[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] President Yoon Suk-yeol received a briefing from the Ministry of National Defense on the 22nd. On that day, President Yoon received a series of one-on-one briefings from Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop at the Yongsan Presidential Office building.
The Ministry of National Defense focused its report on the implementation plans for key initiatives such as the expansion of the Korean-style 3-axis system, the national defense artificial intelligence (AI) promotion strategy and priority tasks, and the strengthening of ROK-US joint exercises, based on the national defense policy direction reported at the ‘All-Army Key Commanders Meeting’ chaired by President Yoon on the 6th of this month.
The Ministry presented the goal of fundamentally strengthening the ROK-US military alliance by normalizing joint exercises and training that had been canceled, postponed, reduced, or adjusted since the Singapore North Korea?United States summit in June 2018.
They plan to resume regiment-level or higher outdoor maneuver exercises such as joint carrier strike group training and joint amphibious landing exercises, and to intensively conduct various joint outdoor maneuver exercises linked with joint exercises.
In particular, they reported that from August to September this year, 11 joint outdoor maneuver exercises including joint scientific combat training will be conducted at the Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC), and that these will be further expanded starting next year.
The ROK and the US have decided to name the upcoming second half joint exercise next month as UFS (Ulchi Freedom Shield). This reflects the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s intention to normalize joint exercises that had been reduced under the previous Moon Jae-in administration due to denuclearization negotiations.
As a follow-up measure to the ROK-US summit, the Extended Deterrence Strategy Committee (EDSCG) will be reactivated, procedures for deploying US strategic assets will be established, and the implementation system for the ‘ROK-US tailored deterrence strategy’ will be developed to strengthen the comprehensive ROK-US alliance’s response system to North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
Regarding the transfer of wartime operational control, it was reported that the principle of not setting a specific timeline will be maintained, and the transfer will occur only when conditions such as securing key capabilities of the ROK military are met. This means delaying the transfer until military capabilities sufficient to suppress North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are secured.
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