We have obtained deep imaging in the near-infrared J and K bands for 2 nearby fields in the bar of the LMC with the ESO NTT telescope , under exquisite seeing conditions .
The K , J-K color-magnitude diagrams constructed from these data are of outstanding photometric quality and reveal the presence of several hundreds of red clump stars .

Using the calibration of Alves for the K-band absolute magnitude of Hipparcos -observed red clump stars in the solar neigbourhood we derive a distance modulus to our observed LMC fields of 18.487 mag .
Applying a correction for the tilt of the LMC bar with respect to the line of sight according to the geometrical model of van der Marel et al. , the corresponding LMC barycenter distance is 18.501 mag .
The random error on this result is +/- 0.008 mag , whereas the systematic uncertainty on this distance result due to the photometric zero point uncertainty in our LMC K-band photometry , to the uncertainty of the Hipparcos -based absolute magnitude calibration of red clump stars in the solar neighborhood , and due to reddening uncertainties mounts up to +/- 0.048 mag .

If we adopt a K-band population correction of -0.03 mag , as done by Alves et al .
2002 , to account for the difference in age and metallicity between the solar neighborhood and LMC red clump star populations , we obtain an LMC barycenter distance modulus of 18.471 mag from our data .
This is in excellent agreement with the result of Alves et al. , and of another very recent study of Sarajedini et al .
( 2002 ) obtained from K-band photometry .
However , we emphasize that current model predictions about the uncertainties of population corrections seem to indicate that errors up to about 0.12 mag may be possible , probably in any photometric band .
Therefore , work must continue to tighten the constraints on these corrections .

We also determine the mean red clump star magnitude in our LMC fields in the J band , which could be a useful alternative to the K band should future work reveal that population effect corrections for red clump stars in the J band are smaller , or more reliably determined than those for the K band .