USFK Wartime Control Handover Likely Not Going to Happen During Moon’s Presidency
The problem Moon had not meeting the turn over timeline was that his own political outreach to North Korea that led to the suspension of joint exercises delayed meeting the conditions needed for this hand over:
South Korea is unlikely to reclaim its wartime operational command from the US by May 2022 as South Korean President Moon Jae-in has pledged, experts told The Korea Herald.
Experts said little time is left in Moon’s tenure and the transfer will be delayed even after Seoul greets a new US military chief, as announced Friday. The new chief will replace Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of the United States Forces Korea who said it would be “premature” to set a date for the handover.
The two allies skipped joint drills this year over coronavirus concerns, which would have tested Seoul’s readiness.
“The new US commander will see the issue in a similar way. And the Biden administration will likewise highlight conditions to be met. There is little room for political maneuvering to expect otherwise,” said Choi Kang, vice president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
We must be in the 3rd decade of the OPCON Transition lie. The sure way for the ROK to have control is for the US to leave. Another option is mutiny, when Queen Camel Harris puts US service men under ROK command.
Commie Moon will throw a tantrum via proxy.
Really issue is lack of the equipment and capability the ROKs have not procured. By agreement the ROKs won’t get OPCON transfer, doesn’t matter how many exercises they do.
As mentioned by Flyingsword, the ROK Ministry of National Defense(MND) has not put much effort into funding and procuring systems and equipment notably command, control, and communication and intelligence gathering systems that are the keys for OPCON transfer.
What they have done instead is let the ROK generals’ Cadillac Mentality go wild which has resulted in the procurement of questionable, expensive and show off weapon systems which look good in photo ops but makes one wonder whether the ROK military is sustaining them without any issues.
Basic equipment such as soldier systems, trucks, ballistic missile defense, defense against multiple rocket launchers, and of course C4I systems have more or less been neglected in favor of the show-off weapons.
So yup I don’t expect the OPCON transfer, which was Noh Moon-hyun’s idea, to happen anytime soon.
That and the leftist fascination with a possible military confrontation with Japan, and matching Japan’s weapon system procurement regardless of whether or not they are suited to Korean security needs.
TOK, you’re right. With their economy in a shambles because of Moon’s wrong-headed attempts at central Central Planning, South Korea needs to court regional customers, not chase them away and generally make asses out of themselves.
For example, who is going to buy the steel made in Pohang if they just tick off Tokyo? Do they think no one else in the region sells steel? Will Beijing step up? Will Manila?
Wise businessmen leave politics out of business. At best it removes 50% of your customers. And those that agree with you not only won’t double their purchases, they may choose a less controversial supplier.