South Korea and the United States are considering outlining a timeline for Washington's transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul in their annual defense ministerial talks this year, a source said Wednesday, with the year 2028 widely considered a likely target schedule.
The move comes as South Korea has been seeking to achieve the "conditions-based" handover of wartime command, currently held by the U.S., within President Lee Jae Myung's five-year term that ends in 2030.
Under the plan, both sides aim to complete the verification of Seoul's full operational capability (FOC), the second part of a three-stage program to assess its capabilities to lead the allies' combined forces, so that the result can be reviewed for approval by their defense chiefs in the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM).
Given that U.S. President Donald Trump's term is set to end in January 2029, the year 2028 is viewed as a potential timeline for Seoul's yearslong bid to retake OPCON that had been delayed due mainly to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
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