Ahn Gyu-baek makes a surprise visit to the US on the 10th to 14th… Focus on creating an inflection point in pending issues between Korea and the United States

At a time when South Korea and the United States are showing differences of opinion on various issues, including the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON), Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-baek makes a surprise visit to the United States.

The Ministry of National Defense announced on the 9th that Minister Ahn will visit the United States from the 10th to the 14th. This is Minister Ahn’s first visit to the United States since taking office in July of last year.

Minister Ahn will hold a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense (Department of War) Pete Hegseth in Washington, D.C. on the 11th (local time), and meet with the U.S. government and Congress figures, including the U.S. Acting Secretary of the Navy, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the chairman of the Maritime Power Subcommittee.

A Ministry of Defense official said about this visit: “한미정상회담, SCM 합의사항 후속조치 관련 이행 점검차 고위급 간 직접 소통하려는 것”He said “전작권, 핵추진잠수함 등이 주요 현안으로 논의될 것”He said.

This visit to the United States is attracting attention as it takes place amid an accumulation of sensitive issues between South Korea and the United States, such as wartime operational control, cooperation in the construction of nuclear-powered submarines, the issue of contributing to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and restrictions on the sharing of U.S. satellite information on North Korea.

The Lee Jae-myung administration, which is promoting the transfer of wartime operational control as a national task within its term, is considering 2028, before the end of the term of the current ROK-US administration, as the target year for the transfer of wartime operational control.

At the ROK-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) held last year by the defense ministers of the two countries, they prepared a roadmap for meeting the conditions for the transfer of wartime operational control and agreed to complete the second stage of the verification process to determine whether the three-stage conditions have been achieved within this year.

However, a gap in perception was revealed recently when General Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, mentioned the first quarter of 2029 as the target time during a congressional hearing.

In addition, cooperation in building nuclear-powered submarines, which the leaders of the ROK and the U.S. agreed to in last year’s joint fact sheet (joint explanatory material), has hardly been able to speed up follow-up discussions amid the negative aftermath of the Coupang issue.

In addition, as the United States recently urged Korea to contribute to efforts to resume passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the government’s concerns have increased. In the process of expressing his dissatisfaction with Korea, President Trump exaggerated the size of US troops stationed in Korea, saying ‘45,000’.

Meanwhile, attention is being paid to whether the direct support of the ROK-US defense chiefs can lead to a change in overall alliance issues.

Minister Ahn is scheduled to meet with the acting U.S. Secretary of the Navy during his visit to the United States, and the nuclear submarine issue is expected to be discussed in that meeting as well.

South Korea and the United States will also hold a meeting of the ‘Integrated Defense Council’ (KIDD), a meeting of deputy ministers of defense authorities, in Washington, D.C., on the 12th and 13th, coinciding with Minister Ahn’s visit to the United States.

At the KIDD meeting, all alliance security issues, including wartime operational control, are discussed, and some speculate that Minister Ahn’s separate visit to the US may be due to his awareness of the need to create an inflection point through high-level consultations.

Recently, as pending issues between Korea and the United States have emerged one after another, key Korean officials have been visiting the United States. Late last month, South Korea’s chief diplomat for North Korea, Jeong Yeon-doo, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Strategy and Intelligence Center, and Blue House Security Strategy Secretary Cho Hyun-woo visited Washington, DC.