Pentagon chief sees DPRK's use of WMD unacceptable

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SEOUL, Oct. 2 -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Wednesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK)'s use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and chemical weapons is unacceptable.

His comments were made during the joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin after holding their annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM).

Hagel said that the DPRK's provocations would impose threats on the world security, promising that the U.S. will offer its extended deterrence to South Korea with all possible military capabilities.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon chief said that he seriously saw Seoul' s request to delay the transition of the country's wartime operational control, adding that discussions on the issue were anticipated to last down the road.

South Korea handed over its wartime command of troops to Washington during the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul regained its peacetime operational control in 1994.

Seoul initially agreed to retrieve its operational control in time of war in April 2012, but it called for a delay after the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010.

South Korean had offered in May to postpone the wartime command transfer, which had been scheduled for Dec. 1, 2015, amid escalating tensions on the Koran Peninsula following the DPRK's third nuclear test in February and its long-range rocket launch in December 2012.

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