USFK Commander Wants to Restart Combined Military Exercises

It will be interesting to see if the Blue House wants to continue to not hold the combined exercises regardless of if it makes them less prepared to take over OPCON:

South Korea and the United States should continue to stage large-scale combined military exercises in the face of North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile capabilities, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Robert Abrams said Wednesday.

In a speech during a forum held in Seoul, Abrams also noted that more work needs to be done for the planned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean forces from Washington to Seoul. 

“Unfortunately, we had to postpone our theatre-level combined post command training this year due to the ongoing global pandemic. While we have been able to conduct important leader development training, that in no way replicates the rigor and realism of our semi-annual theatre-level training events,” Abrams said.

In February, Seoul and Washington announced their decision to indefinitely postpone their key springtime exercise due to COVID-19, and discussions are under way to fix the schedule and program for their summertime combined exercises.

“We must continue to conduct combined live trainings … with rigorous scenarios,” the commander said, vowing to further discuss with the South Korean side about ways to maintain a staunch readiness posture.

Yonhap

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