KDVA and KUSAF are proud to announce a webinar about the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) on the occasion of its founding on November 7, 1978.

Date & Time:

• November 19, 2020 | 6:30 – 7:45 p.m. EST
• November 20, 2020 | 8:30 – 9:45 a.m. KST

We will discuss the following topics:

• How CFC has evolved to support the ROK-U.S. Alliance and to defend against the North Korean threat.
• Go behind the scenes to hear how CFC leaders and the staff work together to solve issues.
• Discuss what we need to understand about wartime operational control (or OPCON) transition.
• Take a look at where we see CFC headed in the next 2-4 years.

Opening Speaker:

• General Robert B. Abrams – Commander of UNC/CFC/USFK

Co-Moderators: 

• Dr. Stephen Noerper – Senior Director for Policy, Korea Society; Adjunct Professor, Columbia University; Senior Adviser, UN
• Dr. Ashton Cho – VP & Director of Int’l Security Cooperation at Korea Association of Military Studies

Panelists: 

• General (Ret.) Vincent Brooks – Chairman and President at Korea Defense Veterans Association and Former Commander of UNC/CFC/USFK
• General (Ret.) Leem, Ho Young – ROK Vice Chairman at Korea Defense Veterans Association and Former Deputy Commander of CFC
• Mr. Bruce Klingner – Senior Research Fellow, Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation

Recordings:

English Version –

Korean Version –

9:00 AM – 10:30 Eastern Time | 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM Sweden Time

On July 14, 1950, South Korea’s President Syngman Rhee, handed over operational control (OPCON) of the Republic of Korea (ROK) armed forces to the United States. In 1978, the Combined Forces Command (CFC), the ROK-US integrated military command structure, headed by a U.S. four-star General, was established. Since the early 1990s, there have been talks between Seoul and Washington on when and how to transfer full operational command over its own military forces back to the ROK.

To this day, however, no agreement on when and how OPCON transfer will materialize has been reached between the ROK and the United States.  President Moon Jae-in ran on the promise that OPCON transfer will take place prior to the end of his presidency in 2022. Within OPCON transfer remain a few issues of contention, one being the future role of the United Nations Command (UNC) and its authority in the de-militarized zone under the Armistice Agreement. As an indirect consequence of the transfer, the relationship between the ROK, the UNC and the NNSC may also change as may the role of the NNSC and its working conditions.

ISDP’s Korea Center, in collaboration with the Korea Defense Veterans Association (KDVA), is hosting a webinar to discuss the possible impacts of the full transfer of operational control to the Republic of Korea. The speakers will tackle questions such as: What is driving the OPCON transfer? What are the obstacles? What possible consequences for the UNC and the NNSC can we assess? And how would this affect the security situation on the Korean Peninsula?

We are very honored to invite a distinguished panel to join us in this webinar.  Gen (ret) Vincent Brooks is currently the Chairman and President of the KDVA and the former UNC Commander in South Korea,  LtGen (ret) Chun In Bum is currently the Vice President of the Korea Freedom Federation and the former deputy Commander of the First ROK Army,  Mr. David Maxwell is a Senior Fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) with several years of military service in South Korea, and MG (ret) Urs Gerber is the former Head of the Swiss Delegation to NNSC between 2012-2017. The event will be moderated by  Maj Gen (ret) Mats Engman, a Distinguished Military Fellow at ISDP.

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4T-6bDa-1U

Later on, KDVA will conduct a webinar about ROK and U.S. Defense Veterans of the De-militarized Zone or DMZ.

Friday, July 17, 2020

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. (U.S. EDT)
9:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (KST)

In memory of Gen. and Amb. Paik, Sun-yup, the Korea Defense Veterans Association (KDVA) and the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation (KUSAF) are honored to host a webinar to pay tribute to the greatest leader and mentor of the ROK-U.S. Alliance.  Gen. Paik passed away on July 10, 2020 at the age of 99. 

We will have several prominent ROK and U.S. leaders provide their tributes and personal stories about Gen. Paik.  For the second part of the webinar, we invite audience members to provide their short tributes or stories.

Tributes & Stories By:

Recording:

Please join KDVA for our webinar on the significant role of the United Nations Command in maintaining stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Monday, July 27, 2020

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. (U.S. EDT)
9:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (KST)

 Livestream via Zoom

Feel free to join 15 minutes prior to each webinars’ start time to chat with other KDVA members and attendees via Zoom messenger chat.

The webinar is free, but you must register in advance.

RECORDING

70th Commemoration of the Korean War Webinar Series –

Webinar Part 2: Fulfilling Our Veterans’ Legacy: Enduring Nature of “Alliance for the Ages”

Friday, June 26, 2020

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. (U.S. EDT)
9:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (KST)

Discussion and Q&A with prominent Korea experts and senior military leaders of KDVA.

Speakers:

Topics:

• Korean War’s place in shaping ROK-U.S. relations
• The need for a strong Alliance — what we are doing to ensure Korean War veterans’ service and sacrifice live on today and into the future
• Highlight the “Wall of Remembrance” as an enduring example of the “Alliance for the Ages”

Recording:

70th Commemoration of the Korean War Webinar Series –

Webinar Part 1: Honoring Those Who Served: 70 Years of the Irreplaceable ROK-U.S. Alliance

Thursday, June 25, 2020

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. (U.S. EDT)
9:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (KST)

Interview and Q&A with Korean War Veterans and their family members.

Speakers:

Topics:

• Look back on those who served and sacrificed during the war; include perspective of families through the decades
• Discuss why they think their service was worth fighting the war
• Look now at recognizing and honoring service members and their families

RECORDING:

Announcing Korea Defense Veterans Association’s first webinar on “ROK-U.S. Leadership During Crisis” on June 2, 2020 at 8:30 am – 9:30 am (EDT) and 9:30 pm – 10:30 pm (KST).  This webinar is a series and for the first session, the topic is “Combined Forces Command Leadership During Crisis” with the former Commander of CFC, General Walter Sharp, and former Deputy Commander, General Jung, Seung Jo. 

Our intent is to discuss their shared experiences with combined ROK and U.S. military leadership during crisis.  Their thoughts should provide foundational insight that can be useful for other topics like:  instability in North Korea, exchange of fires along the DMZ, and North Korean strategic provocations to include nuclear tests and missile launches. 

This webinar does not intend to get into the decision-making space of the current leaders of CFC … we only want to help people better understand how CFC works during crisis.

Recording: