Allies launch committee for OPCON transfer

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, center on left, and acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, center on right, talk during their first face-to-face meeting held at the Pentagon in Virginia, the U.S., Tuesday (KST). Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense

By Jung Da-min

The defense ministries of South Korea and the U.S. have launched a special committee to advance the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. to the South.

The Special Permanent Military Committee (SPMC), which was established in March, is led by ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Park Han-ki and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Robert Abrams, according to the Ministry of National Defense, Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said in his meeting with acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan in the U.S. that the allies launched the SPMC to evaluate the South Korean Army's core military capabilities to lead the ROK-U.S. combined defense command.

The newly launched committee is expected to accelerate the conditions-based OPCON transfer which President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to push forward with in their first summit in 2017.

The two governments have held a Permanent Military Committee (PMC) meeting on a biannual basis in Seoul since 1978, to support the annual Military Committee Meeting (MCM) held alternately in South Korea and the U.S.

The SPMC is a monthly meeting and specifically aims to facilitate talks on the OPCON transfer.

In 2006, the administrations of then-Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and George Bush first agreed on an OPCON transfer by 2012.

But the plan was delayed after the sinking of the ROK naval ship Cheonan by North Korea in 2010.

In 2014, South Korea and the U.S. under then Presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama agreed on the conditions-based OPCON transfer which has been discussed since then.

Meanwhile, Jeong and Shanahan discussed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula in their first face-to-face meeting at the Pentagon, Tuesday (KST).

The two sides also agreed to verify the ROK army's capability to take over Initial Operational Capability (IOC) to lead a combined defense later this year.

If the IOC verification goes well, Seoul's full operational and mission capabilities will be verified in the following years.

The two sides also evaluated the recent 19-1 Dong Maeng exercise that replaced the larger-scale Key Resolve command post drill as a success, saying it showed an unwavering combined readiness posture while contributing to setting conditions for the OPCON transfer.

The Sept. 19 inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), which is currently stalled due to the lack of communication from North Korea, and the ROK army's Defense Reform 2.0 military reform plan that utilizes science and technological advances were also on the agenda.

The meeting between the heads of defense ministries came ten days ahead of a South Korea-U.S. summit scheduled to take place April 11.