[ OUR OPINION ]
Reduction of U.S. forces
in S.Korea is not retreatPLANS to withdraw one-third of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea by the end of next year have created anxiety on the peninsula, but the concern is not warranted. The troop reduction and the planned removal of American troops along the demilitarized zone merely reflect the changes that have taken place since the Army began standing in the way of a feared ground assault on Seoul, a repeat of the invasion of more than a half-century ago.
THE ISSUE
The Bush administration has presented a plan that calls for withdrawing 12,500 of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
The Bush administration's presentation of the plan to South Korea coincides with the stretching of U.S. military resources to accommodate needs in Iraq and Afghanistan. It includes the forthcoming transfer of a 3,600-soldier brigade from Korea to Iraq this summer. The effect of the troop reduction in Korea also should be softened by the stationing of long-range bombers and submarines in Guam and an aircraft carrier that may be relocated from the mainland to Pearl Harbor.
The plan is part of a broader effort to deploy American troops abroad strategically to take advantage of technological advances in military equipment and recognize the current geopolitical landscape. The Pentagon is proposing to move two Army divisions out of Germany and to trim other European-based forces that, like the forces assigned at Korea's DMZ, have served as "tripwires" to stir public opinion in case of an attack. Their positioning has been mainly symbolic.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the placement of troops and the capabilities to gather intelligence and respond quickly with modern weapons are more important than troop strength alone. "It is not numbers of things," he said during a visit to South Korea in November. "It is capability to impose lethal power, where needed, when needed, with the greatest flexibility and with the greatest agility."
North Korea's threat today is from its potential nuclear capability more than the prospect of a troop movement across the DMZ, even though the North has 1.1 million soldiers. The movement of American soldiers south of Seoul and beyond the artillery range of the North by 2006 will not deter them from responding to an attack. South Korea's troop force of 690,000 has become proficient to defend against any ground attack.
The Pentagon plan also is being weighed in the context of last year's election of liberal President Roh Moo Hyun. Conservative South Koreans are accusing the Roh government of provoking the military cutback by allowing anti-American activism to swell. Anti-U.S. protesters responded to news of the Pentagon plan by rallying against the American troop presence.
That consideration cannot be totally disregarded as a possible factor in the deployment of American forces in Korea and elsewhere. The Bush administration reportedly has asked Japan about possibly moving some of the 14,000 Marines from Okinawa, where complaints about the military presence have grown, to the northern island of Hokkaido.
