Reconfirmation of Early Relocation of Yongsan Garrison

Senior South Korean officials and U.S. military officials yesterday opened the first session of the “Future of Alliance”, designed to draw up blueprints for the future of the two nations, including a major shift in the alignment of U.S. forces in South Korea.

A team of ten Korean officials from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, headed by Lt. Gen. Cha Young-koo, assistant defense minister for policy, and a team of 10 officials from the U.S. State Department and U.S. forces in Korea, led by Richard Lawless, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asian policy, will continue talks through today.

It is reported that at yesterday’s session, the two teams confirmed relocation of the Yongsan Garrison at the earliest possible date, but failed to narrow their differences in possible reshuffling of U.S. forces in Korea, such as repositioning the entire 16,000 strong Second Infantry Division.

"We accepted the U.S. proposal of advancing the date for relocating the Yongsan Garrison. Regarding the repositioning of the Second Infantry Division, we delivered our position that it is difficult to accept still considering its presence a deterrent against North Korea as well as massive relocation costs," an official with the Ministry of Defense said.

"The two teams did not make remarks about the reduction in U.S. Forces in Korea and even on a TV conference ahead of the session, the U.S. side did not mention the need of reductions," he added.

The U.S. side was reported to have suggested debate on relocation of U.S. forces in Korea, stressing that it is part of the U.S.’ world military strategy.

Yesterday’s session was said to have focused on ways to improve military capacity by introducing the newest information gathering and combat methods according to changes in battlefield environments.

"The U.S. sent smaller military forces to the current war with Iraq than it did to the 1991 Gulf War. As battlefield environments are changing, the focus was on the reshuffling of U.S. forces in Korea at the session," an American participant said.

The two sides will announce the results of the talks in a joint statement today and plan to hold additional sessions in Seoul or Washington every two months in order to finalize the overall plan in late September.

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com