A parliamentary defense committee meeting was crippled Tuesday after lawmakers clashed over South Korea's agreement to regain the wartime operational control of its own troops in 2012 from the United States.

The accord, signed by the defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. last Friday, stoked security concerns among conservatives in South Korea who have argued it is premature to reclaim the authority, citing persistent threat from a nuclear-armed North Korea.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly's defense committee was supposed to review the agreement, with Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo and other top defense officials present. The committee earlier adopted a resolution urging the liberal South Korean government of President Roh Moo-hyun not to reclaim the authority before the North Korean nuclear tension is resolved.

But the parliamentary meeting became deadlocked after liberal and conservative lawmakers bickered over committee chairman Kim Sung-gon's reported telephone call to Defense Minister Kim to push for the agreement ahead of his meeting with his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates. The committee chief, Kim, is a member of the pro-government Uri Party.

Kim's activity "is tantamount to giving up parliament's role of checking the administration," said Gong Sung-jin, a committee member affiliated with the largest opposition Grand National Party.

Uri Party lawmakers retaliated against the conservative lawmakers, saying it is too much to demand committee chief Kim's resignation.

Kim was eventually forced to adjourn the session, as the sides continuously traded verbal accusations against each other. South Korea voluntarily put the operational control of its military under the American-led U.N. Command shortly after the three-year Korean War broke out in 1950. It took back peacetime control of its forces in 1994, but wartime operational control still lies in the hands of the commander of U.S. troops here.

Seoul, Feb. 27 (Yonhap News)