By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

South Korea has decided to drop its objections to a U.S. plan to move headquarters for two important military commands out of Seoul, Seoul officials said on Friday.

``It is not true that moving the headquarters of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) and the United Nations Command (UNC) to the south of Seoul will jeopardize South Korea’s security,’’ National Security Advisor Ra Jong-yil said in an interview with a radio station. ``Although people at home may feel uneasy, experts say it won’t compromise our deterrence power, so we need to respect it.’’

Seoul and Washington began their two-day talks over the U.S. base relocation issue in Hawaii, yesterday. Ra’s remarks reflect the results of the talks.

The U.S. wants Seoul to cede 280,000 pyong (one pyong is equivalent to 3.3 square meters) for its troops to remain in Seoul in return for keeping the two commands in the capital. Seoul sweetened its initial proposal by offering 200,000 pyong, 30,000 pyong more than it originally offered.

Before starting talks on Friday in Hawaii, Assistant Defense Minister Cha Young-koo, South Korea’s chief delegate, said the U.S. should not expect more concessions from Seoul.

``We wouldn’t make further concession in order to accommodate the U.S. demands,’’ Lt. Gen. Cha told reporters. ``The negotiation cannot be dragged on any longer, and we will see to it that it will be concluded at this meeting.’’ The remarks by both Cha and Ra marked the hardening of Seoul’s stance, but it is not clear whether they were a tactic to strengthen its role with U.S. or indicated a further departure by the Roh Moo-hyun administration from Seoul’s traditional U.S.-oriented foreign policy.

Seoul delegates said they offered more land than in the original proposal to retain the UNC and the CFC, whose evacuation out of Seoul some Koreans believed would threaten security on the divided peninsula.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry officials insist there would be almost no weakening, if any, of the combined defense posture against possible attacks from the communist North Korea thanks to state-of-the-art military technologies.

If the two traditional allies agreed on the wholesale removal of the U.S. soldiers from Seoul, there would likely be only about 50 U.S. soldiers at a liaison office adjacent to the ministry building, while 810,000-pyong (276 hectares) of land currently occupied by the foreign military would be returned to the Seoul government.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr