South Korea, U.S. Agree to Deepen Cooperation Amid OPCON Transfer Differences

By Kim Seung-yeon SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States have agreed to deepen cooperation to achieve "shared security goals," the defense ministry said Thursday, amid the allies' apparent different views over the timeline of Seoul retaking wartime command from Washington. Both sides reached the understanding following the two-day Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) in Washington on Wednesday (U.S. time), according to the ministry. The meeting came as the allies appear to show different perspectives over when South Korea will retake wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S., a key defense goal under the Lee Jae Myung administration. At the meeting, the allies assessed the overall defense cooperation and exchanged views on ways to enhance a combined defense posture, according to a joint statement released by the Pentagon. Assessing the KIDD as laying a foundation for "practical cooperation" to solidify the decadeslong alliance, both sides "looked forward to further deepening cooperation to achieve shared security goals on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific region," it noted. The two sides also agreed to "actively" seek cooperation to implement defense-related commitments listed in a joint summit agreement document adopted last year, it said. Leading the meeting were Kim Hong-cheol, deputy defense minister for policy, and John Noh, U.S. assistant secretary of war for Indo-Pacific security affairs. The KIDD meeting serves as a key platform for OPCON transfer talks, but discussions about the OPCON transition were not included in the joint statement. Last month, U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Xavier Brunson told Congress that the two countries seek to meet conditions required for the transfer no later than the first quarter of 2029. Seoul seeks to retake wartime command within President Lee's five-year term that ends in 2030 amid speculation that it is targeting the OPCON transfer in 2028. In a speech to a military conference in Hawaii on Wednesday, Brunson said he was concerned by "the potential to be driven to do something that we are not ready for," as he spoke about the security of his host country. Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, who was in Washington earlier this week for talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, acknowledged "some differences" in the U.S. position, without elaborating. At the allies' defense ministers' meeting last year, they agreed to finalize the target year for the OPCON transfer. The two sides likely discussed Seoul's push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, one of the key provisions outlined in the joint fact sheet, although they were not specifically mentioned in the joint readout. They may have also addressed the issue of the Lee government seeking civilian access control over parts of the military buffer zone bordering North Korea, which currently fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S.-led U.N. Command, Launched in 2011, KIDD is a comprehensive senior-level defense meeting between the allies. The previous KIDD meeting was held in September last year.