A leader-level Analysis of South Korea’s push for the reclamation of wartime operational control: Focusing on ideology and cognitive biases

This article aims to analyze the motivations behind the South Korean government’s push for the early reclamation of wartime operational control (OPCON) over the South Korean military—which is currently delegated to the Commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC)—despite serious concerns about nuclear-armed North Korea. It focuses on the individual level of analysis within international relations theory, concentrating on the ideologies and cognitive biases of South Korean progressive political leaders. The findings reveal that South Korean Democratic administrations, heavily inclined toward an anti-conservative ideology centered on pro-North Korean and anti-American sentiments, consistently pursue early OPCON reclamation whenever they seize political power. Furthermore, these administrations perceive OPCON through an exaggerated lens as an infringement upon national sovereignty, harbor misconceptions and confirmation biases—falsely believing that the current CFC will not be dismantled even if OPCON is transitioned—and exhibit symptoms that have now deteriorated into groupthink.