President Lee Jae Myung Demands Early Recovery of Military Control

President Lee Jae Myung reaffirmed on Monday his commitment to the early recovery of wartime operational control (OPCON) from the United States. During a press conference, Lee argued that military sovereignty is a critical component of national sovereignty and stated that Seoul must retrieve this control ahead of schedule to meet the minimum requirements of a sovereign state.

Lee called for a shift in terminology, suggesting that the term transfer be replaced with recovery or retrieval. He expressed confidence in the independent defense capabilities of the South Korean military, asserting that the nation is fully capable of handling its own defense.

South Korea originally handed over military command to the U.S.-led United Nations Command in the early 1950s, later transferring it to the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command in 1978. While South Korea regained peacetime operational control in 1994, wartime control remains with the U.S.-led command.