[Editorial] New Standards? Move Quickly to Finalize OPCON Transfer Roadmap

U.S. Forces Korea Commander Xavier Brunson speaks at a seminar hosted by the U.S. think tank Gold Institute for International Strategy on the 14th (local time). Yonhap News Agency

U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson made noteworthy remarks at a seminar hosted by the Gold Institute for International Strategy in Washington, D.C., on October 14 (local time). Regarding the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON), he said, "The conditions for the OPCON transfer agreed upon by South Korea and the United States have changed. There are new standards that must be met." He did not specify what the "new standards" were, but they appear to refer to developments such as North Korea's increasingly advanced nuclear capabilities. Gen. Brunson has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the OPCON transfer and signaled that its timing should be delayed.

The government had planned to complete this year the second phase of the OPCON transfer process, the Full Operational Capability (FOC) assessment, after completing the first phase, the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) assessment. However, a delay now appears unavoidable, as Gen. Brunson is the head of the FOC assessment team. If matters proceed this way, plans for the defense ministers of the two countries to decide on an OPCON transfer roadmap at the Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), scheduled to be held this year, and recommend it to their respective leaders will also become uncertain. South Korea and the United States have pursued the transfer step by step under the "Conditions-based OPCON Transition Plan," signed in November 2015 by then-South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. President Lee Jae-myung has also set a goal of reclaiming OPCON by 2028, during U.S. President Donald Trump's term, saying in his Armed Forces Day address on October 1 that "we will realize our dream of independent national defense through the recovery of OPCON."

There is talk within the Defense Ministry that the conditions agreed upon in 2015 have already been met, but that the United States continues to add new conditions. This apparent frustration may be reflected in remarks by a Defense Ministry spokesperson, who said, while emphasizing that it was a personal opinion, "If the goalposts keep moving, the OPCON transfer will never happen." Under Gen. Brunson's reasoning, the conditions could change again at any time. If that position is accepted as is, the recovery of OPCON could effectively be off the table.

It is true that the security environment on the Korean Peninsula has changed significantly, with North Korea's nuclear capabilities advancing and its military cooperation with Russia deepening. However, if trust between South Korea and the United States is strong, change alone cannot be a reason to delay the OPCON transfer. The government needs to finalize the conditions, roadmap, and schedule for the transfer through discussions at the military level, between the defense ministers, and ultimately between the two leaders.

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