The Combined Ground Component Command (CGCC), which integrates command and control of South Korean and U.S. ground forces, has been made permanent.
According to the military on the 8th, the CGCC received approval to transition to a permanent structure from the South Korea-U.S. Permanent Military Committee in October last year. Full-fledged activities began in December.
The CGCC had been an organization activated only in wartime. With this permanent status, some U.S. troops will be incorporated as members of the combined combat staff group in peacetime and be able to carry out missions.
The CGCC is built around the U.S. Eighth Army, which operates U.S. ground forces in Korea, and the Republic of Korea Ground Operations Command. The commander of the CGCC concurrently serves as the Ground Operations Command chief.
South Korea and the United States plan to jointly develop operational plans and conduct training starting with this March's Freedom Shield (FS) exercise.
The CGCC's permanent status was pursued as part of the task of transitioning wartime operational control. Since 2019, the two countries have worked to make the combined component commands under the Future Combined Forces Command permanent to facilitate the OPCON transition.
To date, four combined component commands—ground, navy, air force, and marine corps—have been made permanent. The remaining two combined component commands, the Combined Special Operations Component Command and the Combined Military Intelligence Support Operations Component Command, are currently undergoing permanent establishment.