▲ Defense Minister Seo Wook (right) and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin


South Korea and the United States military authorities today (2nd) agreed to update the existing operational plan in response to North Korea's advanced nuclear and missile threats.



A plan will be established reflecting strong measures to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities, which have developed nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), hypersonic missiles, and various short-range tactical ballistic missiles. is.



Defense Minister Seo Wook and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made this statement in a joint statement and joint press conference after the 53rd Korea-US Security Council (SCM) was held today at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. (SPG) has been approved.”



The current plans of the CFC are 'action 5027' and 'action 5015'.



Plan 5027, created more than 40 years ago, is an all-out war response plan to repel a counterattack in the event of a North Korean invasion of the South.



To supplement the existing plan, the defense ministers of both countries must first agree on the SPG, a kind of guideline.



After that, the two countries will start working on a full-fledged plan revision at the JCS level based on the SPG.



Considering that the last SPG revision was made in 2010, it means that a major plan revision has been started for the first time in 11 years.



In response to a related question at the joint press conference, Minister Seo responded, "Recognizing that there is a need for an operational plan that includes changes in the North Korean threat, changes caused by the military's own Defense Reform 2.0, changes in the combined command structure, and the environment, etc. We did it together,” he explained.




As South Korea and the United States are discussing a declaration of an end to the Korean War, North Korea's backlash is also expected as a result of announcing a plan to update its operations.



When asked about the impact of the operation update measures on the government-level declaration of an end to the war, Minister Seo drew a line, saying, "I do not think there is any special relationship with the SPG for this operation plan because the declaration of an end to the war has a political and declaratory meaning." I did.



In addition, the SCM joint statement set a deadline for the transition of wartime operational control (OPC), saying, “We have decided to conduct a future CFC full operational capability (FOC) evaluation in 2022.”



It is noteworthy whether a 'transition period' will be derived from the new government when the FOC verification evaluation is conducted next year.



In this regard, Secretary Austin specifically said in an interview that "there has been an agreement to evaluate the future CFC's FOC during the combined command post training (CCPT) training in the second half of next year."



The FOC evaluation corresponds to the second stage of the three-stage evaluation process to evaluate the operational capability of the Future Combined Forces Command, which is commanded by the ROK military commander (commander) after the transfer of OPCON.



Although the Moon Jae-in administration's promise of OPCON transition is eventually transferred to the next government, the FOC evaluation, which is a core evaluation, is expected to be implemented next year, which is expected to provide a driving force to accelerate the OPCON transition.



It is also noteworthy that 'Taiwan' was mentioned for the first time in the SCM joint statement.



"The Secretary and the Minister confirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as reflected in the joint statement of the summit between President Biden and President Moon in May 2021," the statement said.




Although the text of the joint statement from the Korea-U.S. summit in May is quoted as it is, it is highly likely that China will be sensitive to the fact that the Taiwan issue is included in the SCM joint statement, which is symbolic of South Korea-U.S. military cooperation and is a diplomatic document.



China regards other countries' discussions on the Taiwan issue as interference in its internal affairs and has generally strongly opposed it.



The joint statement also included a statement that "Secretary Austin noted that the Indo-Pacific region is the Department of Defense's top priority theater."



The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy is primarily aimed at containment of the masses.



Also, at this SCM, the two countries agreed to complete the relocation of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command headquarters to Pyeongtaek by next year, which is intertwined with the issue of returning the Yongsan Base.



It is known that the relocation of the headquarters will begin as early as June next year.



In particular, it is observed that the relocation of the CFC headquarters, which has been considered the key to the return of Yongsan Base, will accelerate the return of the entire Yongsan Base, which the government has been pushing for.



In addition, the SCM joint statement, which was held for the first time during the Biden administration, restored the content of 'maintaining the size of US forces in Korea at the current level'.



It is interpreted as an extension of the recent announcement by the US Department of Defense that it would maintain the current level of 28,500 US forces in Korea while announcing the results of the 'Global Deployment Review' (GPR) of US forces abroad.



(Photo = Yonhap News)