▲ Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks at a press conference in Seoul organized by the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club on May 8, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
▲ Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks at a press conference in Seoul organized by the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club on May 8, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

opposition leader-security policy

PPP leader says public concerned about Lee's 'hasty' push to retake wartime troop control

SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- The main opposition party leader on Friday claimed that the public is concerned about President Lee Jae Myung's "hasty" push to retake wartime operational control (OPCON) of troops from Washington, calling for adjustments in his security policy.

"President Lee calls the U.S. Force Korea (USFK) a foreign military and is pushing for OPCON transition in a hasty manner," Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), said at a press conference organized by the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club.

"Many South Koreans are worried that Lee's policy direction may have the withdrawal of the USFK in mind," Jang said.

Jang's remarks came as the government seeks to achieve a "conditions-based" handover of OPCON from Washington to Seoul before the end of Lee's five-year term ending in 2030.

During the 1950-53 Korean War, command authority was transferred to the U.S. side, with only peacetime control returned to Seoul in 1994, while wartime control remains with Washington.

In 2006, the administration of then liberal President Roh Moo-hyun agreed with the United States to transfer OPCON back to South Korea in April 2012. The planned transfer was postponed once to December 2015 under the subsequent Lee Myung-bak administration.

The following Park Geun-hye administration reached an agreement with Washington to again indefinitely postpone it until conditions are met.

Lee has recently highlighted the military's expanded self-reliant defense capability, pledging to further increase defense spending to ensure the country's independent defense power.

Last month, USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson told Congress that the two countries seek to meet conditions required for the transfer no later than the first quarter of 2029.

The opposition leader also took a swipe at the government's policy toward North Korea, claiming it appears to dovetail with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's stance defining inter-Korean relations as those between two hostile nations.

"Under South Korea's Constitution, the land north of the Military Demarcation Line is South Korean territory and North Korea can never be recognized as a nation," Jang said, calling for "swift adjustments" in national security policy.

At a year-end party meeting in December 2023, the North Korean leader declared inter-Korean relations as those between "two states hostile to each other" and has since pursued hostile policies toward Seoul.

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