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| Korea |
| US agrees Korean troops moves |
| 2003-06-05 |
| The United States and South Korea have agreed to the phased withdrawal of US troops from near the tense border separating the two Koreas. A joint statement, issued following two days of talks, said that the US 2nd Infantry Division, stationed close to the border, would be moved south of the Han River, which bisects the South Korean capital Seoul. The US has been considering changing its troop deployments in South Korea for some time. At present nearly half the 37,000 US troops in South Korea are stationed north of Seoul, a throwback to the 1950-53 Korean war. But their forward position puts them in range of North Korean artillery, and US officials have said that pulling troops back would strengthen the military's hand. The statement gave no timetable for the withdrawal, but said it would take place in two phases. Even after the move, US troops would continue to train north of Seoul and close to the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, the statement added. The redeployment will free up more money to improve the military infrastructure, and enable Washington to hand land back to South Korea, the US Forces in South Korea has said. To this end, the main US army headquarters will also be moved from its current location in prime real estate in central Seoul "at an early date", Thursday's statement said. This move is long overdue, in my opinion. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 Personally, I'd like to see them withdrawn to at least Guam, or perhaps even San Diego. There's no reason for American ground troops to be anywhere on the Korean peninsula - South Korea's a big country now (or at least that's what the SKors tell me), and as far as I'm concerned, South Korean boys can stop a bullet just as well as American boys. Given the kind of abuse US armed forces personel have to deal with in the ROK (where they are blamed for everything from rising college tuitions to AIDS), it's time we call it a good 50 years and move on to the more "equal relationship" that South Koreans so desperately want. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-06-05 14:59:40 |
| #5 I'd rather they were moved straight into Pynonyang, but that's just me. |
| Posted by: Hermetic 2003-06-05 10:16:21 |
| #4 Move them back to Pusan. Better strategic and tactical position in the event of a NKor invasion. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-06-05 09:43:55 |
| #3 Actually, moving them to Hokkaido would be the best bet, along with changing their primary duty. Their new duty should be to help the Japanese build an armed force capable of defending Japan from attack by Korea, whoever is in charge. It should include a rather sophisticated missile defense force armed with equipment built by a consortium of US and Japanese companies, a heavy-lift capability (both seaborne and airborne), about sixteen heavily armed mechanized brigades capable of independent action, and support forces, including naval and air forces. Hokkaido is the only place in Japan where there's enough room to do that. It's also in the best location for USING such a force. As a "force in being", it may be enough by itself to keep Korea from boiling over. However, if things go very, very wrong, it would be capable of hitting about twelve beaches simultaneously, both north and south of the 38th Parallel. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-06-05 18:10:51 |
| #2 "I'd like to see them withdrawn to at least Guam, or perhaps even San Diego." San Diego is under control. Why not move them to San Francisco, where they are actually needed? Mark IV---Very astute comment! Funny but more on the "mark" than you know...from the viewpoint of this ex-San Franciscan. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-06-05 18:06:46 |
| #1 "I'd like to see them withdrawn to at least Guam, or perhaps even San Diego." San Diego is under control. Why not move them to San Francisco, where they are actually needed? |
| Posted by: Mark IV 2003-06-05 17:49:37 |