S.Korea, US agree to share extra cost of US base in S. Korea
12/11/2007 16:40
South Korea agreed yesterday to shoulder 55 percent of the costs for
land-elevation work for a new US military base site in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south
of Seoul, the Korean Herald reported today.
The two countries are also close
to concluding an agreement that South Korea will bear 60 percent of the expenses
for relocating the US digital command system - known as C4I - from the Yongsan
Garrison to the new installation, an unnamed official of the Defense Ministry
was quoted as saying by the local daily newspaper.
These are part of the
costs of the big-budget US base relocation plan which is to be completed by
2012, it said.
Following a 2004 deal, South Korea and the United States are
working on relocating the US Yongsan Garrison in downtown Seoul and the 2nd
Infantry Division, north of Seoul, to Pyeongtaek over the next few years. Camp
Humphreys in Pyeongtaek is set to triple in size and become the US military's
chief installation in Korea, in accord with a worldwide realignment of US
troops.
Seoul and Washington have differed over how to split the costs of
implementing the plan.
According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, the US
side previously demanded that South Korea assume about 60 percent of the
land-elevating costs. But South Korea insisted on a lower share.
Local
construction experts estimate that the cost will range between 300 billion won
and 400 billion won (US$334 million to US$445 million), depending on where the
sand needed for filling the land will be transported from.
Xinhua
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