  On the basis of the near infrared observations of bulge red clump stars near
the Galactic center, we have determined the galactocentric distance to be R_0 =
7.52 +- 0.10 (stat) +- 0.35 (sys) kpc. We observed the red clump stars at |l| <
1.0 deg and 0.7 deg < |b| < 1.0 deg with the IRSF 1.4 m telescope and the
SIRIUS camera in the H and Ks bands. After extinction and population
corrections, we obtained (m - M)_0 = 14.38 +- 0.03 (stat) +- 0.10 (sys). The
statistical error is dominated by the uncertainty of the intrinsic local red
clump stars' luminosity. The systematic error is estimated to be +- 0.10
including uncertainties in extinction and population correction, zero-point of
photometry, and the fitting of the luminosity function of the red clump stars.
Our result, R_0 = 7.52 kpc, is in excellent agreement with the distance
determined geometrically with the star orbiting the massive black hole in the
Galactic center. The recent result based on the spatial distribution of
globular clusters is also consistent with our result. In addition, our study
exhibits that the distance determination to the Galactic center with the red
clump stars, even if the error of the population correction is taken into
account, can achieve an uncertainty of about 5%, which is almost the same level
as that in recent geometrical determinations.
