Lee Jae-myung Calls for Early Transfer of Wartime Operational Control

Regarding the issue of the transfer of Wartime Operational Control (OPCON),
which has once again come under scrutiny due to USFK Commander
Xavier Brunson's remarks on "changing conditions,"
President Lee Jae-myung stated,
"It must be transferred early."
Furthermore, regarding claims of an alliance crisis or the dismissal of the NIS Director
citing difficulties in ROK-US intelligence cooperation,
he dismissed them, saying,
"It is not a matter of someone doing something wrong, but rather
merely minor differences that arise in the process of
each party protecting its own national interests."
Regarding the transfer of OPCON, President Lee first stated,
"A nation consists of three elements: the people, the territory, and sovereignty,
and one of the core components of this sovereignty
is military sovereignty."
"I believe this must be swiftly reclaimed
for the Republic of Korea to meet the minimum requirements of a nation."
"Can we handle our own defense? Naturally,
we must handle it ourselves. My view is that
we are fully capable of doing so," he said,
emphasizing, "If there are deficiencies, we must fill them. We are taking
various measures to strengthen our national defense capabilities."
He also noted, "Even comparing defense spending levels,
our country's spending is nearly 1.5 times
the total annual GDP of North Korea."
"People say, 'But doesn't the other side (North Korea) have nuclear weapons?'
But would they actually fight a real war with nuclear weapons? That falls under
the category of a last-resort defense weapon."
Above all, President Lee said, "To speak bluntly about OPCON,
it must be transferred early. We are fully capable of doing so,
and ROK-US consultations are fundamentally proceeding well
toward the side of reclaiming it."