Seoul pushes road map for completing OPCON transfer as early as next year - The Korea Times

Defense Minister nominee Ahn Gyu-back, right, walks with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth before their meeting at the Pentagon in Washington, May 11. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense

The transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to the Korean military could take place as early as next year, as Seoul moves to finalize a bilateral road map this year and enter the final verification stage of the Future Combined Forces Command.

The Ministry of National Defense is seeking to complete the ongoing full operational capability (FOC) assessment this year and use the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) between the allies to establish a target year for the transfer.

Once that target year is set, the allies would move directly into the final full mission capability (FMC) verification stage, a defense ministry official said Wednesday.

The OPCON transfer process consists of three phases designed to assess the readiness of the future combined command, which would be led by a Korean four-star general: initial operational capability (IOC), FOC and FMC. The allies are currently in the FOC phase after completing an earlier IOC assessment.