Regarding the transfer of wartime operational control, Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun said on the 27th, "Through negotiations, the distance on all these issues is significantly narrowing, and that is why I believe that things will go in the direction our government wants."
On this day, during the comprehensive audit of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Minister Cho was asked by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, "Will you proceed with the wartime operational control transfer schedule promoted by the South Korean government even if the United States does not agree with it?" and responded as follows.
He said, “I believe (the United States) will agree,” and “We will negotiate to that conclusion and obtain consent.”
He then emphasized, “There is almost no difference in the positions on the transfer of wartime operational control between Korea and the United States.”
In addition, when asked whether it was premised on maintaining the status quo of U.S. forces stationed in Korea or pursuing the transfer of wartime operational control by risking the reduction or withdrawal of U.S. forces stationed in Korea, the response was "definitely not the latter."
In response to a question from People's Power Party lawmaker Song Seok-joon about how he was discussing wartime operational control with the U.S., Minister Cho explained that the discussion took place during the recent ROK-U.S. foreign ministers' meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
He said, “There was such a discussion during my last meeting with Secretary Rubio, and I also discussed it with Deputy Secretary of War Elbridge Colby when I went to Washington, D.C. at the time.”
He continued, “The position is that we want to communicate more closely between the defense authorities, but I heard that in that communication, there is a convergence in terms of timing and content.”
When asked whether he believed the conditions for OPCON transfer had been met, he responded, “Our military authorities see that and are rushing to transfer OPCON.”
In response to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Geon's question about whether restrictions on information sharing between South Korea and the United States on North Korea have been lifted, Minister Cho avoided giving a direct answer, saying, "I heard that there are good discussions between intelligence agencies."
He added, “I don’t know how long the information restriction was and when it was lifted because it is information.”
Also, when Rep. Kwon Young-se of the People Power Party asked whether the National Intelligence Service's visit to the United States had been rejected, he responded, "I understand that the visit was not rejected and that there were various misunderstandings."
At the same time, it was revealed that during the process of discussing the visit, it was explained that the visit could not take place due to various reasons, including personnel changes in the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and war.
Minister Cho announced that he would directly discuss with high-ranking officials in the United States the issue of Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Chung Cheong-rae's attempt to obtain a visa to the United States for inspection at the Korean Embassy in the United States, but ultimately failed to travel to the United States due to delays in issuance.
At the National Assembly inspection that day, when Democratic Party lawmaker Hong Ki-won said, “There is a possibility that high-ranking officials at the U.S. State Department are unaware of this issue,” Minister Cho said, “I am planning to go to the U.S. the day after tomorrow and meet with Secretary Rubio,” and added, “I will raise the issue then as well.”
Minister Cho is scheduled to visit Atlanta, USA, to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting from the 29th to the 2nd of next month, and a meeting with Secretary Rubio is being coordinated.
Minister Cho also raised this issue directly with the U.S. Embassy in Korea on the 8th, when Rep. Chung's visa issue was first made public, and said, "If the Minister of Foreign Affairs directly brought up this issue (to the embassy), I think he raised it quite strongly."
He said, "But it's hard to call it a policy when it comes to visas in the United States. The measures regarding visas are a bit confusing. They say they don't know why and can't do anything about it," and added, "If you look at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and its practices, there are many things that go beyond common sense."
Minister Cho also said, "The U.S. government lacks consistency in policy, and sometimes it creates a somewhat confusing situation. In such cases, we are communicating closely with the U.S. at each level and managing it well to ensure that the ROK-U.S. alliance does not falter."
In response to Rep. Kim Dae-sik of the People's Power Party pointing out that there were no photos related to the ROK-U.S. summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month on the U.S. White House website, Minister Cho said, "Last week, our director directly (requested the U.S. to post photos)."
