At the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung used a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to revisit one question in their countries' military alliance: who would lead their combined forces if war resumed on the Korean Peninsula? The two sides' 30-minute summit covered strategic investment, shipbuilding and nuclear cooperation, as well as the transition of wartime operational control, or OPCON, to South Korea. The renewed attention on OPCON comes after Trump abruptly curtailed the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise between the two countries last month, prompting concerns about combined readiness. The topic appeared again most recently as new defense minister Kang Shin-chul took office on Tuesday, after he argued that a structure in which Korean commanders take the lead, backed by the U.S. military, would make the combined defense system "much stronger". The same day, the ruling Democratic Party launched a task force on a transition, saying the move would benefit national security . The task force will look at reclaiming wartime OPCON, according to South Korean media, although no further details were given. The proposed OPCON transition would see a South Korean general lead the future CFC, with a U.S. general serving as deputy. But what is wartime OPCON, and why does Seoul want to lead it? Despite South Korea being an independent country, its alliance with the U.S. has a strange quirk: in peacetime, Seoul has operational control of its armed forces, but in wartime, designated South Korean units are placed under the command of what is known as the Combined Forces Command, which is headed by a U.S. four-star general with a South Korean deputy. OPCON gives a commander the authority to organize and deploy assigned forces, designate them missions and direct their operations. It does not give the United States ownership of South Korean forces, and the CFC is still subject to joint guidance from the two countries' national and military authorities. But for Lee's government and many South Koreans who support the transition, taking back wartime OPCON represents greater military autonomy and a more equal alliance with the United States. The transfer has been a long-standing objective for many South Koreans and is often presented as a symbol of full national sovereignty and military independence, Korean affairs analyst Gabriela Bernal wrote in a Lowy Institute commentary in March 2025. When CNBC asked Henry Haggard, a former U.S. diplomat in Seoul, whether it was accurate to say South Korea does not control its forces in wartime because OPCON would shift to the U.S.-led CFC, he agreed. However, Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, cautioned that saying South Korea does not control its own military is "too simplistic." The CFC is jointly directed by the two allies, Yang said, and its commander's nationality is not equivalent to one country exercising sovereign control over the other's military. Nevertheless, under the current system, Seoul would not be able to independently direct the wartime operations of...
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