ROK-US joint drills go adrift amid pandemic

Defense Minister Jeong Kyung-doo and his U.S. counterpart Mark Esper / Korea Times file

Top military chiefs do not discuss USFK reduction

By Kang Seung-woo

Korea and the United States have been struggling to decide when to start their joint military exercises out of concern that the mass participation of troops could further spread COVID-19.

This hesitation is fueling speculation that the transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) of Korean troops from Washington to Seoul may be pushed back even further.

The coronavirus pandemic caused the scrapping of annual drills that were to be held in the first half of the year due to a surge in infections here. While the allies had planned to hold a theater-level combined exercise in August, the virus situation in the U.S. is now getting serious, making it difficult for the two countries to decide on the number of participants and the scale of the training.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, Minister Jeong Kyung-doo spoke by phone with his U.S. counterpart Mark Esper, Tuesday morning, during which they failed to reach a consensus on the exercise.

“Negotiations over joint exercises have entered their final phase,” a ministry official told reporters.

“The two sides are closely working out how to hold the combined training while taking various circumstances into consideration, including the COVID-19 situation.”

The biggest hurdle in fixing the exercise schedule is that the drills involve bringing hundreds of American troops here, raising concerns over possible new infections.

“Due to COVID-19, it is debatable how many troops will participate in the exercises for safety and logistical reasons,” the official said.

Setting its sights on taking over wartime OPCON by 2022 to establish self-reliance in national defense, the government had been planning to use the drills to test full operational capability (FOC), the second of the three-phase verification process for OPCON transfer.

Korea, which regained peacetime OPCON in 1994, was supposed to retake the wartime authority by the end of 2015, but the plan was delayed in 2014 after the allies agreed to seek a “conditions-based” transition due to growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim Yeoul-soo, chief of the Security Strategy Office at Korea Institute for Military Affairs, said if the joint exercises were scaled down or postponed, this would highly likely disrupt the timeframe for the OPCON transition.

“Should the drills be once again delayed, the Korean military will not be able to carry out the FOC test and move on to the next step of a Full Mission Capability test, scheduled for next year,” Kim said.

“In addition, if the allies opt to hold the exercises with the troops stationed here, the rescaled drills will not meet the requirements of the FOC, meaning that the OPCON transition will also be negatively affected.”

In relation to this, Unification Minister nominee Lee In-young said Tuesday that he “personally” wants the exercises to be delayed.

“Although the military needs to test the FOC, there is also a restriction on conducting the drills due to COVID-19,” he told reporters. “Considering all the multiple situations, I hope a strategic decision will be made.”

Currently, the withdrawal of some American soldiers from the Korean Peninsula has emerged as a hot-button issue between the allies in the wake of media reports that the Pentagon gave U.S. President Donald Trump options on how to reduce the size of the U.S. Forces Korea. This is due to Korea's resistance to Trump's demand for a hefty increase in its financial contribution for the stationing of the USFK.

The two countries have yet to finalize the Special Measures Agreement, which determines Korea's share, since last September.

However, the defense ministry said Jeong and Esper did not discuss a troop reduction at all.

“No discussions took place related to the U.S. troop levels during today's phone talks, nor has it been discussed in the past,” deputy ministry spokesman Col. Moon Hong-sik said during a press briefing. “Korea and the U.S. have a firm shared understanding on the role and importance of the USFK for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asia region.”