(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks, background from para 4)
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung reiterated Monday that wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops, currently held by the United States, should be transferred to Seoul at an early date.
"I think having the OPCON entrusted to another country and relying on it cannot be left as it is," the president said during a meeting with reporters marking his 500th day in office, which fell on Friday.
"Speaking frankly, OPCON must be returned at an early date. (We) are sufficiently capable of doing so, and (related) talks between South Korea and the U.S. are basically going well in that direction."
President Lee Jae Myung (seated, R) speaks to reporters at Chunchugwan, the presidential press center, in the Cheong Wa Dae compound on Oct. 19, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
The president's remarks came amid a perceived gap between Seoul and Washington over the timing of the OPCON transition, with the Lee administration seeking to retake it before its term ends in 2030, or even earlier.
At an event in Washington last week, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson said that "conditions have changed," citing North Korea's recent missile launches, and that such changes called for new standards for the OPCON transfer.
A spokesperson for Seoul's defense ministry later said the goal of the OPCON transfer may never be achieved if the goalpost kept moving.
South Korea handed over OPCON to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It was then transferred to the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command when the command was launched in 1978. Seoul retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but wartime OPCON still remains in U.S. hands.
Lee said he appreciates the U.S. for its "goodwill" in insisting that it would first confirm Seoul's ability to defend itself and assume operational control before handing OPCON over to Seoul.
"It is something to be very grateful for, but I think it is something we should do on our own. It will go well," he said.
"(We) should definitely shoulder (our national defense) on our own, and I think we are sufficiently capable of doing so."
pbr@yna.co.kr
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