Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
USFK commander questions S.Korea's OPCON takeover schedule, saying readiness comes first
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson speaks during a press conference at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 8. Courtesy of USFK
By Lee Hyo-jin
Handover timeline must align with contemporary conditions, Brunson says
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson on Friday urged caution as Seoul moves to accelerate its recovery of wartime operational control (OPCON), suggesting the readiness hurdles may be steeper than the Lee Jae Myung administration envisions.
Brunson, who leads the 28,500-strong USFK as well as the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) and the U.N. Command, offered a cautious view as the Lee administration pushes to accelerate discussions on the OPCON transition, with the goal of completing it within Lee's five-year term that ends in 2030.
"I know that, right now, President Lee says he wants to do this during his term of office. We know the start point and we know the end point, so we've got to meet the conditions in that time, but we've also got to be willing to say 'We can't get there from here,'" Brunson said during a webinar co-organized by the Korea Defense Veterans Association and the Korea-U.S. Alliance Forum.
"We cannot say we're going to slide away from the conditions, just so that we can get this done in time," he added.
"The conditions were written for a reason, but we also have to make sure that those conditions are contemporary conditions, because things change. That is, when the conditions were laid out, we had a plan. We now have a new plan. What is going to be required to meet the new plan? That's where your standards start.”
The general added that "we have to make sure that in the transition, we don't become weaker, we become stronger."
Under the current arrangement, Korea commands its forces in peacetime, while wartime operational authority is held by the U.S.-led CFC, a structure dating back to the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Seoul and Washington have been working toward a conditions-based transition, which requires Korea to demonstrate its ability to lead the combined command, strengthen its strike and air defense capabilities, and ensure a security environment conducive to the handover.
Talks have accelerated as the Lee government vowed to complete the long-delayed transition by 2030. In a defense ministerial meeting in November, the two sides agreed to develop a road map designed to expedite the process.
Korean and U.S. troops build a floating bridge during a joint river-crossing exercise at a training site along the Namhan River in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, Nov. 20. Yonhap
Meanwhile, the USFK commander suggested that while the U.S. maintains a baseline of 28,500 troops on the Korean Peninsula, the more pressing question is whether those forces are structured appropriately for modern, multidomain warfare.
"The land domain is what we typically fall back on, and we look to resource the land domain without considering those other domains, cyber, electronic warfare, space, air and maritime. How we engage in those in for the sake of one domain — maritime, for example — we could cast off or eschew the others to our own detriment," Brunson said.
His remarks come amid speculation that Washington may look to strengthen the air and naval assets of troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula as it sharpens its focus on deterring China and prepares for potential contingencies in the Taiwan Strait.
Addressing what modernization of the Korea-U.S. alliance entails, Brunson said, "Modernization of the alliance isn't just the way that we act on the ground, it's also how we organize ourselves to deal with the realities that we're faced with every day."
The alliance modernization concept, first proposed after the Donald Trump administration took office in January, aims to reshape the alliance to better respond to the broader security landscape across the Indo-Pacific region. The approach has included discussions about a revised role for USFK and greater burden sharing by Seoul in its own defense.