Posted on : Dec.13,2006 15:54 KST Modified on : Dec.14,2006 21:59 KST

The relocation of the main U.S. base here will likely be postponed until 2013 because of a delay in the construction schedule, government sources said Wednesday.

"It is impossible to complete the relocation by the end of 2008 as scheduled, so relevant authorities are discussing postponing it by about five years," a government source said, asking to remain anonymous.

But the Defense Ministry said South Korea and the United States are still consulting with each other over the issue, and no decision has been made yet.

The ministry acknowledged that it will take more time than expected to work out a solution as both sides are engaged in "in-depth and detailed" negotiations regarding cost-sharing.


South Korea and the U.S. are expected to finish drawing up a joint master plan on expanding Camp Humphreys by the end of December, the ministry said in a statement. The plan includes studies on a timetable, cost sharing and facility management.

"South Korean and U.S. working-level officials are also discussing the cost of building a C4I military command system. The master plan will specify the construction schedule and cost," said Kim Dong-ki, chief of the U.S. base relocation project at the ministry.

The C4I system refers to a joint command, control, communications, computers and intelligence system that enables a commander to selectively apply and maximize combat power at critical points in time and space on the battlefield.

The total cost of base relocation is estimated to be about 10 trillion won (US$10 billion), and South Korea is expected to fork out about 50 percent, a little less than the originally estimated expense, according to defense sources.

Landfill work is expected to begin sometime in early 2007, and construction will likely begin in March or April.

Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, is set to triple in size over the next few years and become the U.S. military's chief installation in South Korea as part of a global U.S. troop realignment for strategic flexibility.

In a 2004 deal with South Korea, the U.S. was supposed to relocate its main base Yongsan Garrison in downtown Seoul and the 2nd Infantry Division near the border with North Korea to Pyeongtaek, a city of 350,000 people, over the next three years.

Last year, the government took legal control of about 11 million square meters of land surrounding Camp Humphreys and has since been seeking to clear the area of people who remain there.

But some residents and anti-U.S. civic activists have defied government orders to leave the site and vowed to plant a new spring rice crop in spite of government efforts to vacate the area.

In a last-ditch effort to halt farming and ensure the occupants' eviction, the ministry sent thousands of troops to help build a barbed wire fence around the area near the U.S. camp.

The relocation of the Yongsan base is a key part of a broader U.S. plan to reshuffle its 30,000 troops in South Korea.

The high-profile presence of the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, which houses 8,000 U.S. military personnel and their family members, has been a constant source of anti-American protests by civic activists and locals.

Seoul/Pyeongtaek, Dec. 13 (Yonhap News)



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