Kim Jong-un picks up a cookie and sprinkles red pepper powder

North Korea’s Chairman of the State Council Kim Jong-un demanded South Korea to stop joint training between the United States and the United States and ban the introduction of advanced weapons through the Labor Party’s 8th Congress, creating a dilemma in the early transition of wartime military control promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration.

Two key conditions for the OPCON transition ① To strengthen war deterrence by securing various advanced weapons and ② to verify whether the conditions for OPCON conversion are satisfied through joint training between Korea and the United States.to be. However, as Chairman Kim picks up these two and demands a halt, North Korea is a stumbling block for the transition to OPCON.

According to the labor newspaper, North Korea has conducted a’business summary report’, which is a report on the settlement of accounts of the party congress, for three days from the 5th. At this meeting, Chairman Kim “The South Korean authorities continue to ignore our repeated warnings that the import of advanced military equipment and joint military exercises with the United States should be stopped.”He said, “We are running against the implementation of the North-South Agreement on ensuring peace and military stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

Then, aiming at President Moon Jae-in’s remarks “We must first explain the remarks made by the ruling officer about developing a ballistic missile with the world’s largest warhead weight.”He said, “We need to convincingly explain the intention and purpose of bringing in advanced attack equipment.”

Earlier, President Moon visited the Defense Science Research Institute on July 23 last year and praised the officials saying, “We have developed a ballistic missile with the world’s largest warhead weight.” At the time, President Moon did not specifically mention what this missile was. , In and outside the military, it was accepted as Hyunmoo-4. The Hyeonmu-4, which has a range of 800 km and a warhead weight of 2 tons or more, is a’bunker buster’ that can destroy facilities up to 100 meters underground, and in case of emergency, it precisely strikes the head of North Korea.It is evaluated as possible.

In addition, the military is rushing to expand advanced weapons, including the decision to introduce additional F-35 stealth fighter jets from the United States that can penetrate North Korea’s air defense network. Accordingly The size of the defense budget also increases year by year, surpassing Japan’s defense spending in the mid-2020s.It is expected to do.

The view from inside and outside the military is that the government’s roadmap for strengthening defense power is in line with the goal of early transition to OPCON. A senior military official who wanted to remain anonymous said, “As the most important part of the opposition negotiations with the US is our military’s independent deterrence ability, we have no choice but to rush to secure the power to prove this.” “As North Korea announced at this conference, if the threat level rises, such as developing a tactical nucleus, securing advanced weapons becomes more important.”Said.

In the case of the ROK-US combined training, it is urgent to resume the combined training for the transition of OPCON within the government’s term of office by May next year, as it is another verification criterion that confirms whether the ROK military has the’capability’ to switch OPCON. .

Inside and outside the military, in the three-step verification evaluation The second-stage full operational capability (FOC) verification, which was delayed last year, must be conducted in the first half of this year to complete the last full mission performance capability (FMC) verification in the second half.I see it.

However, as North Korea preemptively demanded the cessation of coalition training on the grounds of the limping of inter-Korean relations, the key question was what the government would do. In this regard, one government source said “Even though it is impossible to switch OPCON without the consent of the United States, some governments even argue that we should declare our own competency evaluation by taking shape without actual verification through joint training.”And conveyed the atmosphere.

Some point out that if you respond excessively to North Korea’s pressure, it will dry out. Shin Beom-cheol, director of the Center for Foreign Affairs and Security at the Economic and Social Research Institute, said, “If the United States did not ask for a cessation of joint training at this party meeting, it seems to be a’splitting’-style tactic toward South Korea that separates Korea and the United States.” “It is necessary to reverse the situation by proposing the holding of a joint committee on the inter-Korean military agreement by reverse use of North Korea’s attempt to create a strategic environment in their favor.”Said.

Reporter Kim Sang-jin [email protected]