US reaffirms wartime command transfer to South Korea under conditions
Lawmaker Jin Sung-joon said Washington told his delegation the timing of the handover could be affected by policy factors.
Washington remains committed to handing wartime operational control of South Korean forces to Seoul under set conditions, a ruling party lawmaker said Sunday, South Korea's national news agency Yonhap reported.
Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the ruling Democratic Party, who chairs the parliamentary defense committee, told reporters at a press conference after returning from a five-day visit to the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii.
Jin said the current bilateral agreement is still in force and its conditions "have not changed as of now."
He said U.S. officials acknowledged that policy-related factors could affect the timing of the transfer, but they confirmed the conditions-based arrangement has not been altered after his delegation stressed Seoul's firm commitment.
Jin also said U.S. officials told his delegation that postponing the South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting until next year was a scheduling matter and was not linked to any disagreement over the transfer.
During the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korea handed operational control to the U.N. Command, which was later transferred to the Combined Forces Command when it was launched in 1978.
Seoul regained peacetime operational control in 1994, but wartime control remains with the U.S. military.
President Lee Jae Myung's administration wants to regain wartime operational control before its term ends in 2030, or even earlier.
During the trip, Jin and his delegation met the U.S. Pacific commander and other senior American military leaders to discuss strengthening bilateral security cooperation and the future of the alliance.