On Saturday North Korea demanded the removal of the United Nations Command (UNC) from South Korea, which is led by the United States Forces Korea (USFK).

North Korea's Rodong Shinmun stated in an editorial that the "UNC in South Korea should completely be discarded."

The editorial claimed that the head of the USFK, General Burwell Bell, made a request last week that the head of the USFK be allowed to maintain immediate access to South Korea's military forces even after the US relinquishes wartime command of those forces to South Korea.

At a high level meeting last year, the US and South Korea agreed that wartime command of South Korean forces would revert to South Korea sometime between 2009 and 2012.

North Korea stated that the request made by Bell indicates "criminal intention," further stating that the USFK is using the UNC as a cover, and South Korea as a staging ground, to launch an invasion of North Korea.

South and North Korea never formally ended the Korean war which began in 1950. Hostilities came to an end in 1953 under an armistice, but a peace treaty was never signed.