Military authorities have confirmed that “meaningful progress” has been made in the plan for the conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control(OPCON) from the U.S. to South Korea.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Seung-kyum and his U.S. counterpart, Charles Brown, made the assessment in the annual Military Committee Meeting(MCM) in Seoul on Sunday.

The JCS said that the two chairmen confirmed that the allies have made substantive progress in the facilitation of the conditions-based OPCON handoff, including the completion of a related joint evaluation this year.

The two sides also discussed major security issues, including North Korea's continued provocations such as missile launches and nuclear threats, with Brown reaffirming the U.S.’ commitment to extended deterrence and the defense of South Korea.

They concurred on the importance of developing an ever-stronger combined defense system under the bilateral Mutual Defense Treaty, resolutely confirming their commitment to the combined defense posture.

The MCM is an annual meeting held alternately in South Korea and the U.S. to provide strategic and operational guidelines on the defense of South Korea to the chief of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and to discuss military issues of mutual concern that was first convened in 1978.