SEOUL, April 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday finished its recovery of 14 U.S. military bases following the completion of environmental cleanup work, as part of a broader move by Washington to streamline its forces, the Defense Ministry said.
The clean-up was conducted in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which governs the rights and responsibilities of U.S. troops stationed here.
During military talks called the Security Policy Initiative (SPI) in July last year, South Korea agreed to take over the land occupied by 15 U.S. military bases after the completion of environmental clean-up work. The only base among them that has yet to be returned is Kooni Range in Maehyangri, southwest of Seoul, where an environmental survey has not been completed.
The ministry said the 14 bases included Camp Greaves, Camp Liberty Bell, Camp Bonifas, Camp Stanton, Camp Giant, Camp Howze in Paju, the U.N. Compound in Seoul, Camp Nimble in Dongducheon, Camp LaGuardia in Uijeongbu, Camp Colbern in Hanam and Camp McNabb in Jeju.
The ministry also said it plans to use Camp Greaves and transfer the management of most of the other camps to the local governments in those areas after cleaning up any contaminated soil.
The move follows an agreement with the U.S., known as the Land Partnership Plan, under which the U.S. will return 59 bases to South Korea by 2011. Of them, 29 bases underwent environmental surveys.
About 29,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The number is scheduled to go down to 25,000 by 2008.
The base recovery is likely to trigger strong opposition from environmentalists since a recent government report showed the U.S. military's work to restore the polluted land fell short of its standards in 10 out of the 14 camps.
The government has demanded eight additional types of measures, including treatment of materials containing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and removal of oil restoration tanks, since the SPI talks in July, but the U.S. military has virtually ignored the demand.
Critics say the early completion of procedures to recover the 14 U.S. camps would make it harder for South Korea to demand additional treatment of pollutants at the U.S. bases to be returned by 2011.
The treatment is expected to cost local taxpayers about 100 billion won (US$107.5 million) or more without U.S. cooperation.