Washington agreed on Thursday to delay the return of wartime control of the South Korean military to Seoul until its forces were better prepared to deter or fight North Korea.
The US assumed operational control of South Korea’s military in 1950 after it rushed its troops to the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War.
It returned peacetime control to Seoul in 1994, but it was still obligated to command combined US-South Korean forces in the event of war.
That pledge has been a central fixture of the US-South Korean military alliance, but many South Koreans, especially the postwar generations, see it as a slight to their national pride.
In 2007, the US agreed to return that power to the South by 2012.
However, the date was pushed back to next year, after the South accused North Korea of torpedoing a South Korean warship in 2010 and fears of military conflict rose.
South Korea asked the US for another delay following the North’s successful launching of a long-range rocket in late 2012 and its third nuclear test in February last year.
The US accepted South Korea’s request during the annual Security Consultative Meeting in the Pentagon on Thursday.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and South Korean defense minister Han Min-koo agreed to implement Seoul’s proposal for a “conditions-based approach” to transferring control “to ensure the combined defense posture remains strong and seamless.”
Rather than setting a new target date for the transfer, the allies are now to “focus on South Korea achieving critical defensive capabilities against an intensifying North Korean threat,” according to statements from both sides.
Separately, South Korean officials said they expect the transfer to take place in the mid-2020s.
The allies are to negotiate details of the new transfer plan by next fall, they said.
The delay is likely to trigger strong criticism from political opposition in the South, which has been arguing that the transition is long overdue and that another postponement would only increase tensions by making North Korea more intent on building its weapons systems, including missile and nuclear capabilities.
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