hankyoreh

Oct. 2. (photo pool)

At the 46th ROK-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), which will take place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 23, the US and South Korea will discuss the question of delaying the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) until 2020 or beyond.

During the meeting, South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will discuss the timing and conditions of postponing the OPCON transfer once again. Afterward, the two ministers are planning to publish a joint statement describing the conditions and the tentative timing of the OPCON transfer. The assumption is that the OPCON transfer, which was originally scheduled for 2015, will be postponed again.

During working-level negotiations, the US and South Korea have reached an agreement to tentatively postponment the transfer of OPCON until the early 2020s, when the Korean kill chain and the Korean Air and Missile Defense System (KAMD) are scheduled to be completed, sources say.

During the meeting, other important questions that have been raised recently - including whether ROK-US Combined Forces Command will remain in Seoul and whether the 210th Fires Brigade, part of US Forces Korea, will stay at Camp Casey (Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province) - will also be discussed. Since the South Korean and American militaries have reportedly continued deliberations with the basic principle of seeking ways to preserve the defensive capabilities of the two combined forces without compromising the larger framework of the Yongsan Relocation Plan and the Land Partnership Plan, the results of the day’s discussions are greatly anticipated.

Along with these topics, the two ministers are expected to discuss a raft of challenges facing the ROK-US alliance, including assessment of the North Korean threat, cooperation on North Korean policies, a customized deterrence strategy in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat, space and cyber cooperation, and regional and global security cooperation.

This will be followed by the 2+2 Meeting, which will be attended by the two defense ministers along with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and US Secretary of State John Kerry. During the 2+2 Meeting - the third to be held since 2010 - the heads of foreign affairs and diplomacy for the two countries are expected to reconfirm the agreements made during the previously held ROK-US Security Consultative Meeting. The officials are also likely to share their views on ways to strengthen the ROK-US alliance and security cooperation, the issue of North Korea and its nuclear weapons, and issues of global cooperation.

They are also expected to offer a warning message to North Korean in response to its recent series of provocations and to trade their opinions on Japan‘s right to collective self-defense and revisions to the Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

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