Joint drill to be commanded by Korean for first time

Defense

Published: 24 Aug. 2022, 17:33

Joint drill to be commanded by Korean for first time

From left: Gen. Ahn Byung-seok, Gen. Paul J. LaCamera and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup walk through the command center of the Combined Forces Command during the minister's visit on Tuesday. [DEFENSE MINISTRY]

This year's joint South-U.S. military exercise is being led by the Korean deputy commander of the allies' joint command for the first time, United States Forces Korea (USFK) said Tuesday.

The 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), which started on Monday, is set to run through Sept. 1 and integrates civilian contingency drills with large-scale military field exercises that did not take place under the Moon Jae-in administration.

This year’s exercise will mark the first time that joint exercises will be led by a South Korean, Combined Forces Command (CFC) deputy commander Gen. Ahn Byung-seok.

The switching of duties from the CFC’s U.S. commander-in-chief to the South Korean deputy commander is part of a Full Operational Capability (FOC) assessment, one of the steps that precedes the transfer of wartime operational control (Opcon) of the allies’ combined forces from Washington to Seoul.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin agreed at a December 2021 meeting with his South Korean counterpart at the time, Defense Minister Suh Wook, that the FOC assessment should take place during this year’s exercise.

“Ulchi Freedom Shield is an opportunity for Gen. Ahn Byung-Seok and me to trade leadership duties based on the Future-Combined Forces Command construct as outlined by both of our defense secretaries late last year,” said Gen. Paul J. LaCamera, who serves as the commander of both the CFC and USFK, as well as the United Nations Command.

“This is significant because for the first time ever, the CFC deputy commander will take the lead as the future CFC commander,” LaCamera added.

The FOC assessment is the second phase of a three-part verification process to determine if South Korea is ready to lead the allies’ combined forces in wartime.

South Korea has not held wartime Opcon since the 1950-53 Korean War, when it handed operational control over its troops to the U.S.-led United Nations Command. Opcon was subsequently transferred to the U.S.-led CFC when the command was launched in 1978.

The country regained peacetime Opcon in 1994, but the United States retains wartime operational control.

The Opcon transfer was scheduled for 2015 but was pushed back in 2014 as North Korea escalated its nuclear and missile weapons tests.

The CFC said that the allies are maintaining their vigilance during the ongoing UFS exercise against the possibility that North Korea could use the drills as a pretext to conduct a major provocation.

Pyongyang has long criticized joint military exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion.

Seoul and Washington counter that the exercises are necessary to maintain a strong combine defense posture and their readiness in the event of war.

According to the USFK, the name of this year’s exercise was updated to highlight the integration of the South Korean government’s Ulchi civilian emergency drills into the exercise.

USFK also said that the word “Freedom” in the name symbolizes the allies’ commitment to protecting freedom as an “immutable value” of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, while “Shield” symbolizes the defensive nature of the exercise.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]