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Cheong Wa Dae offered no opinion on Lt. Gen. Charles C. Campbell¡¯s announcement Friday that the USFK will lay off 1,000 Korean civilian staff and slash support contracts, saying it did not warrant additional comment.
The Foreign Ministry, which is responsible for working level negotiations over USFK cost sharing, appeared perplexed. ¡°I think it was inappropriate time-wise for the USFK to announce arbitration details when a final result to negotiations between the two governments over cost sharing has yet to be announced,¡± a ministry official said.
¡°Our original claim was that with the size of USFK decreasing by a third, it was possible to reduce Korea¡¯s basing costs... It¡¯s hard to understand that the U.S. could say during negotiations that its layoff of base workers would be minimal, but today it suddenly said it would lay off a lot.¡±
The Foreign Ministry said talk of possible reductions in the USFK¡¯s pre-positioned supplies and equipment had yet to be raised. ¡°As nothing has been decided, we need to talk about the matter with the U.S.,¡± one official said.
But another official dismissed fears that the announcement had fundamentally shaken the Korea-U.S. alliance. "Despite concerns over individual issues, the Korea-U.S. alliance is solid,¡± he said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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