President Lee Jae-myung’s doctrine of “self-reliant defense” faces strategic and operational constraints that undermine its credibility, particularly South Korea’s continued dependence on U.S. surveillance and command infrastructure.

Although Lee has pledged to recover wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington and restructure the military into a technologically advanced force, Seoul lacks the intelligence and command backbone required to achieve genuine autonomy.

Without progress on these foundational capabilities, the doctrine risks being reduced to aspirational rhetoric.

LEE’S THREE PRIORITIES

In his Armed Forces Day speechon Wednesday, Lee identified three pillars of his strategy: a “smart, elite force” built on AI, drones