South Korea and the United States kicked off a two-day consultations here Thursday afternoon on US troop reduction and other issues relative to US Forces Korea (USFK)'s realignment, reported the Yonhap News Agency.

A 20-member US military delegation, led by Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless, flew to Seoul on Wednesday for the talks named Future of the Alliance (FOTA).

Washington informed Seoul in this June about its plan to reduce one-third, or 12,500, of the total 37,500 USFK by the end of 2005.

US President George W. Bush announced Monday that some 60,000 to 70,000 US troops deployed in foreign countries will be retreated to home in the coming years under the new security circumstance.

South Koreans have said that Washington's plan was too fast to accept.

    "At today's talks, we plan to request for the postponement of the US troop cut by more than one year or until we complete ourself-reliant defense posture," an official at the South Korean Defense Ministry was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

Saying the self-reliant defense posture, the official was referring to South Korea's 10-year force improvement plan, which was launched earlier this year, with an annual additional outlay of 2 billion US dollars to modernize its weaponry systems.

    The official said that the South Korean delegation headed by Ahn Kwang-chan, an assistant defense minister, would likely ask the US side not to pull out its artillery systems, such as MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) units, even if it moves ahead with the troop reduction.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington Tuesday that the US troop reduction will not weaken its war deterrence against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), citing its 11 billion dollars program to introduce new sophisticated weapons into South Korea over the next few years.

As part of its troop cut plan, the US military has already transferred its 3,600 troops in South Korea to Iraq earlier this month.

This week's military talks, the 11th round of the FOTA, will also take up the relocation of the US military headquarters in Yongsan in the center of Seoul, South Korean officials said. The two sides are expected to sign an accord on the realignment of the Yongsan base, which houses 7,000 US personnel and their family members, to Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul,by 2008.

Currently, the United States has 33,900 troops in South Korea.

Source: Xinhua