In a series of articles, Dr. Clint Work, explores each of the key variables that have shaped the policy process around wartime operational control (OPCON) transition and how they have aligned or clashed with one another to either advance or complicate — if not outright delay — the policy.

This first article in the series explores one of the more consequential if difficult to measure variables, namely, the “control rod” logic.

Read Pt. 1

As it has for decades, the South Korea-U.S. alliance must grapple with the inherently contradictory distortions of the control rod logic, including policy drift, divergence in the understanding and practice of deterrence within the alliance, and allied free riding alongside U.S.-imposed dependency. Read the second article in the series here.

Read Pt. 2

This piece in the "The Variables of OPCON" series explores the ROK sovereignty narrative, which is rooted in and shaped by historical grievances and internal political contestation over the U.S., the alliance, and polarized progressive and conservative conceptions of Korean sovereignty itself. The power and resonance of such sentiments tends to obfuscate other critical operational, strategic, and procedural components of wartime OPCON transition.

Read Pt. 3