SEOUL, June 7: The United States plans to cut its troops in South Korea by a third by the end of next year, as part of a worldwide shift to use higher technology in defence, the two countries said on Monday.
Although communist North Korea's 1.1-million-strong armed forces dwarf the 37,500 US troops currently in the south, any reduction is closely watched because the contingent's symbolic value outweighs its numerical strength. Ally South Korea has 690,000 troops.
"US officials told us last night that under their Global Defence Posture Review they are planning to reduce the number of US troops here by 12,500 by the end of December 2005," Kim Sook, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North America bureau, told reporters.
That would include 3,600 US soldiers already earmarked for deployment to Iraq from South Korea in the coming months. The Pentagon in Washington and US forces in South Korea confirmed that the reduction "concept" had been presented to South Korea and that a concrete timetable was being worked out in bilateral consultations.
Washington announced late last year that it aimed to transform its forces worldwide and use advances in military technology and smaller more mobile units to better respond to new security needs and fight the war on terrorism. The move is also expected to cut US forces in Germany.
While thousands of troops will be brought back to the United States, the US military is also examining moving additional military equipment into the Asia-Pacific region, including stationing advanced fighter jets and heavy bombers with long-range cruise missiles on the island of Guam.
"There are a variety of options and significant military capabilities available to our military planners, all of which provide tremendous deterrence to any potential enemy," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico, a Pentagon spokesman.
Kim was briefing reporters after a first day of talks with US officials on moving American troops back from frontline positions near the Demilitarized Zone border with the North.
Asked whether South Korea had agreed to the pullout schedule, Kim said: "That is what the United States presented as their plan and we're going to discuss it."
Many South Koreans have expressed surprise about the US plans, and media have called for care in timing the reductions because of ongoing talks on curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Pyongyang has described the planned cuts as a ploy to mask plans to attack North Korea.
Kim said the US officials had said Washington would pursue the reduction very carefully because of the security conditions on the peninsula. South Korean and US officials have said the redeployment to Iraq, and any future changes to the US military in the South, would not weaken their defence against the North.
Andrew Kennedy, head of the Asia programme at Britain's Royal United Services Institute in London, said the withdrawal does not signal a reduction in the US commitment to protect South Korea, but could send a signal to Pyongyang that Washington is sincere about using talks to resolve the nuclear stand off. -Reuters