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Robert Abrams (center), commander of US Forces Korea, Choi Byung-hyuk (right), deputy commander of Combined Forces Command, and Nam Young-shin, commander of Ground Operations Command, observe a firing exercise by the Republic of Korea Army 5th Artillery Brigade in October 2019. (USFK Facebook)

South Korea and the US are reportedly planning to hold their joint military exercise on Aug. 16-28, on a smaller scale than in previous years.

“What I’m told is that the two countries are leaning toward holding a simulation-based command post exercise for about two weeks, starting on Aug. 16. The exercise will take place two days after their crisis management staff training on Aug. 11-14,” a source in the South Korean military said on Aug. 6.

This exercise will be downscaled from previous years because of the difficulty of bringing US strategic military assets from overseas given concerns about the spread of COVID-19. Reinforcements brought in will reportedly be kept to the minimum necessary to conduct the exercise.

But while the exercise lasted for 10 days in previous years, it’s scheduled to run for two or three extra days this year. The organizers reportedly had to make allowances for the difficulty of bringing a large number of troops together at the same time given COVID-19 preventive measures.

Some members of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party have called for the joint exercise to be delayed to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, but the South Korean military has insisted on holding the exercise as scheduled. Considering that a joint exercise in the first half of the year was canceled because of COVID-19, the military is concerned that another delay would not only undermine the joint defensive posture of South Korean and American troops but also disrupt the timetable for the transfer of wartime operational control (OCPON) of South Korean troops.

This exercise is supposed to assess the “full operational capability” of the future combined command, the second stage of assessment required for the OPCON transfer. South Korea and the US carried out the first stage of assessment — which vetted “initial operational capability” — in a joint exercise last year. After completing the third and final stage, which assesses “full mission capability,” the two countries plan to move forward with the OPCON transfer.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]