US, South Korea signs military agreement to update joint war plan against North Korea

Asia-Pacific, News, US April 2, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. and South Korean military leaders have agreed to update their mutually devised war action plan amid the increasing war threats from North Korea.

Chairman of South Korean Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Won In-choul met with U.S. Joint Chief of Staff General Mike Milley at the U.S. Military’s Indo-Pacific Command Headquarters in Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii to discuss the changing situation of the regional security environment.

In view of North Korea’s increasing aggression and an arsenal build-up, the two generals approved updating the Strategic Planning Directive or OPLAN 5015 to incorporate the nuclear-capable missiles threat.

A joint statement was released after the meeting that stated that “The senior military leaders signed the Strategic Planning Directive developed in accordance with the new Strategic Planning Guidance.”

The U.S. and South Korea officially signed the OPLAN 5015 for the first time in 2015. However, the signed draft of OPLAN 5015 was developed on the Strategic Planning Guidance of 2010 which has now become outdated and needs a major upgrade.

Devising a completely new operations plan, or an OPLAN would take years of coordination and consultation between the two countries. This is why Seoul and Washington have decided to upgrade the exiting OPLAN 5015.

The announcement for upgrading the OPLAN 5015 came four months ago when South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin agreed to rewrite the operation plans during the 53rd Security Consultative Meeting in December 2021. In that meeting, Seoul and Washington agreed on planning an operational war plan according to the changes in the regional strategic environment. The joint statement reaffirmed the efforts from both sides to effectively deter North Korea and termed its increasing aggression in the region as a threat to the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

^{South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Won In-choul (L) and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley (R), pose for a photo before their Military Committee Meeting at South Korea’s JCS on Dec. 1, 2021. (Image Credit: South Korean JCS/Yonhap)}

Apart from approving the up-gradation in OPLAN 5015, the two military leaders also met the Japanese Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Koji Yamazaki for a Trilateral Chief of Defense (Tri-CHOD) meeting at the same venue. The post-meeting trilateral joint statement stated that “The military leaders shared a common understanding on the significance of enhancing regional security through close trilateral cooperation and coordination.” The three military leaders also had an extensive discussion on “multilateral cooperation and joint training in order to enhance the peace and stability in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific region and to expand the security cooperation.”

The main agenda of the trilateral meeting also focused on the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula amid North Korea’s increasing missile threats. It is expected that the defense ministers from South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. would also meet in near future to further strengthen the military cooperation between the three sides, however, a specific date for such a meeting has not been announced so far.