hankyoreh

The top U.S. military commander in South Korea said Friday that he would "fight" any move to delay the much-awaited relocation of U.S. forces to a base south of Seoul.

"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 a news conference at his office at the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul.

He stressed that the expansion of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul, should be completed by 2008 as scheduled.

The commander was responding to media reports that the South Korean government has decided to postpone the relocation move until as late as 2013 due to a backlash by residents and financial constraints.

The relocation is estimated to cost more than 10 trillion won (US$10.7 billion) with the allies struggling to work out details of how they will share the burden.

Bell said the reports of a possible delay in the move of U.S. troops to Pyeongtaek was news to him and that he was very concerned about it.

The four-star general became emotional, saying U.S. soldiers here, who now total around 30,000, badly need new facilities to live in with their families for a "normal life."

"We hope ... that this consolidation effort corrects a wrong that we have tolerated for years, and that is lousy living conditions and lousy facilities," he said. "I don't want my families and my service members to live in those conditions. I want them to be normal. I am fairly emotional about this."

He added that the deadline was fast approaching and he didn't care if the problems were political or financial, saying "I will fight this (delay)," and urging the South Korean government to show its firm commitment to the project rather than being swayed by other conditions.

Bell also reiterated his complaints over a recent agreement between Seoul and Washington on sharing the expenses for maintaining U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula.

Last month, South Korea agreed to pay 725.5 billion won (US$789 million) to Washington next year and the same amount in 2008 with an adjustment for inflation, which Bell said is far short of the U.S. military's minimum demand for 832 billion won.

He said the USFK may be forced to lay off South Korean employees at its bases and cut the number of contracts with local construction firms to offset the shortfall.

As for reports that North Korea may be preparing to conduct a second nuclear test, he would not go into details on the intelligence-related matter but said such a test was a possibility.

"There is no reason to believe that at some time in the future, when it serves their purposes, that they won't test another one.

So I suspect some day they will," he said.

"Should North Korea attack the South in any way, the combined forces command will respond and we will win quickly and we will win decisively," he added.

The commander expressed hope again that Seoul and Washington will soon fix a date for the transfer of wartime control of the South Korean military back to Seoul.

The U.S. is pushing to return control to South Korea in 2009, while South Korea wants a few more years to prepare for it.

"I am sure, as cooperative allies and through close consultations, we will be able to determine a transition date satisfactory to both sides. I hope that we can reach an agreement on that by this summer," he said.

Bell, who doubles as head of the United Nations Command, said it would be unavoidable to revise the roles and missions of the body, as the South Korean military "exercises independent command of its forces during armistice, crisis escalation and potential war."

"The U.N. commander will have no command authority over any ROK forces, with the ROK military commanding the demilitarized zone and sea patrol in the Northern Limit Line (NLL)," he said, using the acronym for South Korea's official name, Republic of Korea. "And the ROK military will have the command authority of all forces in potential contact with an enemy." The NLL is a de-facto sea border between the two Koreas, which remain technically in a state of war.

He added the future U.N. commander will likely assume a supporting role in the relationship similar to the future supporting role between the two allies.

Seoul, Jan. 9 (Yonhap News)