S. Korea, US formalize pledge to 'accelerate' OPCON transfer; Strait of Hormuz absent from joint statement

South Korea and the United States have agreed to strengthen cooperation to accelerate the transfer of wartime operational control, formally enshrining the word "accelerate" in the official joint statement — a notable restoration after all references to OPCON transfer were dropped from the May Washington meeting's communiqué. The issue that had drawn the most public attention, however — a potential troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz — was not mentioned at all in the outcome statement.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said Saturday that the two countries held the 29th Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) in Busan from Wednesday through Friday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Kim Hong-cheol, director general for defense policy at the Ministry of National Defense, and George LeMeur, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, with senior defense and diplomatic officials from both sides in attendance.

"Both sides assessed progress in modernizing the alliance to respond to the changing security environment," the ministry said. "They also evaluated past efforts toward a conditions-based OPCON transfer and agreed to strengthen cooperation to accelerate that transfer."

The outcome stands in contrast to the 28th KIDD, held in Washington, D.C., on May 12 and 13, whose joint communiqué drew criticism for omitting any mention of OPCON transfer or nuclear-powered submarines — key pending issues. The document itself was also faulted for being condensed to a single page of roughly 482 characters.

Seoul has designated this year as the inaugural year of OPCON recovery, setting a goal of completing the Full Operational Capability verification of the Future Combined Forces Command and confirming a target transfer year at the 58th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). The year 2028 — before the end of US President Donald Trump's term — has been widely cited as the leading candidate. Because this KIDD served as a preparatory session ahead of the SCM, the restoration of the "accelerate" language is being read as a signal that the groundwork for agreeing on a target year has been laid.

However, the outcome statement contained no mention of the FOC verification process, a target year, or a specific timeline.

The two sides also visited major defense industry sites together to further strengthen maintenance, repair and overhaul cooperation in the shipbuilding and aviation sectors.

This marked the first time KIDD was held outside Seoul and Washington, D.C. The ministry has said it chose Busan to highlight both countries' commitment to shipbuilding cooperation and South Korea's shipbuilding capabilities.

The visit is expected to feed into discussions on naval vessel MRO and construction cooperation linked to the MASGA (Mutual Acquisition and Sustainment for Global Alliance) project, a bilateral shipbuilding cooperation initiative.

The two sides also reviewed the progress and outcomes of follow-up measures stemming from last year's bilateral summit joint statement on defense and the joint communiqué of the 57th SCM.

The Strait of Hormuz deployment question — the meeting's most contentious issue — was absent from the outcome statement. The ministry had not included it on the published agenda from the outset. Nevertheless, speculation had mounted that the US side might press for a concrete deadline at the talks, given Washington's push for a deployment decision before the US midterm elections in November. Just before the KIDD convened, Seoul dispatched a fact-finding team to the UAE to assess conditions on the ground; the team returned Thursday.

The government has maintained that "no decision has been made" on a Hormuz deployment. The absence of any related language from the outcome statement is being interpreted as a sign that both sides have opted to minimize public coordination for now and carry the discussion forward into the SCM process.

The two sides agreed to continue close and sustained consultations on alliance security issues going forward.