SEOUL – South Korean President said on Friday that his country will rapidly regain its wartime operational command from the United States amid the swiftly changing security environment.
Lee presided over a meeting with major military commanders, stressing that the transition of wartime operational control to South Korea from the US will be pursued expeditiously, as self-reliant defense is essential to respond to the rapidly changing security environment.
Seoul’s wartime operational command was handed over to the US-led UN Command after the three-year Korean War broke out in 1950. The Asian country regained its peacetime command in 1994.
Lee ordered the military to be fully prepared to play a leading role in the defense of the peninsula, adding that the military should strengthen its sense of responsibility and resolve to perfectly protect the South Korean territory and people with its own strength.