Seoul, Washington nearing relocation deal

South Korea and the United States have almost finalized an agreement for relocating U.S. troops further south of the peninsula, the Defense Ministry said yesterday.

Gen. Walter Sharp and Vice Defense Minister Chang Soo-man are to meet next week to ink the final deal at a follow-up conference to their meeting yesterday.

"We have agreed on reaching a substantive conclusion at the next meeting," said Lee Jae-young, the ministry`s spokesman, on the relocation project.

Sharp proposed such meetings to Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee earlier this year to narrow the two allies` differences over the desired date and cost-bearing scheme for the relocation.

Seoul had called for 2014 as the deadline for the relocation of Yongsan Garrison and 2015 for the Second Infantry Division, both slated to move to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

But Washington has reportedly pushed for a later date for both Yongsan and the infantry division, possibly after 2016, citing cost problems.

Regarding costs, each side is looking to bear a smaller portion.

For now, Seoul is expected to shoulder about half the costs by pitching in 5.5 trillion won ($4 billion), excluding the 3 trillion won it would separately offer to help support the construction projects. Washington is expected to pay for about 6.8 trillion won.

Part of the controversy is because South Korea may have to bear the bulk of the expenses to clean the bases, which were found to be heavily polluted.

The United States has said it is not entirely responsible because a large part of the pollution was due to the operations the troops conducted to help protect the peninsula.

There is a 28,500-strong U.S. military presence here as a war deterrent, mostly against North Korea.

The two allies earlier agreed to move the Eighth Army Headquarters in Yongsan and the Second Infantry Division in Dongducheon and Euijeongbu to Pyeongtaek as part of the U.S. policies to reposition its global military forces to better cover the Asia Pacific region.

The land that the Yongsan base and the infantry division had occupied, meanwhile, will be returned to South Korea to be used both commercially and for public interests.

By Kim Ji-hyun



(jemmie@heraldm.com)