US opens new military HQ in South Korea

US forces in South Korea opened their new headquarters today, on what they called Washington's biggest overseas base, just weeks after President Donald Trump said he wanted to bring the troops home.

The US and South Korea are treaty allies and for decades US Forces Korea (USFK) have been headquartered in Yongsan, in the centre of Seoul and prime real estate.

The two allies agreed as long ago as 1990 to relocate the headquarters to Camp Humphreys, an existing base in Pyeongtaek, around 60 kilometres (38 miles) south of the capital. But the project was delayed for years by resident protests, financial issues and extensive construction work.

It was not until 2013 that the first unit transferred across to Camp Humphreys, named after a pilot who died in a helicopter accident. The USFK headquarters moved today, as did the US-led United Nations Command, under whose flag the allies fought in the Korean War, with more units to follow suit later.

The US has 28,500 troops stationed in the South to defend it from the nuclear-armed North, and the move comes only weeks after Trump and Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un had an unprecedented summit in Singapore.

At a press conference afterwards Trump announced he would suspend joint military exercises with the South -- Seoul indicated that it was not informed beforehand -- adding that at some point, "I want to bring our soldiers back home."