Category: US-ROK Alliance

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.

At this point there really is no reason for the Kim regime to pursue diplomacy with the U.S. They are currently getting all the aid and support they need from the Russians. If the Ukraine-Russia end then the Kim regime may look for a new source of aid. If that is the case diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. would make more sense:

South Korea’s Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha speaks during a parliamentary audit at the South Korean mission to the U.N. in New York on Oct. 17, 2025. (Yonhap)

 South Korea’s top envoy to the United States said Friday that there is no indication yet that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit set to open in Korea later this month.

Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha made the remarks during a parliamentary audit at the South Korean mission to the U.N. in New York, amid lingering speculation that Trump could seek reengagement with Kim when he visits Korea for the APEC gathering slated to take place in the southeastern city of Gyeongju on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

“President Trump has said he is open to dialogue, and North Korea has also shown an indication (leaning toward dialogue). But there is no sign yet that something will materialize on the occasion of the APEC (summit),” Kang said during the audit session of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Right now with the Kim regime having all their needs met through their partnership with the Russians, there is really no urgency to pursue peace talks with the ROK or the US:

South Korea’s president has asked President Donald Trump to become “a peacemaker” and use his leadership to get North Korea to talks to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the South’s top diplomat said Friday. Trump “welcomed” the request from President Lee Jae Myung and “he expressed his willingness to be engaged with North Korea again,” Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in an interview with the Associated Press. There was no immediate word from the White House. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met three times as North Korea was building a nuclear weapons stockpile, which Kim views as key to the country’s security and his continued rule of the northeast Asian nation.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The U.S. installing this radar on Ieodo will only further validate the ROK’s claim to the submerged islet:

The Republic of Korea Navy’s 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer Yulgok Yi I patrols the waters around Ieodo, an underwater reef and home to a Korean ocean research station south of Jeju Island, in this file photo from Dec. 3, 2013, in the wake of China’s declaration of a new air defense identification zone that includes it. Yonhap

A U.S. Special Operations Command official identified a Korean research group as a potential partner for a grant to install a powerful maritime radar in the waters southwest of Jeju Island around Ieodo, a submerged reef where Korea has maintained a science station to monitor the seas.

The suggestion came after China was found setting up structures in the West Sea, where Ieodo is located and where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap. (…….)

The offer comes as tensions sharpen over Ieodo, a submerged reef known in China as Suyan Rock, where Korea has operated Ieodo Ocean Research Station since 2003, monitoring oceanographic and atmospheric conditions and transmitting observations in real time. The site lies in waters controlled by Seoul but within the overlapping EEZs of both Korea and China. 

For Washington, expanding surveillance would help track China’s increasingly assertive naval and coast guard patrols, and push allies to share intelligence in the region more closely.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This working group should have been established long ago to address Korean visa concerns instead of trying to game the system which led to detainment of hundreds of Koreans earlier this month:

South Korea and the United States will launch a working group this week to improve the visa system for Korean workers after the detention and release of more than 300 South Koreans in a recent U.S. immigration raid, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

The two nations will hold the inaugural meeting of the working group in Washington on Tuesday (local time), the sources said, weeks after the Georgia raid on South Korean workers.

In early September, more than 300 South Korean workers at a factory construction site in Georgia were detained for a week over unclear violations of visa rules. They were released after diplomatic negotiations.

Seoul’s foreign ministry and the U.S. State Department will lead the working group, the sources said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Commerce Department are also believed to be taking part in the group.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I will believe this when I see it because the transfer of operational control has been discussed for decades now and still hasn’t happened:

Seoul is seeking to reclaim wartime control of its military from the U.S.-led U.N. Command in a move that would close a chapter of the three-year Korean War. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s administration will try to meet the criteria that would allow Seoul to finally retake control of its forces in the event of a war, according to a list of government goals released by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday. South Korea’s alliance with the United States will become a “future-oriented” strategic partnership alongside a “firm and mature” relationship with Japan, the list states.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but as has been reported before the goal to retake OPCON is by 2030 which is afte the Lee presidency ends. This means a new president could just end the OPCON transfer like has happened before.