WASHINGTON: The Pentagon foresees a “more limited” role in deterring North Korea, with South Korea taking primary responsibility for the task, according to a policy document released on Friday, a move that could lead to a reduction of US forces on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops in combined defence against North Korea’s military threat and Seoul has raised its defense budget by 7.5pc for this year.

“South Korea is capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited US support,” the Pentagon said in the 25-page National Defence Strategy document that guides its policies.

“This shift in the balance of responsibility is consistent with America’s interest in updating US force posture on the Korean Peninsula.”

In recent years, US officials have signaled a desire to make US forces in South Korea more flexible, to potentially operate outside the Korean Peninsula in response to a broader range of threats, such as in defending Taiwan and checking China’s growing military reach.

South Korea has resisted the idea of shifting the role of US troops, but has worked to grow its defence capabilities in the past 20 years, with the goal of being able to take on the wartime command of combined US and South Korean forces. South Korea has 450,000 troops.

The Pentagon’s top policy official, Elbridge Colby, is due to travel to Asia next week and is expected to visit South Korea, a US official said.

The wide-ranging document, which each new administration publishes, said the Pentagon’s priority was defending the homeland. In the Indo-Pacific region, the document said, the Pentagon was focused on ensuring that China could not dominate the United States or US allies.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2026