Cho discusses OPCON with Rubio, Colby at comprehensive audit of Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Unification

Military authorities believe transfer conditions met, pushing to expedite return

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun adjusts her glasses while listening to questions from lawmakers at the comprehensive national audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Unification held at the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun adjusts her glasses while listening to questions from lawmakers at the comprehensive national audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Unification held at the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the US side told her that the timing and substance of the wartime operational control transfer are "converging," signaling that high-level discussions between Seoul and Washington on the issue are taking on greater specificity.

Cho made the remarks Tuesday at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's comprehensive national audit, responding to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Song Seok-jun about how South Korea is discussing the OPCON transfer with the United States. "Within our communications, I have been told that the timing and substance are converging," she said.

Cho said she has raised the OPCON issue on the sidelines of recent meetings, including her bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "The issue came up during my meeting with Secretary Rubio, and I also discussed it with Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby when I was in Washington, D.C. at the time," she said.

Asked whether the conditions for the OPCON transfer have been met, Cho said, "Our military authorities believe they have, and are moving to expedite the return of operational control."

Cho also addressed a point raised by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Dae-sik, who noted that photos from last month's South Korea-US summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York had not been posted on the White House website. "Last week, our director personally made the request to the US side," she said.

Meanwhile, Cho said she would raise directly with senior US officials the case of Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae, who applied for a US visa to attend a national audit of the South Korean Embassy in Washington but was ultimately unable to travel due to delays in its issuance.

Cho is set to visit Atlanta from Thursday through Nov. 2 to attend the G20 foreign ministers' meeting. Talks with Secretary Rubio are being coordinated for the same period.

Cho also offered pointed criticism of US visa administration. "It is hard to even call it a policy — the measures around visas are somewhat haphazard. They themselves say they don't know why things are the way they are and that there is nothing they can do," she said. "When you look at the behavior of agencies like ICE, there is much that defies common sense."

She added that the US government lacks consistency in its policies and that the situation sometimes becomes chaotic. "All the more reason for us to maintain close communication with the United States at every level, managing things carefully so that the alliance does not waver," she said.


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