A press release read out at the press conference recalled that the commander of the U.S. forces in south Korea officially announced on Feb. 4 that he would set up a "combined air force command" with south Korea.

It noted that the creation of the above-said mechanism would result in increasing south Korea's military dependence upon the U.S.

It disclosed the fact that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of the south Korean army agreed on setting up such mechanism at the end of a series of consultations held with the above-said commander in December last year.

The south Korean military authorities concealed the truth that they had already given up taking over "the right to command the wartime operations" but the above-said decision is little short of undisguisedly disclosing the attempt to keep the air force under the control of the U.S. forces, it added.

Pointing out that the projected building of the above-said command was, in fact, prompted by the military strategic scenario of the U.S. to control all the operations and realize the "strategic flexibility," the press release demanded an immediate halt to those moves.