Seoul, Washington pledge to speed up Opcon transfer during senior-level talks
At the 29th Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue in Busan, Korea and the United States pledged to deepen cooperation on accelerating the transfer of wartime operational control (Opcon).
U.S. Forces Korea Stryker armored vehicles and Korean K200 armored vehicles cross a floating bridge during a combined arms river-crossing exercise by Korean and U.S. forces in Yeoju, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 27, 2025.
YONHAP
Korea and the United States pledged to reinforce cooperation to accelerate the transition of wartime operational control (Opcon) to Seoul from Washington during their senior-level defense talks this week, a joint statement said Friday.
The allies held the 29th Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) in Busan from Wednesday to Friday, as Korean President Lee Jae Myung's administration seeks to retake wartime Opcon before the end of its term in 2030.
“Both sides evaluated the work to modernize the alliance in the face of an evolving security environment,” they said in the statement.
“They also assessed progress on the Conditions-based Wartime Operational Control Transition Plan, and pledged to strengthen cooperation to accelerate the transition of wartime Opcon,” they added.
Seoul and Washington have been working on the conditions-based Opcon transfer since they agreed on it in October 2014. The conditions include Korea's capabilities to lead combined Korea-U.S. forces, its strike and air defense capabilities and a regional security environment conducive to such a handover.
At the defense talks, the two sides also assessed the progress in implementing follow-up measures in the areas of defense cooperation within the joint fact sheet on bilateral security and other agreements, as well as the joint communiqué of last year's defense ministerial talks, called the Security Consultative Meeting, according to the statement.
Seoul and Washington released the joint fact sheet in November of last year to outline a series of agreements from last year's summits between Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The latest KIDD gathering was led by Seoul's Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy Kim Hong-Cheol and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia George LeMeur.
Aside from the talks, the two sides visited major defense industry sites together to further bolster cooperation in areas of shipbuilding and aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul activities, enhancing mutual understanding on key defense issues, according to the statement.
“The two sides pledged to maintain close and continuous consultations on matters pertinent to the security of the ROK-U.S. Alliance going forward,” they added, using the initialism for Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
Yonhap
