South Korea’s military ambitions get a reality check

A South Korean battle tank takes part in a live-fire exercise at a defense expo at a military base in Pocheon, South Korea, in September 2022. | Bloomberg

Nov 9, 2026

The deck is stacked against a significant shift in military control on the Korean Peninsula, yet that is exactly what South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is staking his leadership on. It’s the right idea, at the wrong time.

Seoul still relies on an American general to lead combined U.S.-South Korea military operations in wartime, one of the enduring legacies of the Korean War. Lee wants to put a South Korean in charge. Yet Seoul is having a difficult time with the second Trump administration — the two sides are divided over their trade agreement and Lee’s reluctance to get involved in the U.S. president’s war in Iran.

That acrimony is bleeding into all aspects of the relationship. Indeed, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Michelle Steel, has described ties as being in a state of turbulence. So why is Lee pushing so hard now to speed up the timeline to take wartime operational control of the combined forces, when Washington has indicated 2029 is a possibility and the allies have yet to agree on a final date?

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