Seoul, Washington to carry out drill led by ROK forces

By Lee Min-hyung

Gen. Robert Abrams, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander

South Korea and the United States will carry out a joint exercise this August to ensure that the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of forces here to the Korean military will progress smoothly, sources said Tuesday.

The drill, which will be led by a South Korean four-star general, is designed to test Seoul's initial operational capability (IOC) in a time of war.

Expectations are that the South will be able to speed up its plan for the OPCON transfer if the exercise is completed successfully. Seoul hopes to finish the takeover before President Moon Jae-in's tenure ends in 2022.

Against this backdrop, the upcoming IOC verification will serve as a critical juncture for the South to continue pushing for a swift transfer of OPCON, officials said.

This will mark the first time for the allies to test the South's operational capability through military drills. Military authorities of the two allies will verify the drill while conducting a joint command post exercise slated for the same month.

“The upcoming IOC assessment is the de facto first step for the South to speed up OPCON transfer,” a government official said.

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Robert Abrams confirmed the drill during a recent symposium in Hawaii, saying a South Korean four-star general will be in charge of the operation to test the capabilities of its troops with a focus on crisis response in the case of an emergency.

The government hopes to finish the IOC verification in a timely manner, in preparation for taking full wartime operational control of its troops. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the USFK plan to report the result of the IOC assessment to the allies' Military Committee Meeting in October.

Seoul and Washington have yet to reach a consensus on the exact timeline for the planned OPCON transfer.

But military chiefs agreed on an earlier and stable transfer of OPCON from Washington to Seoul at their annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) last November.

At that time, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and his then-U.S. counterpart Jim Mattis said they agreed to verify the South's IOC this year, as the first step to test Seoul's capability in leading its troops in war.

The government aims to achieve full operational capability (FOC) by the end of next year. In 2021, it also aims to pass the full mission capability (FMC).

But it remains to be seen whether the government will be able to pass all the procedures as planned, in consideration of uncertain defense circumstances here and abroad, such as North Korea's military provocations.

Until the end of last year, the allies were not on bad terms with Pyongyang, holding a series of dialogues and summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

But with U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim failing to reach a consensus during their second summit last February, the North resumed to its bellicose past by launching missiles into the sea off its eastern coast.