Is OPCON Transfer at Risk Because of Coronavirus?

The National Interest has an article that goes through the history of the US-ROK OPCON transfer which has long been chronicled here at the ROK Drop. The main point made at the end of the article is that the coronavirus has impacted the joint military exercises to validate the transfer. With Moon’s time in office running out a new President may relook the transfer if not complete:

These delays raise difficult questions about political timing, compounding present ambiguities in the ROK-U.S. security relationship. Moon’s term expires in the summer of 2022, leaving a relatively small window within which to complete the FOC and FMC—Moon is ineligible to run for reelection, and there is no firm guarantee that his successor will share the current administration’s strident vision of South Korean military independence. Nor is the situation entirely clear from Washington’s vantage point: if Donald Trump were to lose his reelection bid, it remains to be seen whether or not a Joe Biden administration would pursue a Korea policy conducive to further military disentanglement between the United States and South Korea.

The National Interest

You can read more at the link.