Overview
- Gen. Xavier Brunson told House lawmakers Wednesday the allies delivered a roadmap to meet the handover conditions by the second quarter of U.S. fiscal 2029, or January to March 2029.
- He said the transfer remains strictly conditions-based, and he pointed to South Korea’s planned defense-spending increase of about 8.5% over three years as progress toward those standards.
- Seoul’s defense ministry said defense chiefs will set a timeline at this autumn’s Security Consultative Meeting and then send it to both presidents.
- Under the agreed framework, a South Korean four-star would command combined forces in wartime with a U.S. four-star in a supporting role.
- Brunson rejected any withdrawal of U.S. troops and said post-transfer U.S. forces would focus on key capabilities on the peninsula and a broader Indo-Pacific role.