Brunson spoke of new standards and the defense ministry spoke of agreed conditions, but no verification schedule was released

The date of this year's Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) has not been announced. No document stating this year's joint evaluation results has been released. Gen. Xavier Brunson said on October 14 that conditions have changed and new standards apply. The Ministry of National Defense said on October 15 that the transfer principle has not changed. That principle is transfer when conditions agreed by South Korea and the United States are met. The two remarks came a day apart. The explanations of how the conditions apply differed. The SCM is the annual security meeting of the two defense chiefs.

Three points are in the ministry's regular briefing transcript. The Policy Briefing document number is newsId=156785314. South Korea and the United States conducted a joint evaluation this year. The evaluation was for Full Operational Capability (FOC) verification. FOC is the stage that checks whether a force can carry out its operations in full. The evaluation followed the conditions-based transition plan. The transcript states that remaining differences will be resolved by the SCM. It also states that work will be done to complete verification at this year's SCM.

Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul visited Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on October 15. U.S. Forces Korea said on its official X account that it welcomed the visit. The United Nations Command, the Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea issued the welcome. https://x.com/USForcesKorea/status/2110639247774585250

Spokesperson Jeong Bit-na said there is no change to the principle that wartime operational control will be transferred when conditions mutually agreed by South Korea and the United States are met. She said remaining differences will be resolved by the SCM under the mutually agreed conditions and evaluation criteria. She said work will be done to complete verification at this year's SCM.

Brunson used different wording. He spoke at the Gold Institute Indo-Pacific Summit in Washington on October 14. He said the plan was changed and new standards must be met. He said time itself is also a condition. He said he supports the transfer of wartime operational control. He said he does not support violating the conditions.

Brunson posted a summary of the speech on his X account the same day. He said the South Korea-U.S. alliance has lasted for more than 70 years. He said his responsibility is to defend the homelands of both countries. https://x.com/CDRUNCCFCUSFK/status/2110479641035378965

Brunson also wrote about the Combined Forces Command in a follow-up post. He said no one else has a combined forces command. He said South Korea's originality and U.S. will move as one. He said common vulnerabilities are reduced. https://x.com/CDRUNCCFCUSFK/status/2110479663529419162

Seong Gi-hong, senior secretary for public relations at the presidential office, said on a YouTube broadcast on October 16 that South Korea and the United States had agreed on the transfer principle and that the United States had not denied this. The presidential office did not issue the remark as a written briefing. It did not issue a press release.

Multiple media outlets said the People Power Party called the situation a foreign affairs and security incident at a parliamentary audit measures meeting on October 16. The same reports said Secretary-General Jeong Hee-yong said a political timetable within the president's term must not be used. The party did not issue the meeting remarks as a press release.

U.S. Forces Korea has not stated a position on the ministry briefing. The U.S. Department of War has not stated a position. No press release had been issued as of 11:00 on October 17, 2026. No official X post had been issued. Jeong did not assess Brunson's remarks. She said assessing the U.S. Forces Korea commander's remarks does not seem appropriate.

The full text of the summit remarks has not been released. The text is not on the U.S. Forces Korea website. The text is not on DVIDS. Yonhap News Agency's English service and the Hankyoreh's English edition carried the remarks. Yonhap said Brunson cited North Korea's missile launches this week. Yonhap also quoted remarks on core capabilities and full mission capability. Full mission capability means the ability to carry out an assigned mission in full.

An expression in some reports is not in the transcript. That expression is setting a target year after the SCM. The ministry has not announced the date of this year's SCM. This year's SCM communique has not been released. The readout of the Camp Humphreys meeting was not released. U.S. Forces Korea did not release the contents of the meeting.

The confirmed documents answer only part of the post-transfer structure. They state that the Combined Forces Command will be kept after the transfer. They state that a South Korean four-star general will serve as the future combined forces commander. A change in the status of U.S. Forces Korea was not addressed in this ministry briefing. Full Mission Capability (FMC) remains after FOC in the verification stages. The ministry said FOC completion this year is the goal. No FMC schedule was specified in this briefing.

Verification has three stages. The first stage is Initial Operational Capability (IOC). The second stage is Full Operational Capability (FOC). The third stage is Full Mission Capability (FMC). The names and order are from ministry materials.

Brunson has spoken about the three stages before. The remarks are in a press conference text on the U.S. Forces Korea website. He said the two countries have an agreed transition plan. He said the plan is based on conditions. He said conditions must be met to move from IOC to FOC. He said conditions must also be met to move from FOC to FMC. He said the transfer will take place at a future point when conditions are met. The remark that time is a condition was carried by Yonhap. The summit text has not been released.

The transition conditions fall into three areas. They are in the joint communique of the 56th SCM in Washington on October 30, 2024. The U.S. Department of War released the communique. The first condition is South Korean forces' capability to lead the combined defense. The second condition is the alliance's capability against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. That capability covers detection, decision, strike and defense. The third condition is a security environment suited to the transition. The two ministers said readiness and capabilities had advanced greatly under the first two conditions. Future Combined Forces Command FOC certification will be pursued when evaluation results reach the agreed level. Close consultation will continue on the security environment. The content is in paragraph 16. The communique is a 2024 document.

The transition method changed in 2014. South Korea and the United States held the 46th SCM in Washington on October 23, 2014. They did not set a specific date. They agreed on a conditions-based transition. The U.S. Department of Defense issued press release NR-535-14. The timing set for the end of 2015 was removed. The focus moved to South Korean forces' core defense capabilities. No new transfer date was set. Then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said a memorandum of understanding had been signed. It contained the conditions-based process.

The ministry guide records the earlier history. The two countries agreed on basic principles at a summit in September 2006. They approved the Strategic Transition Plan (STP) in June 2007. The STP was a plan to hand wartime operational control from the Combined Forces Command to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in 2009. The Cheonan was sunk in 2010. The transfer timing was postponed at the June 2010 summit to December 1, 2015. The earlier date was April 17, 2012. The two countries stopped specifying a timing in April 2014. They agreed to transfer control when mutually agreed conditions are met. The defense ministers signed the Conditions-based Operational Control Transition Plan (COTP) in November 2015. They agreed in October 2018 to keep the Combined Forces Command after the transfer and approved an amended COTP. The presidents stated the will for a conditions-based transfer again in May 2022.

The dates run over three days. Brunson's remarks came on October 14. The ministry briefing came on October 15. The People Power Party meeting remarks and Seong Gi-hong's YouTube remarks came on October 16. The SCM date and this year's communique had not been released after that. The reference time is 11:00 on October 17, 2026.