U.S. reaffirms commitment to conditions-based OPCON transition to S. Korea: lawmaker

SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- The United States has reaffirmed its commitment to a conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to South Korea, a ruling party lawmaker said Sunday.

Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the ruling Democratic Party, who chairs the parliamentary defense committee, made the remarks during a press conference after returning from a five-day trip to the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii last week.

"The existing agreement between South Korea and the United States remains intact, and the conditions have not changed as of now," he said.

Rep. Jin said U.S. officials acknowledged that "policy-related factors" could affect the transfer after his delegation conveyed Seoul's strong commitment but reaffirmed that the agreement on the conditions-based transfer currently remains unchanged.

The U.S. side also explained that the decision to postpone the South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) until next year had nothing to do with any differences between the allies over the OPCON transfer and was simply due to scheduling issues, according to the lawmaker.

South Korea handed over OPCON to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It was then transferred to the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command when the command was launched in 1978. Seoul retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but wartime OPCON remains in U.S. hands.

President Lee Jae Myung's administration seeks to regain wartime OPCON before its term ends in 2030, or even earlier.

During his trip, Jin and his delegation met with the U.S. Pacific commander and other U.S. military leaders to discuss strengthening bilateral security cooperation and the future of the alliance.