U.S., South Korea Aim to Complete OPCON Transfer Conditions by Q1 2029

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States aim to meet conditions required for the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul no later than the first quarter of 2029, the top U.S. general in the Asian country said Wednesday.

Brunson made the remarks during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's administration seeks to retake wartime OPCON from the U.S. before its five-year term ends in 2030.

Seoul and Washington are working on the "conditions-based" OPCON transition. The conditions include South Korea's capabilities to lead combined Korea-U.S. forces, its strike and air defense capabilities, and a regional security environment conducive to such a handover.

"I would say that right now, we've delivered to OSW a roadmap which will get us there not later than second quarter of FY 29 and we'll continue to pursue that," he said. OSW is short for the office of secretary of war.

As fiscal year 2029 runs from Oct. 1, 2028 through Sept. 30, 2029 in the U.S., Brunson indicated that the allies seek to finish satisfying the OPCON transition conditions between January and March 2029.

Still, the general stressed the importance of meeting all conditions for the transition.

"We will continue to press for the conditions-based OPCON transfer and ensure that all the conditions are met," he said.

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing the previous day, Brunson said that "political expediency does not outpace the conditions" for the transfer, in a renewed emphasis on the need for the allies to satisfy all military requirements for the handover.

Brunson said that Seoul and Washington plan to discuss the transfer conditions when they hold their key high-level meetings, such as the upcoming Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue, and the ministerial Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) set to take place in Washington in early fall.

He also said that the allies are in a "good" position for the OPCON transfer, citing South Korea's defense investments and plans to increase its military spending.

"I think that right now, where we stand based on the continued investments by the Republic of Korea and their defense ... really an uplift of about 8.5 percent in their defense spending over the next three fiscal years, I think that we're in a good position, he said. "But there's still more work to be done."

During the SCM in November, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth agreed to develop a roadmap designed to "expedite" the implementation of conditions for the transfer.

Should the transfer occur, a four-star South Korean general will lead the allies' combined forces in wartime with a four-star U.S. general playing a supporting role.

OPCON fell into U.S. hands when South Korean President Syngman Rhee wrote a letter to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of the U.S.-led U.N. Command, on July 14, 1950, during the Korean War to relinquish "command authority" over all South Korean troops "as long as the current hostile situation lasts."

Command authority, a term more comprehensive than operational control, was changed to operational control when Seoul and Washington signed the "Agreed Minute Relating to Continued Cooperation in Economic and Military Matters" -- a document meant to cement the alliance treaty and reaffirm U.S. possession of the control.

South Korea retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but the U.S. still holds wartime OPCON.

In 2007, the two countries first agreed to transfer OPCON to South Korea on April 17, 2012 -- the reverse of July 14, the date when Seoul handed over its "command authority" to U.N. Command.

But the two countries decided in 2010 to postpone the transfer to Dec. 1, 2015, because North Korean threats escalated as seen in its torpedoing of a South Korean warship that year and its continued weapons tests.

In 2014, they changed the transfer plan and agreed to a conditions-based transition without setting a specific target date.

The OPCON transition process has gained renewed attention in recent months as it has been proceeding alongside the two countries' efforts to "modernize" their alliance amid the Trump administration's calls for allies to increase "burden sharing" and take greater security responsibilities.