DPRK criticizes U.S. delay in transferring OPCON to South Korea

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Thursday criticized the U.S. and South Korea for their agreement to extend the "transfer of the wartime operation control (OPCON)" until 2015, saying the agreement was a serious provocation.

A spokesman for the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said the delay of Seoul's retaking of OPCON was "driving the present dangerous situation to a more extreme phase," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The delay in transfering OPCON revealed the intentions of the U.S. and South Korea in that they did "not to rule out even an all-out war with the DPRK," the spokesman said.

The spokesman also accused South Korea of being a "traitor," calling on the whole nation to oppose the move of South Korea.

　 According to the agreement reached by the U.S. and South Korea in February 2007, OPCON was to be transferred to South Korea in April 2012.

However, South Korean authorities claimed on June 27 that President Lee Myung Bak and U.S. President Barack Obama reached an agreement on a three-year delay of the transfer of OPCON until Dec. 1, 2015.

Source: Xinhua