The GNP has also proposed a special parliamentary committee to deal with the issue, which has engulfed South Korea in the months since Roh vowed to regain wartime control of the forces from the United Sates by 2012 as part of efforts to bolster the country's defense.

In an apparent show of discontent, the United States said it would hand back control as early as 2009, which has triggered concern in Seoul.

A group of GNP lawmakers left for Washington Tuesday to try and persuade U.S. officials to delay the transfer plan. GNP leader Kang Jae-sup held a press conference to call for a meeting with Roh to discuss the sensitive military issue.

Retired military officers and anti-communist civic groups have staged rallies opposing Roh's push to take over wartime control.

South Korea voluntarily put the operational control of its military under the U.S. command shortly after the Korean War broke out in 1950. It regained peacetime control of its forces in 1994, but wartime operational control remains in the hands of the top U.S. commander in Seoul.

The controversy is focused on a possible security vacuum and bigger defense costs in the wake of the transfer of wartime control.

Roh's office says U.S. control of South Korean troops "limits" Seoul's sovereignty and that the regaining of military control is necessary to build a self-reliant national defense.

Since taking office in 2003, Roh has sought to distance South Korea from the United States, while pursuing reconciliation with North Korea. A key pledge for his five-year term, due to expire in 2008, was to lay the groundwork for a self-defense system independent of the United States within 10 years.

Earlier this month, the Defense Ministry unveiled a draft to take back wartime operational control of its forces from the United States, speeding up the transfer plan.

Under the draft road map, South Korea would establish a cooperative institution with the United States after dismantling the current consolidated Combined Forces Command led by the U.S. military.

But critics say it is premature to get back wartime control, as tensions on the peninsula are still running high over North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development programs.

The transfer of the wartime control, they say, would jeopardize the 50-year security alliance with the United States, which has served as the key deterrent against North Korea's 1.2 million-strong army.

GNP Chairman Kang warned that a hasty wartime control transfer might cause a serious security vacuum on the peninsula, which is still technically in a state of war as the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

"If President Roh really wants to realize the nation's independent defense capabilities, he should say no to the proposal from the United States, which is much sooner than Seoul's initial deadline for 2012," he said.

"Only three years are left until 2009, and given a crisis on the Korean peninsula caused by North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and South Koreans' astronomical burdens, we are in a serious situation," he said.

Kang and other critics say American troops will eventually depart from South Korea, leaving the country vulnerable to attack by the North.

U.S. wartime operational rights have been the backbone of the bilateral security ties under which 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea.

Some critics say Roh's push for the wartime control transfer was aimed at mending fences with North Korea, which has long called for the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea.

Critics also say the transfer of wartime control would incur huge defense costs to South Korea, posing a big burden on the country's struggling economy.

The Defense Ministry has already unveiled a set of military reform packages highlighted by the introduction of high-tech military equipment, under which the country would spend $647 billion by 2020. South Korea's annual military budget is expected to reach $34.6 trillion in 2010, $51.3 trillion in 2015, $56.7 trillion in 2019 and $55.4 trillion in 2020.

Military experts say the transfer of the wartime control would require additional defense costs. GNP Rep. Song Young-Son, a former defense analyst, said the country would need additional $446 billion by 2012 if the United States withdraws its troops from South Korea.

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