Relocation Expenses of Yongsan Garrison Charged to Seoul

In the sixth round of the Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative talks in Hawaii on January 17, South Korea and the United States officially agreed to relocate the U.S. military units in Yongsan base, including the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command, to Osan and Pyeong-taek, located south of Seoul by the end of 2007.

However, the two countries failed to reach a conclusion in settling detailed agreements that contain the expenses for troop relocation and obligatory clauses for both countries.

The two delegate leaders, senior official of Korean Defense Ministry Lt. Gen. Cha Young-koo, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia-Pacific region Richard Lawless, announced the agreement during the co-press conference after the end of the discussion.

According to the agreement, 810,000 pyong of Yongsan base will eventually put an end to its history of offering bases for foreign troops since the Im-o Military Revolt in 1882, 122 years ago. Only leaving 25,000 pyong for the offices of commander and deputy commander of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command, the office for 50 staff members of the Korea-U.S. cooperative community, and Dragon Hill Hotel in the current site, the majority of land will be returned to the Korean government.

“We both agreed that it would be more supportive for both the stability of the troop location and the solid relationship between Korea-U.S. alliance on a long-term basis if we move the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command to south of the Han river,” said Lt. Gen Cha.

“I understand the mental uneasiness of Korean people in terms of the vacancy in security,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary Lawless. “For the next three years, we promised to invest $11 billion (Equivalent to app. 13 trillion won; military investment for Korean army in 2004 is around six trillion won.) to the U.S. military in Korea, and the U.S. troops will continuously make improvement.”

Meanwhile, both sides reconfirmed that South Korea will be charged with the entire troops relocation cost that is presumed to be around $3~5 billion, based on the bilateral note contracted in 1990.

The two nations plan to tune different parts of viewpoints within 2~3 weeks and then finalize the agreement during the seventh round of negotiation in Seoul in mid-February. Accordingly, they will submit the agreement to each assembly in early March.

Ho-Won Choi bestiger@donga.com