Bell regrets delay in base relocation

The top U.S. military officer here yesterday expressed regret about a possible delay of the relocation of U.S. military bases on the Korean Peninsula, saying he will "fight" against any further postponement of the plan.

At a news conference held in Seoul`s Yongsan Garrison, Gen. Burwell Bell, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, also repeated the U.S. position that the transition of wartime operational control to the Korean armed forces should occur as early as 2009.

Taking a firm position on alliance issues, Bell said the Korean government`s reported plan to delay the base relocation until 2013 is against his pledges to provide U.S. soldiers and family members in Korea better living conditions. He said the base plan should be implemented "as expeditiously as possible" irrespective of political accounts and budget constraints.

Seoul officials recently said that the U.S. base relocation is likely to be postponed because construction of an alternative facility has been delayed due to protests by residents and anti-U.S. activists.

In 2004 Seoul and Washington agreed to move facilities and troops from the Yongsan Garrison and 2nd Infantry Division near the border with North Korea to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, by 2008.

According to the agreement, U.S. Camp Humphreys, located 70 kilometers south of Seoul, and the nearby Osan airbase will become the main installation for the USFK for dealing with contingencies in the Northeast Asian region.

Korea and the United States are working on a master plan for the base relocation.

The U.S. military is concerned that a further delay would result in the deteriorated welfare of U.S. personnel as well as possible strategic losses, entailing an unexpected postponement in transforming itself into a rapid expeditionary force with strategic flexibility.

The U.S. general also stressed there are no links between base relocation and wartime control transfer, rebutting Korean officials` intention to connect the two issues. Korea hopes the U.S. troop relocation will coincide with the transition of wartime control, with fears of a possible strategic gap until the restructuring is realized.

The allies aim to fix a concrete date for the control transfer by summer in accordance with an agreement made last year. In October, the two sides agreed to transfer wartime control from Washington to Seoul between Oct. 15, 2009 and March 15, 2012 in a measure to patch up rifts between the allies concerning a target year.

Korea is sticking to its original target year of 2012 while the United States contends that 2009 is more appropriate.

Bell said Washington believes early transition would not interfere with the allies` combat readiness, repeating his pledge of providing a "bridging capability" to Korea to offset possible strategic gaps.

Bell is also dissatisfied over a lower than expected budget contribution by Korea to the U.S. forces stationed on the peninsula. The top U.S. commander pointed out that the 2007 funding level fell short of U.S. expectations about "equitable burden sharing," and claimed that the U.S. troops stationed in Korea will face serious funding shortfalls amounting to 100 billion won this year.

Late last year Seoul and Washington concluded a lengthy negotiation process and agreed to raise Korea`s share of the budget required for maintaining U.S. troops here by 6.6 percent for 2007 and 2008.

The two-year contract has Korea paying 725.5 billion won.

The amount is a 45.1 billion won increase from last year, but it is smaller than 2004`s 746.9 billion won.

Bell said the outcome was less than the U.S. demand of 832 billion won, so the USFK faces cuts in some projects involving Korean workers serving the U.S. military, facility construction and U.S. troops` quality of life.

The U.S. commander also said the U.S.-led United Nations Command will play a supporting role to Korean military`s maintenance of the armistice after the wartime control transfer. Bell called for negotiations over a revision of the UNC roles and missions.

(davidpooh@heraldm.com)



By Jin Dae-woong