By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

South Korea and the United States failed to draw a final agreement on the U.S. base relocation issue due to differing views about the size of land for the new base to be used by American forces, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

``The two sides had close consultations and came close to an agreement on most of matters related to the Yongsan base relocation issue,’’ Lt. Gen. Kwon An-do, deputy defense minister for policy, told a press conference. Kwon is the chief Seoul delegate to the ninth Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative talks, or FOTA, held in Seoul.

``We decided to hold another meeting sometime in the near future, possibly early next month, to further discuss the unresolved matters, such as the size of the land,’’ he added.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless, Kwon’s counterpart, also had a briefing with Korean reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul at the same time.

The chief U.S. delegate stressed that, if the two sides failed to conclude the issue at an early date, it would become very difficult for the U.S. Congress to set up next year’s budget.

According to sources, the U.S. negotiators, who had earlier agreed to some 1,030 hectare for the new base, changed their position and called for additional land.

South Korean negotiators showed disapproval to the U.S. demand, a source said, as they are being increasingly pressed by growing public opinion that the new military bases should rather be downsized in line with the U.S. plan to reduce its forces by one-third.

U.S. officials informed Seoul of its plan to withdraw 12,500 soldiers out of the 37,000-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) in a secretive talks on Sunday that took place on the sidelines of the 9th FOTA.

``The troop reduction proposal, disclosed on Monday, was one of the main factors in the two-day meeting,’’ Kwon said. ``The two sides also agreed to have the troop reduction plan dealt with in the future FOTA talks.’’

The two-day talks opened on Monday to follow up on earlier agreements to relocate most of the USFK, including the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division, away from the border with North Korea and out of Seoul, the South Korean capital, by 2007.

The signing of a formal accord on the realignment has been delayed pending resolution of some key disputes, including the estimated relocation cost of some $4 billion that would be imposed on the Korean side.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr