Defense ministry cites OPCON transfer drive as key achievement marking Lee gov't's 1st year

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, left, shakes hands with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ahead of a defense ministerial meeting at the U.S. Department of War compound in Washington, May 12 (local time). Yonhap

The defense ministry on Thursday cited its consistent push for retaking wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington as a key policy achievement under the President Lee Jae Myung administration in its first year in office.

The ministry said Korea is seeking the OPCON transfer in a "swift" manner at a time when the allies are currently at the second stage of verifying "full operational capability (FOC)" this year.

"(The ministry) is pushing for the restoration of wartime operational control in a systematic, stable and consistent manner to establish a combined defense posture led by the Korean military," it said in a release.

The allies are in the process of verifying the FOC—the second part of a three-phase program aimed at vetting Seoul's capabilities to lead the allies' combined forces.

The program consists of three stages of assessment for the initial operational capability (IOC), the FOC and full mission capability. The IOC phase was completed in 2019.

The government also seeks to draw up a roadmap to expedite the OPCON transfer in coordination with Washington ahead of their annual defense ministerial meeting scheduled for this fall.

The allies initially planned to finalize the roadmap during last month's Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue in Washington, but failed to reach a consensus.

The ministry said it is also seeking to establish permanent combined component commands to ensure a stronger joint defense posture following the OPCON transfer.