North Korea has achieved progress in building asymmetric military capabilities, which requires South Korea and the United States to build further momentum in strengthening intelligence and ballistic missile defense system, the chief of the U.S. forces here said Tuesday.
   
"Kim Jong-un, unlike his father Kim Jong-il, is overconfident and unpredictable," Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the top commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said in his lecture at a Seoul hotel organized by the Association of the Republic of Korea Army.
   
"Realizing that he cannot win in a conventional war, he was focused on his military development and training on asymmetric capability. I would tell you that the North Korean military is making progress in these areas," he said.  
   
Asymmetric capabilities refer to nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, biochemical weapons and submarines that can be used to carry out a surprise attack and lead to mass destruction.
  
Noting the North's continued tension-stoking activities along the demilitarized zone and the tensely-guarded inter-Korean sea border of the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, he stressed the need for the allies to maintain strong joint military capabilities and readiness posture based upon mutual trust.
   
"Our top concern is that we have very little warning of the North's asymmetric attack, which could start a cycle of action and counter-actions. This underscores the need for the alliance to maintain a high level of readiness," the commander said.
  
He also called for building critical capabilities of the so-called C4I of command, control, communications, computers and intelligence, as well as ballistic missile defense, critical munitions and the acquisition of three key assets of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
   
"During this past year, we made progress in the aforementioned areas, but we must maintain irreversible momentum," the general said, noting the capabilities can be "conditions" required for the future handover of the wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul.
   
Last month, the allies agreed to delay the transition of the operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul until South Korea is capable enough to counter the threats, with the two sides eyeing the mid-2020s time frame.
  

Speaking on the allies' decision to keep the CFC at the current location of the Yongsan Garrison, central Seoul, he vowed his commitment to the relocation plans of the U.S. troops to Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul.
  
"I will move all but a few of the U.S. Forces headquarters and U.N. headquarters retaining only those required for the CFC mission. So I will greatly reduce the footprint on Yongsan,"
Scaparrotti said. 
   
While the allies had agreed to move all U.S. troops located in a sprawling military base in central Seoul to Pyeongtaek by the end of 2016, with the joint command that was to be dissolved upon the OPCON transfer, the delay has kept the CFC intact and the two countries agreed to maintain it at the current location of Yongsan. (Yonhap)