ROK-US set to finalise troops relocation

South Korean negotiators appear poised to offer the US forces more land than they did during earlier talks.

A South Korean military delegation leaves for Hawaii today for the talks, the Defence Ministry said yesterday. The Seoul delegates will sit down with their counterparts from the US government tomorrow and Friday for a sixth round of the Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative, Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Nam Dae-yeon said.

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The two-day consultation is expected to focus on whether the US

military command in Yongsan, central Seoul, should keep a residual, symbolic presence in the capital. The command will relocate the bulk of its facilities under a bilateral accord to areas south of Seoul by 2006.

Despite the two nations having already agreed to leave about 1,000

American personnel in Seoul, they are still apart over how much land will be available for the use of the remaining US forces.

Seoul offered 170,000 pyeong of the 810,000-pyeong Yongsan base to be used by the United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command between South Korea and the United States. One pyeong equals 3.3 square meters.

The US side had sought to keep 280,000 pyeong or some 30 percent of the total Yongsan plot to build large-scale lodging facilities, hospitals and schools to support 1,000 personnel affiliated with the CFC and UNC, as well as their family members.

However, South Korean negotiators are expected this time to offer 200,000 pyeong and other benefits as part of an effort to bring the stalled negotiation back to life, ministry officials said.