Source: Global Network
[Global Network Military Report] Yonhap News Agency Seoul reported on August 18 that the first theater-level South Korea-US joint military exercise this year kicked off on the 18th. According to the South Korean military, the South Korean and American armies launched the joint command post exercise for the second half of this year at 7 a.m. that day. The first phase of the defensive exercise will be held from the 18th to the 22nd, and the second phase of the counterattack exercise will be held from the 24th to the 28th.
The exercise was originally planned to start on the 16th. Because a participant was suddenly diagnosed with the new coronavirus , the two countries decided to postpone the exercise for two days through emergency consultations. Since all personnel who have been in contact with confirmed cases have tested negative and replacement personnel have been arranged, the South Korean military believes that the exercise will not be affected again. However, due to the rapid spread of the epidemic in the South Korean capital area again, the militaries of the two countries did not dare to relax in the epidemic prevention work for the officers and soldiers participating in the exercise.
South Korea and the United States joint exercise screen (data map)
This exercise is an annual routine defensive exercise that assumes an enemy provocation and practices joint response procedures. Like previous years, it is conducted in the form of computer simulation, but the number of participants has been reduced due to the epidemic. , the night exercise was cancelled, and the scale and content were inevitably reduced. Public opinion generally believes that President Moon Jae-in's promise to take back wartime operational command authority during his term of office has been unable to be fulfilled.
Yonhap News Agency in Seoul reported on August 16 that the focus of this exercise was on maintaining a joint defense posture, so the South Korean government's plan to complete wartime operational command authority ahead of schedule may go awry. The South Korean military originally planned to complete the "Full Operational Capability" (FOC) assessment under the future coalition command structure during this joint exercise, but the US military held a negative attitude towards the assessment on the grounds that it was difficult to mobilize troops during the epidemic and the scale of the exercise had shrunk. In the preparatory exercise, the FOC assessment was carried out based on the assumption of local provocation and terrorist threats. However, it is not expected that the FOC assessment will be carried out in the formal exercise assuming wartime conditions. This assessment may be carried out during the exercise in the first half of next year. implementation.
The assessment work for the transfer of combat power includes three stages. The first stage is the basic operational capability assessment (IOC), the second stage is the FOC assessment, and the third stage is the full mission capability assessment (FMC). The South Korean military completed the first phase of its assessment last year. This year's FOC assessment may be difficult to implement, and it is estimated that the entire operational power transfer plan may be postponed.
