General Leon LaPorte, Commander of the USFK

“We expect to reach an agreement on the redeployment plan of the United States Forces Korea in the eighth round of Alliance Meetings between the South Korean and American military next month. We hope that this procedure will be concluded within this year as a new plan is proposed before the Korean National Assembly on June 1st,” the commander of The United States Forces Korea, General Leon La Porte, said on Thursday.

He testified before the Senate Armed Forces Committee that the South Korean government’s share in the total cost of the redeployment plan is still under discussion.

He answered “Yes” when asked whether the U.S. is making efforts to obtain a substantial share from Seoul.

“The Korean government will shoulder a significant amount of the total cost, along with our share, for some military facilities, which will be helpful for the continued positioning of the USFK,” the commander of U.S. Forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, said before the Senate Armed Forces Committee. The Korean Peninsula is a significant strategic post, he added.

Meanwhile, it is still uncertain whether North Korea has completed the reprocessing of 8,000 nuclear fuel rods due to a lack of information.

Soon-Taek Kwon maypole@donga.com