The government's goal to accomplish the transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) of the Korean military from Washington to Seoul by 2022 may face a setback as this year's joint military exercises with the United States will be scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means procedures necessary for the transition will not be carried out as planned.

To complete the transfer of wartime OPCON, the military had planned to use the drills in August to assess its full operational capability (FOC), the second step in a three-phase verification process for the transition. But the allies reportedly decided to exclude the FOC verification, as U.S. troops in charge of this process cannot come to Korea due to concerns over spreading the coronavirus.

The Korean language edition of Voice of America (VOA) reported Monday that FOC verification would be impossible, citing a U.S. official. "It will be impossible to conduct the assessment, known as a Full Operational Capability test, in large part because of the 14 day quarantine requirement for U.S. personnel coming to Korea, a U.S. official said," William Gallo, the Seoul bureau chief for VOA, wrote on his Twitter...