Trump may view OPCON transfer as path to US troop withdrawal: experts

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump seems to view an envisioned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to South Korea as a potential means of withdrawing American troops from the Korean Peninsula, U.S. experts assessed Friday. Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), made the remarks during an online discussion hosted by the Washington-based think tank on the state of the South Korea-U.S. alliance. "It has been said, and I think said very credibly, that President Trump sees OPCON transition as a way to pull the forces from the peninsula," Cha said. "The president is the commander in chief," he said. "There are ways that the president can do things if he is so committed to that particular task." Cha said that even if Congress established a minimum level of U.S. troops in South Korea through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Trump could still find ways to reduce the American military presence. "They should have no illusions that this is not the way the U.S. president thinks," he said. "He clearly sees this as a way fo