Category: US-ROK Alliance

My guess is that the Lee administration will probably not have the ROK military do combined field training with the U.S. this year in an effort to appease North Korea. I guess we will see what happens:

The militaries of South Korea and the United States said Wednesday they will stage their annual joint springtime exercise next month to strengthen their combined defense posture, but they have yet to agree on details of related field training in a rare move.

The Freedom Shield (FS) exercise is scheduled to take place from March 9-19, involving the field training exercise dubbed “Warrior Shield,” according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

The allies’ militaries said the upcoming drills will help further strengthen the alliance’s readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations.

“This exercise will also serve as an opportunity to support ongoing preparations for a condition-based wartime operational transition, consistent with alliance agreement,” they said in a joint statement.

South Korea is seeking to achieve the “conditions-based” handover of wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. within President Lee Jae Myung’s five-year term that ends in 2030.

A JCS official explained some 18,000 troops are expected to take part in this year’s FS exercise, a level on par with around 19,000 personnel last year.

But in a rare move, the allies announced the FS exercise plan without reaching an agreement over the scope of field training exercises that will be simultaneously carried out, only saying that they are still in consultation over Warrior Shield.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

You would think the Korea would have prioritized getting this deal done months ago considering how impatient Trump notoriously is on issues like this:

The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States will hold talks in Washington this week, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, amid uncertainties over their trade deal after U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning of a tariff hike.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will meet one-one-one with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday (local time) to discuss efforts toward implementing the summit agreements reached between Trump and President Lee Jae Myung, including the trade deal, the ministry said.

Cho is visiting Washington to attend a U.S.-led ministerial meeting on critical minerals supply chains, set for Wednesday.

The upcoming talks between Cho and Rubio are their first meeting since Trump threatened to raise the reciprocal tariff on South Korean goods to 25 percent from 15 percent, citing a delay in Seoul’s legislative process required to move the trade deal forward.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Big defense topics being discussed in South Korea:

This photo, provided by the defense ministry, shows Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back (L) and U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby during their meeting at the ministry compound in Seoul on Jan. 26, 2026

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back held talks Monday with U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby to discuss Seoul’s push to build nuclear-powered submarines, regain wartime operation control of its troops from Washington and other pending security issues. (…….)

Both sides agreed that cooperation on Seoul’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines would bolster its capabilities to defend the Korean Peninsula and serve as a key landmark in elevating their alliance to a higher level.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As soon as President Lee was elected this issue was going to come up:

The differences between Seoul and Washington over joint military exercises have become more pronounced. South Korean leaders have publicly suggested scaling down the exercises to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, while U.S. officials oppose the idea and emphasize their importance for alliance readiness.

Scaling down or postponing joint military exercises has been proposed by previous governments, mainly liberal ones, to create a reconciliatory environment with North Korea, as the North has often called the drills “a rehearsal of war.” 

President Lee Jae Myung and other officials in his administration have raised the issue as they seek to reopen dialogue with Pyongyang, as communication channels are currently severed.

“If necessary, and if it helps the United States exercise strategic leverage, even the issue of joint military drills can be discussed and considered,” Lee said in a press conference on Dec. 3. “Simply saying such discussions are possible can help to open conditions for negotiations.” 

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young echoed this view, repeatedly saying that joint exercises should serve broader goals such as easing tensions and supporting dialogue.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said, “Joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises are a tool to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula. They cannot be the objective in themselves.” He added that the president had already laid out the criteria for reviewing the issue.

Chung noted that the suspension of Team Spirit exercises in 1992 and 1994 helped advance nuclear negotiations with North Korea, while another pause in 2018 coincided with a thaw in inter-Korean relations. He said a similar measure may be needed ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned visit to China next April and his potential talks with North Korea.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is suprising that it has been eight years since the U.S. Secretary of Defense War has made a visit to the JSA:

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a joint visit to the Joint Security Area (JSA) at the truce village of Panmunjeom on Monday, marking the first such appearance by the defense chiefs of the two allies in eight years.

The visit took place one day before the 57th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Seoul, where both sides are expected to review the alliance’s key security agenda, including South Korea’s nuclear-powered submarine program and the long-awaited transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON).

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if the Lee administration actually follows through on the U.S. request to take over OPCON by the end of their administration. The ROK historically has said it is willing to take OPCON and then continues to delay it for various reasons:

 The United States “very much” supports South Korea doing more to lead conventional defense against North Korea, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday, as the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hopes to retake wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington within its term.

The official made the remarks in a press briefing as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back are set to discuss the OPCON transition efforts when they meet for the two countries’ annual defense ministerial talks, called the Security Consultative Meeting, in Seoul on Nov. 4.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

After the very positive summit and trade deal between President Trump and Japanese PM Takaichi, it would have been hard for President Lee to not agree to a trade deal as well:

After a monthslong tug-of-war, South Korea and the United States on Wednesday struck a complete tariff deal, heralding a new chapter for their industrial and economic ties.

At the summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on the details of a trade deal, namely the structure of Seoul’s US$350 billion investment pledge and tariffs on autos.

In July this year, the two countries reached the framework deal as the U.S. slashed “reciprocal” tariffs to 15 percent from 25 percent and South Korea pledged to heavily invest in key U.S. industries such as shipbuilding.

Under the deal, the U.S. maintains its reciprocal duties on Korean goods, but cut sectoral tariffs on Korean cars and auto parts to 15 percent from 25 percent.

With Wednesday’s deal, South Korea and the U.S. will see deepened industrial and economic ties, and Asia’s fourth-largest economy will not be positioned at a disadvantage in competing with other economies in the world’s largest economy.

Yonhap

Here is where the money is going:

Under the terms agreed Wednesday, Korea’s $350 billion investment pledge will be two-pronged: $200 billion in cash installments and $150 billion allocated for shipbuilding industry cooperation, with an annual investment cap set at $20 billion, according to Kim Yong-beom, presidential chief of staff for policy.

You can read more at the link.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense also known as the Secretary of War will be visiting Korea and Japan next week:

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas and meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during his visit to the Asian country next week, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday.

Hegseth is set to kick off a two-day visit to South Korea next Monday in his first trip to the Asian country since taking office early this year. Korea is the last leg of his Asia swing that includes stops in Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Upon arrival in Korea, the secretary, along with Seoul’s Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, plans to visit the Joint Security Area inside the DMZ and have a chance to meet Korean and American troops stationed at the DMZ, the official said during a briefing to the press traveling with Hegseth.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty odd that the USFK was not given a heads up these investigators were going to be on Osan Airbase:

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Friday a raid at Osan Air Base by a special counsel team was not an issue that requires consultations with the United States, after the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) reportedly lodged a formal complaint over the action.

Ahn’s remarks came after USFK Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. David Iverson reportedly sent a letter to Seoul’s foreign ministry, expressing concerns over the team’s search conducted in July at the air base jointly run by the allies, as part of its investigation into former ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law bid.

While the team searched an Air Force Master Control & Reporting Center operated by the South Korean military, the U.S. military reportedly took issue, believing it should have consulted beforehand with the USFK, considering investigators would have to go through areas under its control.

“It was not something that required consultations with the U.S.,” Ahn said during a parliamentary audit session, stressing the search took place in areas governed by the South Korean military.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.