By Oh Seok-min
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States agreed Thursday to delay again a plan to give Seoul wartime control of its troops until it improves capabilities to counter nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
The allies did not specify a target year for the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON), but officials from both sides anticipate that it could be around the mid-2020s.
The transfer was scheduled for late 2015 after being postponed four years earlier. Citing growing threats from North Korea, South Korea asked for another delay in 2013, with Seoul and Washington agreeing in April to reconsider the transfer date.
South Korea currently has peacetime control of its approximately 639,000 servicemembers, but control in case of war transfers to a U.S. four-star general under the Combined Forces Command (CFC).
Thursday's agreement, reached at the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) between South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel, was seen as an expression of Washington's security commitment to the Korean Peninsula and a stern message to Pyongyang, which has threatened to carry out "a new form of nuclear test" and test-launched long-range rockets.
The decision was made "in light of the evolving security environment in the region, including the enduring North Korean nuclear and missile threat and the need to maintain a strong U.S.-ROK combined defense posture," according to a joint statement released after the meeting. ROK is the acronym of South Korea's official name of the Republic of Korea.
"The national authorities of the U.S. and ROK will make a determination on the appropriate timing for wartime OPCON transition based upon the SCM's recommendation," it noted.
"The ROK will assume wartime OPCON when critical ROK alliance military capabilities are secured and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region is conducive to a stable OPCON transition," the two nations said.
The allies set three conditions for the transfer, according to officials.
"First, the handover will come when the overall security situation can guarantee the stable transition, when South Korea is equipped with core military capabilities to lead the combined defense posture, and when it is able to effectively guard against North Korea's nuclear and missiles attacks in the early stages of local provocations and full-scale wars," said a high-ranking official at Seoul's defense ministry, requesting anonymity.
"Based upon the regular assessment of the conditions and the recommendations by the two defense chiefs, the South Korean and the U.S. presidents will set the appropriate date," he said. "We think it would be around the mid 2020s when South Korea would acquire key assets."
As part of efforts for stronger deterrence against the North, South Korea has revved up efforts to develop the preemptive strike apparatus of the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the "kill chain" systems, according to the allies.
The KAMD is a low-tier missile defense program aimed at keeping Pyongyang's missile threats in check. Rebuffing the option of joining the U.S. multi-layered air defense system, the South Korean government has developed its own version.
As Seoul's most ambitious program to date, the kill chain system is designed to launch strikes right after signs are detected of imminent nuclear or missile provocations by the North. It envisages mobilizing the intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance assets of the allies' combined forces.
The two sides also agreed to establish a comprehensive operational concept to counter North Korea's missile threats, which will be the basis for their joint operational plan.
"In an effort to reinforce our deterrence and response capabilities against North Korea, South Korea and the U.S. vowed to draw up a counter-missile system to detect, defend, disrupt and destroy missile threats," the Seoul official said.
The joint contingency plan would involve not only key assets South Korea has been developing under its KAMD project, but also those of the U.S. air defense system, he noted, without elaborating further.
The South Korea-U.S. agreement on the conditions-based OPCON transfer comes at a time when inter-Korean relations are at a critical juncture.
Earlier this month, big-name officials from the North made a surprise visit to the South and met with senior government officials, during which they agreed upon holding more high-level bilateral talks in early November at the latest, raising hopes for a thaw in inter-Korean ties. But tensions have been heightened on the peninsula since then as the two Koreas exchanged fire three times near their heavily fortified border.
In accordance with the delayed OPCON transfer, the two nations also agreed that the CFC headquarters will remain at their current Yongsan Garrison location in central Seoul until the transition takes place.
The CFC was to be dissolved upon the transfer in 2015. The two countries had been at odds over where to locate it, as the U.S. was supposed to vacate the capital area to move to Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, based upon the Yongsan Garrison relocation plan.
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