US troops likely to quit Seoul

Defence officials from the two countries opened the sixth round of the Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative talks in Hawaii on Thursday. The negotiations will address a previous agreement to realign US military units in South Korea and other pending issues.

At the heart of the relocation issue is whether to keep symbolic, residual units at the US Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul, which currently hosts some 8,000 troops affiliated with the US Eighth Army and two key command posts.

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Washington has already informed the Seoul government of its plan to move the Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command to locations south of Seoul. The two allies have so far failed to agree on how much land the US military would retain at Yongsan.

Under a bilateral agreement between the two governments, the prominent US military presence in the capital, which has been a source of anti-US sentiment here, is set to pull back to areas south of Seoul by 2006.

"There seems to be no change in the US position for a complete withdrawal from the capital," Lt. Gen. Cha Young-koo, the Korean head delegate to the two-day Hawaii talks, told reporters Wednesday.

"The final agreement on the move will be made in favor of the US stance," the official said.

South Korean officials hope the United States will maintain a symbolic presence in Seoul as a show of its will to deter any threat from North Korea.