Members of the Daejeon Headquarters of the South Korean Committee on the June 15th Joint Declaration are holding a press conference in front of the Daejeon City Hall calling for the cessation of ROK-US combined military exercises on the 2nd. Daejeon = News 1
The ROK-US combined military exercises (ROK-US combined exercises) to check the ROK-US combined posture will be held on a 9-day schedule from the 8th to the 18th (excluding weekends). As the scale of training was reduced in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), verification training for the transition to the ROK-US wartime warfare regime was also missed. A setback was inevitable with the government’s goal of’transition of OPCON during term of office’.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said on the 7th that “the first half of 2021 will be conducted for the first half of the year from the 8th to the 9th.” As North Korea’s Chairman of the State Council Kim Jong-un demanded that the ROK-US joint training be stopped as a condition of resuming inter-Korean dialogue in January this year, the backlash from Corona 19 and North Korea has been regarded as the biggest variable in the training implementation.
The Eagle Training (FE), an actual mobile training that was held at the end of March every year, was abolished in 2019, and outdoor maneuvering training will not be conducted again this year. The military explained that the actual maneuvering training in which the actual troops and equipment are moving is carried out on a small scale below the battalion level throughout the year. An official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “This training is a defensive command post training using computer simulations that have been conducted annually,” and said, “Outdoor maneuvering training is not conducted intensively during a specific period, but distributed throughout the year.”
The reduction in the scale of training also made it unclear when the government wanted to switch to OPCON. The ROK Combined Training is an opportunity to test and verify the ability of the ROK military to command the future Combined Command. Verification training for OPCON conversion is divided into △ Level 1 Basic Operational Capability (IOC), △ Step 2 Full Operational Capability (FOC) △ Level 3 Complete Mission Capability (FMC). The IOC verification was completed in the second half of the training in August 2019, but the FOC verification was postponed for the second half of the year as it was not possible to carry out this time following last year. In this regard, a joint official said, “In preparation for the future FOC, we plan to carry out some rehearsals for the future CFC-led rehearsal for the future CFC-led generals in preparation for the FOC.” Explained.
The delay in OPCON conversion is expected. Due to the spread of Corona 19, training in the first half of last year was canceled and training in the second half of August was reduced, so the FOC verification could not be completed. Initially, the government set the goal of △IOC in 2019 △FOC in 2020 △FMC verification in 2021, and aims to convert OPCON by 2022, which is within the current government’s term of office. After completing the FOC verification in the first half of this year, the Ministry of Defense tried to determine the timing of the OPCON transition within this year, but even this became difficult.
However, even after the IOC, FOC, and FMC verification is completed, the OPCON is not immediately converted. According to the’Condition-based OPCON conversion’ agreed by the ROK and the United States, △Securing the core military capabilities of the ROK military necessary to lead the combined defense △Equipment capability to respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats △The security environment on the Korean peninsula and in the region in line with the transition of OPCON Verification training corresponds to the detailed task of securing core military capabilities, which is the first condition.
Seungim Jeong reporter [email protected]
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