5th round of ROK-US military talks ends without progress

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 09, 2003

5th round of ROK-US military talks ends without progress

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The fifth round of Future ROK(Republic of Korea)-US Alliance Policy Initiative meeting, which ended on Wednesday, failed to release a joint statement as schedule due to big differences between the two sides.

According to South Korean national news agency Yonhap News Agency, military officials of South Korea and the United States failed to make any further progress during the three-day meeting which started from Monday.

South Korean Deputy Defense Minister Cha Yong-koo and US DeputyAssistant Defense Secretary Richard Lawless led their respective teams to the talks on relocation of a US base in downtown Seoul. This round of meeting was convened to discuss how large land the US troops will deliver to South Korea and how much will Seoul pay for the US troops relocation.

The two sides failed to release a joint statement as schedule on the repositioning of the US Yongsan Garrison, in which the headquarters of the US Forces Korea (USFK) stationed, reported Yonhap.

Seoul and Washington earlier agreed to move the garrison out ofSeoul to Pyeongtaek and Osan, some 30-40 kilometers south to Seoulby the end of 2006.

"We have negotiated to draw a comprehensive agreement to replace a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed in 1991 on the relocation conditions, but there was a wide gap between the two nations," an unnamed South Korean Defense Ministry official was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

South Korean wants the MOA and MOU concerning the US base's relocation be replaced for it thinks there are some unfair rules among them.

The two nations agreed to continue working-level negotiations until this mid-November, when a bilateral defense ministerial meeting named Security Council Meeting is scheduled in Seoul, reported Yonhap.

"In early November, the two nations will also hold a high-levelmeeting in preparation for the ministerial meeting," said the official.

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