Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul said Friday that South Korea is seeking to retake wartime operational control (OPCON) from the United States under a firm principle that there will be "no additional conditions" attached. Kang made the remark in written responses submitted to a lawmaker ahead of his parliamentary confirmation hearing set for Wednesday. The retired four-star Army general, a former deputy commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), was nominated to lead the defense ministry late last month. "I understand that the defense ministry has been pursuing bilateral consultations with the U.S. based on the principle of 'no additional conditions,'" he said in the document submitted to Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the main opposition People Power Party, obtained by Yonhap News Agency. His response comes as Seoul is pushing to regain OPCON from Washington before the Lee Jae Myung administration's five-year term ends in 2030, or even as early as next year. South Korea retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but the U.S. retains wartime OPCON. The allies originally agreed in