[Exclusive] New Operational Plan Completed... To Be Applied Starting from Joint Exercises in the Second Half of This Year

[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club]
'Operation Plan 2022' Draft Recently Completed
Including Changes in North Korea's Major Attack Points

The draft of 'Operation Plan (OPLAN) 2022' to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats has been completed. South Korea and the United States plan to apply the new operation plan starting from the joint exercises in the second half of this year.

According to a government official who requested anonymity on the 11th, South Korea and the U.S. operated the initial phase of OPLAN 2022 through war games until last year, then supplemented it to complete up to the third phase and recently finished drafting the outline. Establishing an OPLAN requires a total of seven phases, and since the initial phase (phase 3), which involves analyzing the missions of South Korean and U.S. units and formulating strategies, must be completed first, it effectively means the operation plan has been finalized.

South Korea-US Joint Military Exercises

Until now, South Korea and the U.S. have applied 'OPLAN 5015' in joint exercises. However, since it was created over ten years ago, there have been criticisms that it does not reflect North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities or changes in the combined forces' strength. The initial discussions to establish OPLAN 5015 began in 2010, at which time North Korea had conducted only two nuclear tests. Since then, North Korea has conducted four additional nuclear tests, claimed to have developed a 'hydrogen bomb,' and recently succeeded in test-firing the solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 'Hwasong-18.'

As a result, the Joint Defense Point of Interception (JDPI) targets that South Korea and the U.S. must attack during wartime have also changed. In 2016, the two countries selected about 700 JDPI locations, including North Korea's 'biological weapons sources.' However, as North Korea diversified its launch methods, such as firing ballistic missiles from trains by the railway mobile missile regiment, the need to reflect these changes has increased. The Defense Intelligence Agency recently published a 'Ballistic Missile Facility Analysis Report' identifying North Korea's mobile launchers (TEL) and major ballistic missile launch sites, which are reportedly included as key attack points in 'OPLAN 2022.'

Discussions on the new operation plan between South Korea and the U.S. began following the 53rd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) held in Seoul in December 2021, where both sides agreed on the necessity to 'update' the operation plan and approved a new 'Strategic Planning Guidance' (SPG). Subsequently, General Won In-chul, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, and General Mark Milley, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed the 'Strategic Planning Directive' (SPD) developed through the new SPG during a bilateral meeting held in Hawaii. While the SPG is a guideline from the defense authorities of both countries outlining the basic direction when revising or creating an operation plan, the SPD serves as a detailed guideline to implement it.

Meanwhile, operation plans are numbered starting in the 5000s and are established by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to respond during wartime. South Korea and the U.S. have created 'OPLAN 5029' to prepare for sudden changes in North Korea, 'OPLAN 5027' for full-scale war, and in 2015, integrated peacetime operation plans responding to North Korea's limited provocations into 'OPLAN 5015.'