Candidate Lee Jong-seop: "Conditions for Transfer of Wartime Operational Control Must Be Met"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Lee Jong-seop, the nominee for Minister of National Defense, stated that certain conditions must be met for the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON). Having previously been involved in the OPCON transfer work at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lee is expected within the military to be able to accelerate the OPCON transfer process.

At the National Assembly's National Defense Committee confirmation hearing on the 4th, in response to a related question from Kim Min-gi of the Democratic Party of Korea, Lee said, "We must eventually bring wartime operational control back, and it should be brought back as soon as possible," adding, "I believe conditions must be met to bring it back at the earliest possible time."

In particular, Lee expressed his intention in a written response submitted to the National Assembly to significantly resume South Korea-U.S. joint exercises starting this year. This indicates that the verification process for the OPCON transfer can be expedited.

He mentioned, "At the level of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, we plan to practically operate the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) and strengthen regular exercises for the deployment of U.S. strategic assets."

Our military has conducted the South Korea-U.S. joint Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises annually in March-April, the South Korean solo Taeguk Exercise in June, the South Korea-U.S. joint Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) in August, and the South Korean solo live-fire defense exercises in November, preparing for a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula. However, all these exercises were discontinued in 2019.

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