Presidential office reports progress in South Korea-U.S. airbase relocation talks including Gwangju

The presidential office said talks were making progress on a comprehensive agreement to facilitate military airbase relocations between South Korea and the United States. Its position is that U.S. military facilities at Gwangju military airbase will also be relocated without problems.

Gwangju military airbase, which the government selected as the site for a semiconductor cluster in the Honam region, is a co-operating base (COB) shared by the South Korean and U.S. air forces. The two countries have been discussing a comprehensive agreement to establish common relocation procedures and a framework for five such bases, including Gwangju and Daegu.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac told a press briefing at the presidential office on the 30th that the two countries had military base relocation plans beyond Gwangju. He said they had agreed to draw up an agreement to facilitate relocation and had been discussing its wording.

Wi referred to concerns raised during the National Assembly House Steering Committee's audit on the 29th that development of the Honam semiconductor cluster could be delayed if the U.S. military was reluctant to relocate. He said the two sides began consultations immediately after the decision to develop the semiconductor cluster.

Wi said South Korea must provide replacement facilities so that the U.S. military can move its current facilities. He explained that bringing relocation forward would require building the replacements faster, which could increase the work South Korea needs to do.

Wi said the remaining tasks were mainly matters South Korea needed to prepare for, including funding for replacement facilities. He said there was no need to view these as serious problems.