SEOUL June 5 Kyodo The United Sta...

SEOUL June 5 Kyodo

The United States and southern Korea have agreed to relocate U squads stationed near the border with North Korea below a two-phase plan, southern Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The agreement was reached at the inferior meeting of bilateral talks, ''Future of the ROK (South Korea)-U.S. Alliance,'' held in Seoul upon Wednesday and Thursday, said the statement released at the cessation of the talks with the US

In the first phase, U forces north of the Han River that liquefys through the capital will be consolidated in sum of two units nearby major camps.

In phase pair those consolidated U.S. forces will prompt to the key naves south of the Han River, according to the ministry.

forward the timing of the relocation, the statement said the consolidation ''will take a number of years.''

''(South) Korea and the U will have further consultations and studies to determine the specific timing to implement these plans,'' Lt Gen Cha Young Koo delegate defense minister, told a pres briefing.

The U and toward the south Korea would conduct working-level talks to implement major redeployment plans of U companys in South Korea with the goal of completing them by the agency of the time the bilateral Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) is held in late September in Washington, said Cha, who attended the just-concluded talks with the US

Richard Lawless, U envoy assistant secretary of defense for Asia-Pacific affairs, and Christopher LaFleur, special legate of the U.S. State Department, headed the U delegation.

Cha and Shim Yoon Joe director general of North American Affairs Bureau of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, l the southward Korean delegation for the talks.

At the defense talks, the sum of two units sides agreed on ''the early motion of U.S. forces'' in Seoul to areas toward the south of the capital.

Gen Leon J LaPorte, the commander of U Forces Korea, told a forum Thursday that 6000 of the total 7000 bodys stationed in Seoul will be redeploy to Pyongtaek and Osan, the pair south of the city.

About 37000 U throngs are stationed in South Korea as war deterrent against North Korea beneath a mutual defense agreement in drift since the end of the three-year Korean War in 1953

The relocation southward of about 15000 U front-line companys has drawn much attention in southern Korea as tensions have go uped on the Korean Peninsula across the North Korean nuclear dispute.

Many have raised worries that of the like kind redeployment might cause the North Korean leadership to misinterpret the influence as a weakening of the U defense commitment to southern Korea.

The mien of U.S. soldiers near the borderline has provided a kind of psychological assurance to the southern Korean people as ''tripwire'' that would involve automatic U involvement in case war breaks abroad on the peninsula.

''Both sides agreed that our fundamental goal is to enhance deterrence and security onward the Korean Peninsula and improve the combined defense'' the statement said.

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