The US military in South Korea fully returned its former base, Camp Market, to the Asian country Wednesday, the defense ministry said, as part of a broad relocation scheme to consolidate its bases across South Korea.

The US Forces Korea handed over about 257,000 square meters of land in Camp Market near Seoul to South Korea, four years after returning some 216,000 square meters of land in the base in the first phase.

The agreement was made in a meeting of the South Korea-US Status of Forces Agreement Joint Committee, which governs the legal status of the 28,500 American soldiers stationed in South Korea.

"As the rest of the site of Camp Market, which was used for a bread factory and warehouse, has been returned, the return process of a total of 473,000 square meters of land has been completed," the defense ministry said in a joint statement with the ministries of foreign affairs, environment and land.

"It is expected to give momentum to the Incheon government's development plan for the site," it added.

The former site of Camp Market in Bupyeong, about 25 kilometers west of Seoul, was previously used as a weapons factory for the Japanese military during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before being taken over by the US military in 1945.

South Korea opened part of the returned site of Camp Market to the public in October 2020 for the first time in 81 years. Decontamination work is currently underway in other parts of the former military base.

The return is part of a broad relocation scheme to consolidate US bases across South Korea into two garrisons in Pyeongtaek, 60 km south of Seoul, and Daegu, 237 km southeast of the capital, with the aim of enhancing defense readiness and operational efficiencies in the face of North Korean military threats.

So far, the USFK has handed over 69 out of 80 bases under the relocation plan, while some parts of Yongsan garrison and bases in Gyeonggi Province have not yet been returned.

"The government will continue consultation with the United States to expedite the scheduled return of US military bases by taking into account comprehensive social, economic and environmental issues," the ministry said. (Yonhap)