By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

South Korean and U.S. defense officials will negotiate a final timetable for the relocation of U.S. bases next month, officials said Wednesday.

The two sides had earlier set a date of 2012 for the $10-billion relocation project, but many believe it will be delayed by at least a year.

Maj. Gen. Park Byoung-hee, head of the U.S. base relocation office at the Ministry of National Defense, admitted the two sides have been at odds over some issues related to the relocation project.

``The sides are working to set the target year and to determine the exact cost of the project, but there still remains a difference of opinion on several issues,'' Park told reporters.

He said Seoul was encouraging the United States to agree to a final date and estimated cost before the end of next month, so the countries can present their appropriate bills to their respective legislatures before year's end.

Gen. Walter Sharp, the top commander of U.S. forces stationed here, also noted earlier this week that the timeline for the base move would become clearer in about a month, according to Stars and Stripes, a U.S. military newspaper.

Sharp said during a U.S. base tour Monday that he had asked a team of engineers for a timetable to complete Camp Humphreys' expansion, which will roughly triple its current size. The team is now ``reassessing the timeline,'' the commander was quoted as saying.

``I have had no red lights thrown up to me saying that (construction) is really in bad shape,'' Sharp said. ``In fact, I've heard just the opposite, saying it's on the right track.''

The new U.S. base, now under construction in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, will house most frontline American troops as well as key U.S. military headquarters and South Korean augmentation troops.

The project has already been delayed by several months as Seoul unsuccessfully tried to modify base construction plans, a move it claims could have saved tens of millions of dollars.

A government-funded study by a private research institute reportedly concluded construction of the new base will likely be delayed until 2014 or 2015, citing budgetary issues and environmental concerns.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr