By Steven Denney
The issue of operational control in South Korea has long been held prisoner to fickle domestic politics.
Last Thursday U.S. and South Korean officials agreed to postpone the transfer of operational control (OPCON) indefinitely. In peacetime, South Korea will remain in charge of its own military forces. But in the event of war with North Korea, U.S. military commanders will take control of both U.S. and South Korean forces. U.S. control over South Korean forces in the case of war with North Korea has been the official policy since the U.S. took over operational control during the Korean War.
According to Stars and Stripes, the agreement calls “for the transfer of operational control to be ‘conditions based,’ meaning the move has been postponed indefinitely.” The delay is meant to give South Korea time to develop “the core military capabilities needed for the OPCON transfer to take place by mid-2020.” Both U.S. and South Korean officials agree that the security conditions on the peninsula are too precarious (and South Korea’s capabilities too underdeveloped) for an OPCON transfer to take place. Choi Kang, Director of the Center for Foreign Policy and National Security at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, reiterated these reasons for a domestic audience in a special commentary segment for KBS.
While the reasons given for the delay are quite valid – provocations, missile tests, nuclear weapon developments, and the chance of border skirmishes leading to larger conflict or full-scale war – the OPCON issue has been as much a political issue as a strategic one. While U.S. control of armed forces on the peninsula may make strategic sense, not having full operational control of its own military forces in a time of war has historically been a divisive issue.
Read the full story at The Diplomat