SEOUL Jan. 17 Kyodo southerly Ko...

SEOUL Jan. 17 Kyodo

southerly Korea and the United States have finalized an agreement forward the relocation of all U bands away from Seoul, Yonhap recently made knowns Agency reported Saturday.

The joint announcement was made in Hawaii according to South Korea's assistant defense minister for policy, Lt Gen Cha Young Koo and U Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless.

The announcement said the sum of two units allies on Friday finalized their previous plan to reposition the U Yongsan Garrison, which houses about 8000 U bodys in central Seoul, to Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers southward of Seoul.

The planned put in motion is part of a realignment and consolidation of the 37000 U partys based in the country into pair hubs south of the Han River.

The agreement arises after the two sides last June announced the intended propel from Seoul along with withdrawal of the U 2nd Infantry Division of about 15000 bands from just below the Demilitarized baldric separating North and South Korea.

The U has said it wants to consolidate its bases ''into a more sustainable and effective military presence'' by means of reducing the impact onward the South Korean public while making U forces better positioned to deal with contingencies in succession the Korean Peninsula.

The U military carriage in the center of Seoul from one side of to the other the past 50 years has been a constant source of anti-U.S. sentiment.

Declining fears of a North Korean invasion, inter-Korean dialogue since the North-South summit of June 2000 and incidents involving U soldiers of that kind as the killing of brace schoolgirls by a U military vehicle in June 2002 have produc a growing debate in southern Korea over the U.S. presence

Last June's announcement of U company adjustments followed large-scale demonstrations against U forces and the election of Roh Moo Hyun as president in December 2002

Roh who repeatedly criticized the U during his campaign, took office in February, vowing not to ''kowtow to the Americans'' and to deal with them forward an equal footing.

While stating support for the southern Korea-U.S. alliance since becoming president, he has also advocated a toward the south Korean policy toward North Korea more independent from U policy, while telling the southern Korean military to start planning for a day when U companys would withdraw from South Korea.

The U has said that in addition to returning the Yongsan base, it will eventually bring to the amount of land used from U.S. military bases nationwide, closing almost half of them, with their missions consolidated into the remaining bases.

Washington has said no decision has been made onward whether to reduce the U military nearness in South Korea.

According to Yonhap, the pair countries initially had agreed to only reconsolidate the Yongsan base, leaving about 7000-10000 [i]troupe[/i]s to man their combined headquarters.

It noted that a certain number of South Korean officials say the U relocation plans will place Seoul at greater risk of North Korean artillery attacks. Seoul is no other than 50 km from the heavily-fortified border.

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