Here we go again. Courtesy Yonhap News (via Yahoo! Korea News), we learn that the US and South Korea have agreed to put off discussions for USFK troop reductions until the end of next year. According to a high-ranking source within the Korean government, “Both the US and ROK have agreed to not discuss USFK troop reductions until the summer of next year,” and “but when you take into account the coming presidential elections in the United States, naturally, you have to see this as meaning that USFK troop reduction discussions have been put off until the end of next year.” The source added, “Accordingly, one doesn’t have to worry about troop American troop reductions in Korea for the next one to two years.”
Cheeky bastard, ain’t he?
More from this source on USFK reductions (or lack there of) - “This has nothing to do with the dispatch of troops to Iraq, because it was something agreed upon before the Americans requested [troops for Iraq," and "After we send troops to Iraq and the situation there settles down, at the same time, in the course of the US military's realignment process in East Asia, the number of American troops in Korea, on the contrary, may increase."
Being a talkative source, he continued. "From the beginning, the United States never thought of USFK as being fixed to the Korean Peninsula, but as it took into consideration the security situation in Korea, it didn't divert USFK for use in other regions... Nowhere is it written that the USFK is an army for [exclusive] use in Korea, and the same goes for American forces in Japan.”
I hope this statement is true - “American Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who visited Korea to attend the SCM meeting, during his discussions with Defense Minister Cho Young-gil and President Noh Mu-hyeon referred to Korea’s plans to become a defensively self-sufficient country by saying ‘It’s not easy for even the US to be self-sufficient in its defense. For Korea to say it’s becoming self-sufficient in its defense is remarkable. We wish you well. The United States will assist you greatly.’ ”
The source also discussed the Iraq deployment, but I’d rather save that stuff for another post.
2 Comments
The high level Korean official is full of s***. Relocation talks are concluded. The USFK will move to Osan/Pyongteak or another location to be announced just prior to the the withdrawal of about 10K troops.
Did you catch the AP article yesterday about the Rumsfeld talk in Korea? It was a very different take than what you get in the Korean press.
If we look back over the past year when it comes to troop relocations and reductions, there has been a clear disconnect between how the Koreans want to portray how things are going and what has been coming from the US government.
I’m not convinced by any means that Korea won’t be successful in delaying and effectively killing major changes in USFK, but one thing is very clear, the US military wants those changes, including troop reductions, and the idea most likely has significant support in the Congress and maybe even the State Department. If Bush is re-elected, I don’t think we will see 37,000 troops in Korea by the end of his term. If he and another republican take up the next 8 to 12 years, I don’t know if you will see anything but a token force left in Korea. This doesn’t mean a Democrat in the White House will be a whole lot different. They might not. Korea doesn’t look like a great place to be in light of their attitutde toward the North and especially the global threat situation and the inflexibilty of USFK…..It should be an interesting couple of years…
PING:
TITLE: Eyes on Korea: 12-09-2003
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
JAN 9/03 TOPICS INCL: Masterful analysis of reunification, Future of U.S. Forces Korea; South Koreans killed in Iraq; China & Korea fight over ancient history; Josh Marshall on Korean diplomacy; Riots; Bruce Cumings attacks; Hunger strikes; North Korea…