PACOM chief says OPCON transfer timing itself not important

South Korea and the United States, which are now discussing the proper timing of an operational control (OPCON) transfer, should not be distracted from the important task of beefing up their joint combat posture, a top U.S. military commander said Tuesday.

The allies will eventually make a "conditions-based" decision on whether to push back the schedule for the OPCON transition, currently set for 2015, said Adm. Samuel Locklear, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM).

"Whether the decision will be made between the leaders of the country to delay it or not, it'll be based on one of the conditions of that time," he said at a news conference hosted by the Washington Foreign Press Center.

"But what we don't want to do is to delay ensuring that we have put the right things in place to make sure that the alliance is as viable as it can be in the future, waiting on some decision about the OPCON transfer, because it's really not that important of a decision."

South Korea has proposed a delay in regaining the OPCON of its troops in the event of war, saying it needs more time to prepare for it amid increased North Korean threats.

The admiral apparently played down the significance of the timing of the transition itself, given the higher priority of bolstering the combat readiness of the allies.

"The most important decisions are the -- how do we build the organizational structure, and how do we equip and man that organizational structure to be successful in this century," he said.

Some observers viewed his position as subtly different from those of other high-ranking U.S. military officials.

In an annual U.S. Army conference held in Washington last month, Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, the commanding general of U.S.

Army Pacific, said the 2015 OPCON transfer plan is "realistic."

In July, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said he still supports the OPCON transition as scheduled.

"From a military perspective, the timing of the transfer of wartime OPCON is appropriate," he said in a written answer submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee at that time.

Meanwhile, the PACOM leader expressed concerns over North Korea's long-range missile program.

Locklear pointed out the reclusive communist nation wants the U.S. to believe it has the capability of sending missiles to the mainland U.S.

He especially talked about KN-08 road-mobile missiles that were unveiled at a military parade in Pyongyang in April 2012, despite some experts' view that those were fake.

"For our military planning perspective, when I see KN-08 road-mobile missiles that appear in a North Korean military parade, I am bound to take that serious, both for not only the peninsula but also the region, as well as my own homeland, should we speculate that those missiles potentially have the technology to reach out," Locklear said.

The Hawaii-based PACOM has roughly 330,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel. (Yonhap News)