Page 185 - 2018 Defense White Paper

defense system, and the enhancement of combined exercises and certification plan, as well

as the acceleration of the ROK Armed Forces’ capability acquisition in conjunction with the
implementation of Defense Reform 2.0. Furthermore, the ROK and the U.S. have been closely
consulting each other to meet the conditions for OPCON transition at an earlier date and

to pursue it in a stable manner by regularly evaluating the progress in the preparation at the
th
same time. At the 50 SCM held at Washington D.C. in October 2018, in particular, the ROK
Minister of National Defense and the U.S. Secretary of Defense decided to continue their

effort to jointly evaluate the necessary conditions for OPCON transition while taking changes
in the security situation fully into consideration.

2. Systematic and Active Pursuit of Conditions-Based Wartime
Operational Control Transition

| Development of Combined Command Structure | In a combined command structure,
the armed forces of two or more countries cooperate with and command each other to attain

common goals. The ROK and the U.S. have formed the CFC with the U.S. Commander – ROK
Deputy Commander structure and have cooperated to deter external attacks and aggression Chapter 5
under the directives of the national authorities, the SCM, and the MCM to defend against and
destroy threats if deterrence fails.

The current “U.S. commander – ROK deputy commander” system is planned to be switched
to “ROK Commander – U.S. Deputy Commander” system following the OPCON transition.
The tentative combined command structure to be applied following the OPCON transition is

shown in [Chart 5-3].

Section 2 Expeditious Wartime Operational Control Transition Based on a Robust ROK–U.S. Alliance 183