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| ▲ South Korean and U.S. troops conduct combined river-crossing drills in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, in this Nov. 20, 2025, file photo. (Yonhap) |
S Korea-US-joint command
Ground component of S. Korea-U.S. joint command becomes standing unit
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) -- The ground component command of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) has been turned into a standing unit, military officials said Friday, marking a step forward in Seoul's push to retake wartime operational control from Washington.
The transition of the Combined Ground Component Command (CGCC) into a standing component command was approved in a bilateral Permanent Military Committee meeting held in late October, and the unit went into operation last month, according to the officials.
The move for the component command, previously only activated during contingency operations, allows American troops to be regularly assigned as members of a combined combat staff to jointly establish combined operation plans and plans for large-scale drills like the springtime Freedom Shield exercise.
The transition comes as South Korea has been seeking to achieve the conditions-based handover of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul within President Lee Jae Myung's five-year term ending in 2030.
As part of such efforts, Seoul and Washington have agreed to seek the certification of full operational capability (FOC) of the Future CFC headquarters this year. FOC is the second part of a three-stage program aimed at vetting Seoul's capabilities to lead the allies' combined forces.
"(The move) not only strengthens the South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture but marks a step closer to the conditions-based handover of wartime operational control," a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.
With the recent transition, four of the six component commands, including the air, ground and naval components, have completed their transition as standing component commands within the CFC structure.
Efforts are also under way to turn the two other commands over special operations and military intelligence support operations into permanent units.
"The ROK-U.S. Alliance continues to make steady progress in strengthening its combined defense posture as part of the conditions-based transition of wartime operational control. These efforts reflect long-standing coordination and joint assessments between the two nations," the CFC said in a statement. ROK is short for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
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