The US Forces Korea (USFK) has transferred around 257,000 square meters (63.5 acres) of Camp Market land after the countries agreed in 2019 the hand-over of various military facilities and the first 216,000 square meters of the base were returned to South Korea. Therefore, the process of transfer of all 473,000 square meters of land was finished, the report said.
The agreement for transfer was reached at a meeting of the South Korea-US Status of Forces Agreement Joint Committee that is in charge of 28,500 US troops currently stationed in the Asian country.
The return was effected as part of the US effort to consolidate bases in South Korea into two garrisons to improve defense readiness and operational efficacy amid ongoing tensions on the peninsula. To date, the USFK has transferred 69 out of 80 facilities according to the relocation plan.
In 2019, the US agreed to return four military bases to South Korea — in Wonju, Bupyeong, and Dongducheon — that were closed for up to 10 years as well as to continue discussing with Seoul the issue of cleaning environmental contamination at the bases. Meanwhile, South Korea demanded the US take up the decontamination efforts to clean the bases.