Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Gen. Jin Yong-sung (L) and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, pose for a photo during the 50th Military Committee Meeting held in Seoul on Nov. 3, 2025, in this photo provided by the JCS. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – The top generals of South Korea and the United States met in Seoul on Monday to discuss a question that has haunted the alliance for decades: when, and under what conditions, South Korea will regain control of its own forces in wartime.
General Jin Yong-sung, chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Dan Caine, his American counterpart, convened for the 50th Military Committee Meeting—an annual ritual meant to assess the alliance’s preparedness and chart the course ahead.
According to Seoul’s military, the two agreed that “meaningful progress” had been made toward the transfer of operational control, or OPCON, a goal successive South Korean governments have pursued but never completed.
The discussions carry both symbolism and weight. Since the Korean War, South Korea’s armed forces have remained under U.S. command in the event of conflict, a lingering vestige of the Cold War era.
President Lee Jae-myung’s administration has pledged to complete the handover by 2030, a move seen in Seoul as essential to the country’s military sovereignty—and in Washington as a test of trust in the alliance.
Jin and Caine also examined how to adapt their forces to what they called an “increasingly complex” Indo-Pacific security landscape.
They cited North Korea’s expanding missile and nuclear programs, as well as deepening defense ties between Pyongyang and Moscow. Yet they maintained that the allies’ “strong combined defense posture” continues to keep the North’s ambitions in check.
The two generals reaffirmed their intent to modernize the alliance, improving interoperability and readiness through joint exercises and technological integration. They pledged to maintain an “ever-stronger” combined defense posture to preserve peace not only on the Korean Peninsula but across the region.
Their meeting, attended by senior U.S. and South Korean officers including Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and General Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, came ahead of Tuesday’s Security Consultative Meeting between Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
That session is expected to focus on OPCON transition and Seoul’s push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines—a sign that even after seventy years, the alliance remains both indispensable and unfinished.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
