President Lee Jae Myung speaks at the inaugural meeting of the Future Defense Strategy Committee held in Changwon on May 26, 2026. (pool photo)
In a meeting of the Cabinet and Korea’s Future Defense Strategy Committee on Tuesday, President Lee Jae Myung reiterated the need for Korea to swiftly recover wartime operational control (OPCON) of its military. Lee’s comments underline his determination to quickly finalize the OPCON transfer amid the current dispute between Korea and the US over its timing.Lee stressed that recovering OPCON is “a central element to defense autonomy” while pledging to complete a detailed roadmap through deliberations with the US. His comments came during the first session of the Future Defense Strategy Committee, held at Korea’s submarine command in the Jinhae District of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Tuesday.Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back presented a tentative roadmap in the committee meeting.“While the Republic of Korea has a powerful military, it’s the only one of the 190-some countries around the world without wartime OPCON,” Ahn noted.“After verifying the full operational capability [of the Korea-led joint command slated to exercise wartime OPCON after the transfer] this year, we will have an OPCON transfer date for the president to consider. That will bring us one step closer to regaining OPCON,” the defense chief said. Korea and the US have already completed the evaluation (2019) and verification (2020) of the future joint command’s initial operational capability (IOC), the first stage of the three-phase assessment framework.Evaluation of full operational capability (FOC, the second stage) was completed in 2022, and verification is supposed to take place during the two countries’ 38th Security Consultative Meeting this fall.Korea and the US’ top defense officials can then carry out the evaluation and verification of full mission capability (FMC, the final stage) and propose the transfer date to their respective presidents.Lee’s comments are noteworthy because they underscore a minor rift that has recently opened up between Korea and the US over the timing of the OPCON transfer.The Korean Defense Ministry projects that the transfer could take place as soon as late 2027 as long as there are no hitches in deliberations with the US.But Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, the commander of US Forces Korea — and, by virtue of his position, of ROK-US Combined Forces Command — suggested that the transfer might happen in the first quarter of 2029 during a hearing before the US Senate Armed Services Committee on April 22.Since last year, Brunson has commented at various public events that meeting the requirements of the OPCON transfer is more important than its timing.The Korean government maintains that the timing of the OPCON transfer amounts to a political decision by the two countries’ presidents.“The issue can be handled by the leaders themselves or in high-level dialogue held on their behalf,” Korean National Security Director Wi Sung-lac said on May 17 in an implied rebuttal of Brunson’s comments.When Ahn commented on Tuesday that “we wouldn’t have much trouble defending ourselves if we recovered wartime OPCON tomorrow,” Lee responded emphatically by saying, “Actually, we wouldn’t have any trouble at all.”“I guess a mindset of dependency still has a foothold in defense circles. The fundamental duty of the state is to defend itself through its own resources,” Lee said in his concluding remarks.By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter; Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
