of the future Combined Forces Command, which will exercise the returned OPCON, was supposed to be verified, but the verification process reportedly did not proceed according to the normal schedule.

The military authorities plan to re-verify during the joint exercises in the first half of next year, but if the COVID-19 situation does not improve, it is uncertain whether normal verification can be guaranteed even in the first half of next year. Some speculate that the OPCON transfer, which was a campaign pledge of President Moon Jae-in, may be difficult to achieve within this administration.

The government initially pledged to transfer OPCON "within the term, by 2022," but later allowed flexibility by stating "early implementation," while still showing a strong will to reclaim it within the term if possible.

The Combined Command Post Training is an annual defensive exercise that assumes provocations by North Korea and practices ROK-US response procedures. This exercise reportedly focused more on checking the combined defense posture to maintain and enhance the "Fight Tonight" (constant combat readiness) capability, as emphasized by General Robert Abrams, Commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea.

Although conducted via computer simulation, the exercise was scaled down in size and content compared to previous years due to reduced personnel and the omission of night training caused by COVID-19. To prevent COVID-19 infections among exercise participants, the military formed a "COVID-19 Safety Training Control Task Force (TF)" that established and thoroughly implemented detailed quarantine plans before the exercise began. The TF, composed of about 50 members, operated quarantine teams and on-site inspection teams during the exercise. Although a COVID-19 case was confirmed in the ROK Army’s 1st Corps participating in the joint exercise, the individual was not part of the exercise personnel, so the exercise proceeded normally.

On the day before the exercise started, the U.S. deployed six bombers?four B-1B strategic bombers and two B-2 Spirit stealth bombers?over the Korea Strait and near Japan to send warning messages to North Korea and China. The North Korean military reduced the scale of its summer training to recover from damage caused by heavy rains and did not conduct any special military actions that would raise tensions with the ROK-US military authorities during the exercise period. However, through propaganda media, it urged the suspension of the exercise, claiming it could provoke a war crisis.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.