SEOUL — In a sign of the widening gap in the security alliance between the two countries, the top U.S. military commander in South Korea has vowed to "fight" any effort to delay relocating American troops to a new major base south of Seoul.
U.S. Army Gen. B.B. Bell answers a reporter's question during a press conference in Seoul, on Jan. 18.
AP / Lee Jin-man
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"I am opposed to any decision to stretch this out for any reasons, whether it's political or it's fiscal . . . or whatever it is," Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), told journalists.
He called for the expansion of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, to be completed by 2008 as scheduled to house some 30,000 American troops.
But South Korea said last month it would not be able to complete the expansion of the U.S. base by 2008 due to protests by residents and a dispute over cost sharing. Seoul's Defense Ministry said the relocation could be delayed until as late as 2013.
The expansion of Camp Humphreys is the key component in the realignment of U.S. bases in South Korea. Under a 2004 accord, the United States would redeploy the frontline U.S. ground forces in one of the most significant changes in U.S. force structure in this country since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The delay comes amid high military tension following the North's nuclear and missile tests last year. Some military analysts here warn the North may stage a limited war on the South to break the standoff over international sanctions.
Bell became emotional at the news conference saying he was surprised by Seoul media reports that the base relocation would be delayed, indicating that he learned the news from media reports rather than from official military-to-military channels.
Bell said U.S. soldiers in the South badly need new facilities for a "normal life" with their families.
"Any further delay in our consolidation efforts at Camp Humphreys concerns me," said Bell, who serves as chief of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) and the United Nations Command (UNC). "I do not want to see any further delays and it's simply not right," he said. "I will fight this."
His angry protest embarrassed South Korean officials who are pushing to regain wartime control of South Korean troops from the United States.
South Korea voluntarily put the operational control of its military under the U.S.-led UN Command shortly after the Korean War broke out in 1950. It took back peacetime operational control in 1994, but wartime operational control remains in the hands of the top U.S. commander here.
President Roh Moo-Hyun has pushed for regaining wartime control by 2012 as part of efforts to bolster the country's self-defense posture.
