SEOUL, Oct 19 (Reuters): South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Monday the country is fully capable of taking back the wartime operational control of the combined forces with the US stationed in the country and talks with Washington for the change are progressing.
Lee also said South Korea has built a powerful military that can counter North Korea even though Pyongyang has developed nuclear weapons, which he said are fundamentally a means for final defence, not for combat in a war.
"To put it plainly, we should take back wartime operation control at an early time. We are fully capable of it and discussions with the US are basically going well," Lee told reporters at the Blue House presidential compound.
But the process is far from simple, as it has been 70 years since operational control was entrusted to the US, he added.
South Korea made the decision during the 1950-53 Korean War, enabling the US military to lead the UN forces fighting for South Korea. The two countries agreed in 2007 to eventually transfer the command control to South Korea.
The US stations about 28,500 troops and military hardware in South Korea in combined defence against North Korea, which has pursued nuclear arms and ballistic missile development. The two Koreas remain technically at war under a truce.
Lee has said he aims to complete the transfer of the overall command of the combined US-South Korea allied forces at a time of war, a goal pursued by successive South Korean governments for decades, before his five-year term ends in 2030. Such a change would mean a South Korean general rather than a U.S. commander would lead allied South Korean and U.S. forces in the event of a war with North Korea.
The allies have been engaged in discussions to evaluate readiness of the South Korean military to take on such a command, but there appeared to be some disagreement.
The commander of the US Forces Korea, General Xavier Brunson, said this week the security environment had changed since the allies established the transfer requirements.
South Korean media have reported that Seoul favours 2028 as the target year for the transfer, while Brunson told a US congressional hearing in April that the US military had submitted a roadmap aimed at meeting the conditions by early 2029.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Kyu-seok Shim; Editing by William Maclean)
