Seoul to pay 6 tln won for U.S. troop relocation: officials

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has tentatively agreed with the U.S. to pay 6 trillion won (US$4.46 billion) for the relocation of frontline U.S. troops here, accounting for more than half of the estimated cost, officials said Friday.

Negotiations are underway over cost sharing and setting the timeline to relocate
U.S. troops from Seoul's Yongsan Garrison and frontline bases to Pyeongtaek, 50
km south of Seoul, as part of the overall realignment of the bilateral military
alliance.
Seoul hopes to complete the project by 2015, while Washington has set a target
date of 2018.
In its master plan set in March last year, Korea's Defense Ministry said Seoul
would pay 5.5 trillion won for its share of the relocation cost. Ministry
officials said both sides have reached a tentative agreement to settle Korea's
budget at around 6 trillion won -- 5 trillion won for construction and 1 trillion
won for real estate.
"We are planning to make an announcement soon," Lee Jae-young, a ministry
spokesman on the U.S. base relocation issue, said. "For the relocation, the
earlier the better, but there are issues of the budget sharing and the timeline."
Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee has stressed on many occasions that Seoul's budget
sharing should not exceed its initial estimate of 4.58 trillion won in
construction costs and 1 trillion won to buy the needed land.
Some suspected Seoul may have to pay a few trillion won more, but its budget will
not exceed its initial estimate by much, officials said.
The two countries are "fine-tuning their ongoing appraisal of relocation costs as
it is related to the budget sharing," another ministry official said on condition
of anonymity. The ministry has never produced a concrete bill, but reports say
the relocation will cost the two nations a total of approximately 10 trillion
won.
As soon as budgetary issues are settled, each country must then submit
appropriation bills to their respective legislatures for approval. The two sides
hope to reach a deal by the end of November and submit bills for legislative
approval by the end of this year.
The new U.S. base, now under construction, will house most frontline U.S. troops,
as well as key U.S. military headquarters and their local service members.
While Seoul acknowledges delays in the multi-billion dollar project will lead to
additional financial burdens, many officials here now believe maintaining a U.S.
troop presence close to the heavily fortified border with North Korea is in
Seoul's interest. Some 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed here a legacy of the
1950-53 Korean War.
hkim@yna.co.kr