Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul said Monday that Seoul is working with Washington to complete the second stage of verification for the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) and agree on a target year for the handover by the end of 2026. Kang also said the three conditions previously agreed upon by the allies remain valid, despite recent remarks by Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, suggesting that the standards for meeting those conditions may need to change. “We are closely consulting with the U.S. to complete the full operational capability (FOC) verification and determine a target year for the transfer,” Kang told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit of the defense ministry. He was responding to Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who called for the allies to agree on a transfer timeline at their annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), expected to take place in the United States in December. The FOC assessment is the second stage of a three-phase verification process to assess whether the future Combined Forces Command, led