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US, Seoul Continue Shift of Wartime Control to S. Korea
By Reuters | 24 Sep, 2025

A long-term push by S. Korea to secure wartime control over joint forces in the peninsula has been progressing amid N. Korean tensions.

The South Korean and American flags fly next to each other at Yongin, South Korea, August 23, 2016. Picture taken on August 23, 2016. Courtesy Ken Scar/U.S. Army/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

South Korea's defence ministry and its U.S. counterpart shared the view that there had been significant progress in meeting conditions for a transfer of wartime operational control, a ministry official said on Wednesday.

Currently, the U.S. would command allied troops in the event of war on the Korean peninsula, but South Korea has been seeking to gain "operational control".

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung vowed on Tuesdayto end a "vicious cycle of unnecessary military tensions" with North Korea, with the aim of achieving peaceful coexistence and shared growth.

After a senior-level meeting in Seoul, the South Korean defence ministry said in a statement that the two sides had assessed overall military cooperation to develop the alliance into a reciprocal, future-oriented, and modernised one. 

They also agreed to cooperate on follow-up measures to what had been discussed during the first summit in August between the leaders of the two countries, the ministry said, without elaborating.

The statement did not mention the issue of operational control, but a South Korean official confirmed an earlier report by the Yonhap news agency that the two sides shared the view at the meeting. 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said earlier he agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump during the summit to expand cooperation in high-tech defence sectors.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Ju-min Park, Editing by William Maclean and Kim Coghill)