This year’s Key Resolve joint military drill between South Korea and the U.S. will be conducted in line with plans devised by Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS).
 
A South Korean military official said Monday that the JCS will lead key parts of the joint exercise that will begin in March, including planning and managing the drill, as well as leading the after-action review.

The military official said the upcoming drill will seek to boost the JCS’s capacity to conduct joint drills and carry out operations.
 
When wartime operational control(OPCON) is transferred from the U.S. to South Korea between 2025 and 2026, the military command structure will be revamped. Under the new structure, the head of South Korea’s JCS will take on the post of commander and the chief of the U.S. Forces Korea will serve as deputy commander.

The JCS had led the Key Resolve back in 2013 but with the OPCON transfer timetable being put off from 2015 to the mid-2020s, the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command has led the exercise since 2014.

The Key Resolve drill is an annual command post exercise that sees the participation of South Korean and U.S. troops, including forces off the Korean Peninsula.

[Photo : ]