Is the Transfer of Wartime Operational Control Possible Under the Current Government?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] There is growing evaluation that the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) within the current government is virtually off the table. Although our military is urging the U.S. side to accelerate the OPCON transfer, it is difficult to verify the Full Operational Capability (FOC) of the future Combined Forces Command (CFC) necessary for the transfer.

On the 5th, the Ministry of National Defense announced, “Minister of National Defense Seo Wook urged the newly appointed ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Commander Paul LaCamera (57, General), who took office on the 2nd, to accelerate the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON).”

At the first OPCON transfer promotion evaluation meeting of this year held that day, Minister Seo emphasized, “We agreed on the need to consolidate efforts across the entire military so that the ‘condition-based OPCON transfer’ can be promoted in a timely manner while firmly maintaining the alliance’s combined defense posture.”

However, the ROK and the U.S. may show differences regarding the OPCON transfer and ROK-U.S. combined exercises. The Korean side insists that a FOC verification exercise of the future Combined Forces Command should be conducted in the second half of the year concerning the OPCON transfer, but the U.S. side emphasizes ‘meeting transfer conditions,’ making it difficult to find common ground. In particular, the U.S. side is expected to address the issue of ROK-U.S. combined exercises, which it has mentioned normal implementation of after the new government’s inauguration, so a tense standoff is anticipated.

The ROK and the U.S. plan to conduct the Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) from the 10th to the 27th of next month in the second half of this year, but outdoor field training is expected to be virtually impossible. During the first half of this year’s training, our personnel did not move to the B1 bunker within the Capital Defense Command but used the command post inside the Joint Chiefs of Staff building. This was a measure to prevent COVID-19 infection during the training period.

However, as the plan has shifted toward downsizing, the possibility that large-scale combined field training between the ROK and the U.S. will not be conducted for the fourth consecutive year since 2018 has increased. After the inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. summits in 2018, the ROK and the U.S. abolished all three major combined exercises: Key Resolve (KR, first half), Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG, second half), and the large-scale outdoor field exercise Foal Eagle (FE, FTX), and have been conducting two computer simulation exercises annually.

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