Seoul: South Korea remains in close talks with the United States over the wartime operational control (OPCON) transition, a defense ministry official said Friday, following a U.S. Senate bill signaling tighter congressional oversight.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the U.S. Senate has proposed a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act to require the U.S. defense secretary to provide regular reports to Congress on a roadmap for Washington's OPCON transfer to Seoul. This development comes amid what appears to be a widening gap between Seoul and Washington over the timeline of the OPCON transfer. Seoul is aiming to retake wartime command from its ally before President Lee Jae Myung's term concludes in 2030, or possibly even earlier, before U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office in January 2029.
U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson previously submitted a roadmap aimed at meeting the conditions for the OPCON transition by the first quarter of 2029. 'South Korea and the U.S. remain in close talks on the OPCON transfer, based on the shared understanding that the transition will further bolster our combined defense posture on the Korean Peninsula,' a defense ministry official stated. The official added that South Korea has been actively communicating its position to the U.S. Congress and will continue to do so, declining to comment further as the legislation is still under discussion.
The bill requires the Pentagon chief to submit a report on the roadmap for the conditions-based OPCON transition to relevant committees of Congress every 90 days, starting no later than March 1 of next year, through 2030. The report should include assessments by the U.S. Pacific Command commander and the USFK commander on the conditions that must be achieved before the OPCON transition, as agreed upon by both sides in 2018.
This move would effectively provide a regular platform for the USFK commander to weigh in with Congress, who has used his nuanced remarks to signal concern over Seoul's apparent rush to fast-track the transition. Under the three-stage OPCON transition process, the allies are undergoing the second phase to verify the combined forces' "full operational capability" (FOC) required for the transfer. South Korea aims to complete the FOC certification and set the target year for the OPCON transition by this fall, during the key bilateral security meeting between the top defense chiefs.
Following a meeting with U.S. lawmakers at last month's Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back stated that he had requested bipartisan support for the OPCON transition. "I fully briefed (the lawmakers) on our capabilities, including the fact that South Korea and the U.S. have agreed that 94 percent of the OPCON transfer conditions have been met," Ahn informed reporters in Singapore.