Disagreement over FOC verification may delay 'Year X' target; North Korea fires two submarine-launched cruise missiles into East Sea
Signs of friction have emerged in the South Korea-US roadmap for transferring wartime operational control to South Korean command, as the two allies show diverging views over the verification assessment of full operational capability led by South Korean forces.
South Korea had hoped to complete the FOC verification at this year's Security Consultative Meeting and identify "Year X" — the target date for the transfer — but the United States wants more time to assess whether the conditions for the transfer have been met, raising the possibility that Seoul's timeline could be disrupted. Against that backdrop, North Korea raised the level of provocation by test-firing two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles into the East Sea.
Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea, said Wednesday (local time) at a seminar hosted by the Golde Institute for International Strategic Studies, a US think tank, in Washington that he supports the transfer of operational control. "I am a proponent of OPCON transfer — it modernizes the world's greatest alliance," he said. He left a pointed caveat, however: "What I am against is violating the conditions that were set years ago that exist today. We've been working on this since 2015."
Brunson said "none of us can say the conditions haven't changed." He added that there had been another missile launch from North Korea this week, saying, "The conditions have changed, and because we've changed our plans, there are new standards we have to meet."
The "conditions" he referred to are understood to mean the transfer requirements set by the two countries' militaries as well as the broader security environment on the Korean Peninsula.
Brunson also drew a clear line against a time-based transfer. "That's not what we do," he said, adding: "Time itself is a condition, but we're talking about core capabilities — the ability to execute all missions to the fullest." His position is that he supports the transfer in principle but insists conditions must be met first.
The disagreement between the two sides has also surfaced in the FOC verification process itself. The United States is understood to have judged certain items it assessed as satisfactory last year to be insufficient this year.
South Korea's position is to build on previously cleared items by adding newly satisfied ones this year, while the United States is said to want a reassessment that reflects changes in the battlefield environment.
USFK reaffirmed its official stance Thursday, saying the two allies "maintain a firm, shared commitment to pursuing a conditions-based OPCON transition." It added that it would not publicly discuss the specifics of bilateral assessment and verification activities for operational security reasons, and that "the OPCON transition is an alliance-level process based on mutually agreed conditions, and is being pursued through ongoing consultations and joint assessments."
A closely watched moment in the transfer process will be the expected meeting between South Korea's Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus, scheduled for late this month in the Philippines.
KCNA, North Korea's state news agency, reported Thursday that the Missile General Bureau had "test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles from the East Sea of Korea on Wednesday." It was the third time North Korea has launched submarine-launched cruise missiles since March 2023, but this test was notable for being the first to use both a vertical launch system and a torpedo tube — in effect a mixed-mode salvo.
Meanwhile, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that the annual field maneuver exercise "Hoguk 2026" will be held from Monday through Oct. 30. The large-scale exercise, conducted every second half of the year to strengthen South Korea-led self-defense capabilities, will again include some USFK forces, as in previous years.
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