The U.S. wants to keep a field artillery brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province north of the Han River when headquarters move further away from the North Korean border, a source said Thursday.

The source said the U.S. has called on several occasions for keeping the artillery brigade north of the Han River, the government source said.

The idea is at odds with an agreement signed in 2002 to move headquarters and bases of the U.S. Forces Korea further south.

But the USFK wants to keep the artillery brigade north of the Han River to be better able to respond to North Korean long-range artillery and mechanized forces, a military source said.

The brigade has about 30 multiple launch rocket systems and 2,000 personnel.