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The U.S. has shelved plans to move its forces headquarters in Korea from Seoul¡¯s Yongsan to Pyeonbgtaek after deciding to cede sole wartime operational control of Korean troops to Seoul, it emerged Thursday. The handover will make changes to the ¡°master plan¡± for moving the base inevitable since it will mean dissolving Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
A diplomatic source in Seoul said some 20 experts have been called in to help with the move of the U.S. Forces Korea to the nearly 1.3 million sq.m base at Pyeongtaek, but a directive to put the plan on hold was issued as talk of handing over wartime control intensified.
"The plans for the Pyeongtaek base were worked out on the premise that the CFC would be maintained for a substantial period," the source said. "But if the Korean military ends up exercising independent wartime control, the CFC will be dissolved and one of the main buildings at the Pyeongtaek base will not be needed, so a reworking of the plans seems in order." In April, the USFK said the building, with Korean-style roofs, would house the CFC, USFK Command and UN Command.
The freeze on the project will likely remain until after the Security Consultative Meeting in Washington this October, where a roadmap for the forces control handover is to be hammered out along with the precise role of a new ¡°Military Cooperation Center¡± that will replace the CFC.
Many fear the halt of the master plan will mean further cuts to the USFK. Another diplomatic source said perhaps the U.S. Defense Department, seeing a major change in the alliance as inevitable after the return of wartime control, shelved the plans to be prepared for any contingency ¡°including further cuts in troop numbers."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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