By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

The United States has recently informed South Korea of its intention to move all the American troops and the United Nations Command (UNC) out of Seoul, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.

``U.S. Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Lawless on Nov. 27 delivered his country’s hope for the relocation plan to Deputy Minister for Policy Cha Young-koo,’’ spokesman Nam Dae-youn said in the morning briefing.

Washington seems to have given an ultimatum to Seoul during the negotiation to decide the size of the land that will continue to be occupied by U.S. Forces (USFK) in Yongsan, central Seoul.

The two sides agreed to move the Yongsan Garrison, the 8th U.S. Army’s 81 million-pyong (320 hectares) headquarters, to Osan-Pyongtaek areas, south of Seoul by 2006, leaving only some 1,000 personnel of the UNC and Combined Forces Command. But, they differed over the size of land reserved for the remaining forces: Koreans offered some 17 million pyong, while Americans want more than 28 million.

The U.S. said during the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) last month it would rather move all their troops out of the capital if their space requirement cannot be met.

Later in the day, however, the ministry retracted its spokesman’s announcement, saying that no final word was sent by the U.S. to Seoul on its relocation decision.

Deputy Minister Cha told reporters there was no developments in the bilateral negotiation since the SCM last month and will try to finalize the issue by the end of the year.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr