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Korea will have to spend up to US$5.5 billion on the relocation of the U.S. Forces Korea¡¯s Yongsan base, unification minister-designate Lee Jong-seok said Monday. That is up to $2.5 billion more than the W3-5 billion originally estimated when Seoul and Washington agreed to move the base in July 2004. Given that the dollar has fallen from then W1,200 to less than W970, the move could cost Korea an extra W1 trillion.
Lee was speaking at a confirmation hearing in the National Assembly. Lee declared himself optimistic that a second inter-Korean summit could happen within the year. "We are willing to hold the summit at any time and any place, as the president has repeatedly said," he said. "Since we clearly expressed our position, we are waiting for North Korea to come up with an official position. The ball is now in the North¡¯s court.¡±
The minister-designate said a Northeast Asia Peace Forum, which is to hammer out a peace framework for the Korean Peninsula to replace the armistice, should come once there is agreement on implementing the accord reached in six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear weapons program. "Some insist that the forum should start before agreement in relation to implementing the principles has been reached, but that would be very risky and difficult because it requires close cooperation with the U.S. and consent from the North," he added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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