Seoul, Washington take 'first step' on new U.S. embassy building

SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States on Tuesday took the "first step" toward building a new U.S. embassy building in Seoul, saying the new structure will symbolize their partnership in the 21st century and beyond.
"Today, we marked the first step, but a very important step, toward building a new U.S. embassy in Korea," said Kathleen Stephens, the U.S. ambassador in Seoul, as she planted a tree in an area where the new embassy will be built.



Stephens said the U.S. government "will construct a purpose-built embassy that will reflect today's Korea, today's United States and today's U.S.-Korea alliance."
The new embassy will "symbolize our relationship in the 21st century and beyond," she said before partly filling in a shallow trench surrounding the Chinese scholar tree estimated to be 2.5-3 meters tall.
Citing the tree's strength, firm character and longevity, Stephens said, "I believe this tree stands alongside our new embassy as a symbol of durability and strength of U.S.-Korea partnership."



In 2005, South Korea and the U.S. agreed in principle to move the current U.S. embassy building, situated in the heart of Seoul, to Camp Coiner, a U.S. military base in the Yongsan Garrison, also near the city's downtown area.
After years of negotiations, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in April this year on the relocation of the U.S. embassy, paving the way for the U.S. government to build a new structure on the new site.
No details on the construction of the new U.S. embassy in Seoul have been announced. A large portion of the U.S. military headquarters in Yongsan will be returned to the Korean government once the U.S. forces relocate to the city of Pyeongtaek, about 70 kilometers southwest of Seoul, as agreed upon by the two sides.
Stephens said the new U.S. embassy "will be a welcoming building, it will have a design that is responsive to this beautiful site, to the surroundings and to the Korean culture."
"It will be a beautiful building," she added.
Park Suk-hwan, South Korea's first vice foreign minister, called the event "the first step of building the new U.S. embassy as we resolve the long-standing issue of embassy relocation."
"I look forward to a new, beautiful embassy building where all embassy staff can work in a great environment, and also they can work hard on this wonderful relationship and even better relationship," Park said.
The U.S. agreed to receive 79,000 square meters of land at Camp Coiner as a new embassy site in exchange for a 26,000-square-meter site in the center of the city where the embassy initially planned to relocate.
The land swap deal capped four years of controversy over whether to allow the embassy to relocate to a site near Deoksu Palace, a place of cultural and historical importance for South Korea.
Still, there is uncertainty as to when the new U.S. embassy project will be able to begin because it will take several years for the U.S. troops in Yongsan to move to Pyeongtaek. Some 28,500 American forces are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.