The Yongsan Garrison will be moved completely to the Osan-Pyongtaek area. During the Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative talks held in Hawaii on Saturday, the two negotiating teams, headed on the Korean side by Assistant Defense Minister Cha Young-koo and the American side by Deputy Assistant U.S. Defense Secretary Richard Lawless, agreed to a comprehensive Yongsan Garrison relocation agreement and implementation plans.
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American and Korean negotiators reached a final agreement Saturday on moving the Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command south of the Han River during the 6th round of Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative talks, held in Hawaii.
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The two sides agreed to move both the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command to a new headquarters site south of the Han River. The Munhwa Ilbo reported that it seems the costs of the move, originally calculated to be around US$9.5 billion according to American estimates, will be directly regulated by the Korean government and may fall as low as the US$3 billion level.
It is known that the Korean side initially offered 200,000 pyong of land in Yongsan in an attempt to persuade the Americans to leave the Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command in Seoul. The Americans, however, insisted on moving the Yongsan Garrison completely out of the city. It is known that the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, taking into account anti-American feelings in South Korea, order the move to be carried out regardless of land offers from the Korean side. He asked whether Americans would accept a foreign army camped out in New York's Central Park.
Robert Koehler, internetnews@chosun.com
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