Seoul: A special advisory committee tasked with reforming the military has called for establishing a joint operations command as South Korea pushes for a handover of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The recommendation comes amidst South Korea's efforts to achieve the conditions-based OPCON handover within President Lee Jae Myung's five-year term ending in 2030.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the committee, consisting of civilian, government, and military officials, proposed the establishment of a joint operations command to unify the command structure and enhance the completion of wartime and peacetime operational command. The defense ministry stated in a release that the Joint Chiefs of Staff should transfer its operational function to the envisioned command and concentrate on establishing military strategy and building military power.

The structural reform also includes redefining the role and mission of the Strategic Command to ensure strategic autonomy and the need to launch a space command to address changes in the space security landscape and future warfare trends. The Drone Operations Command was recommended to be scrapped due to overlapping features with respective functions within military branches.

In response to deterrence against North Korean threats, the committee emphasized the early deployment of key assets such as high-power, high-precision anti-ballistic missiles, a long-range surface-to-air missile (L-SAM) interception system, and military satellites. Furthermore, the committee advocated for an annual average of a 10 percent increase in the defense research and development budget for cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, defense semiconductors, and robotics.