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| Korea |
| U.S. Troops Will Leave Korean DMZ |
| 2003-06-06 |
| TOKYO, June 5 -- U.S. troops will withdraw from the tense Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea in a phased redeployment, bringing an end to 50 years of guard duty that began at the end of the Korean War, officials said today. A joint statement by U.S. and South Korean officials said American troops will be pulled back to positions at least 75 miles from the DMZ, and will abandon a large base they occupy in downtown Seoul. The move from the DMZ will free about 18,000 U.S. troops to be more mobile, and they will be replaced by soldiers in a modernized South Korean army, officials said. No precise schedule has been announced for the change, although U.S. officials have said the new deployment may begin this year. The South Korean government is seeking a delay until current tensions over North Korea's nuclear program are eased. Officials said the move would not immediately reduce the 37,000 U.S. troops posted in South Korea. The statement said the redeployment would "enhance security" and would be done "taking careful account of the political, economic and security situation on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia." Pentagon officials, under prodding by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to create a more mobile and agile force, insist that the U.S. defense against North Korea remains strong even if American soldiers are not manning bunkers and watching the minefields at the DMZ. The redeployment was not a surprise. In April, Rumsfeld announced that troops stationed near the DMZ might be shifted south, to other countries in the region or even brought home. U.S. officials have been negotiating with their South Korean counterparts to set the details. The U.S. withdrawal has put South Korea's president, Roh Moo Hyun, in an awkward situation. He campaigned on a call for reduction of South Korea's reliance on U.S. forces, and many of his supporters continue to demand that U.S. troops leave. But faced with an intransigent North Korea that has declared its intent to possess nuclear weapons, Roh reversed his position and unsuccessfully urged the U.S. to delay the move. "The South Korean government wants the next steps to be slower," said Ahn Yin Hay, a professor of international relations at Korea University. "The Roh administration thinks it ought to be done after the North Korean nuclear issue is resolved. But the consensus is that no matter what the Roh government would like, it is inevitable the U.S. government will make the decision on the basis of their global strategy." Agreement on the withdrawal appears to have been costly for the United States. Last week, the U.S. military announced it would spend an additional $11 billion over the next three years for new equipment and defense systems for South Korea, including upgraded missile systems and reinforced military intelligence. "The essence of what we're trying to do is to make sure that the forces we have here on the peninsula can respond quickly and immediately, even before reinforcements arrive, if there were ever to be an attack," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said in Seoul on Monday. The DMZ was established along the armistice line drawn to end hostilities of the 1950-53 Korean War, in which U.S. and South Korean troops fought North Korean and Chinese forces to a standstill. The two-mile-wide, 155-mile-long DMZ has become a de facto border between North Korea and South Korea, which never signed a peace treaty and still are technically at war. The DMZ often is called the most heavily guarded border in the world. During a 1993 visit, then-President Bill Clinton referred to it as "a stark line between safety and danger." U.S. and South Korean troops face North Koreans just feet from each other at the Joint Security Area on the DMZ, where periodic negotiations are held. The hostility is palpable. Two U.S. soldiers were killed there in a fight with North Koreans in 1976. But the bulk of patrols along the DMZ already are conducted by South Korean troops, part of a well-equipped, well-regarded 650,000-member military force. U.S. troops will continue to train with them at positions near the border, today's statement said. In fact, deterrence along the border long has relied on the U.S. ability to call in overwhelming air attacks and firepower -- and ultimately on a nuclear threat. U.S. troops have been called a "tripwire" -- a force whose sacrifice in case of an invasion by the million-man North Korean army would guarantee U.S. retaliation. Americans increasingly have chafed at that role, especially during the periodic public protests against the U.S. troop presence in South Korea. Officially, U.S. officials deny that the demonstrations -- which swelled last year after a U.S. armored vehicle accidentally ran over two young girls -- prompted their considerations. According to the statement released in Seoul, U.S. troops will first move from about 15 bases near the DMZ to two major bases, Camp Casey and Camp Red Cloud, north of Seoul. In a second phase, the statement said, the troops will move to "key hubs south of the Han River," which bisects Seoul. The two countries also agreed to relocate farther south most of the estimated 7,000 troops from the sprawling 8th U.S. Army headquarters in downtown Seoul, though the headquarters itself will remain in the capital. Some South Korean nationalists object to the U.S. presence on prime real estate in the middle of South Korea's capital. Outside the gates of the base, there are regular protests demanding that Americans move. Rumsfeld has ordered a thorough revamping of U.S. military deployments throughout the world. Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith said last week that the new alignment meant "everything is going to move everywhere. There is not going to be a place in the world where it's going to be the same as it used to be." Feith's remarks fueled reports that the other large contingent of U.S. troops in Asia -- based on the Japanese island of Okinawa -- also would be moved. U.S. officials played down that prospect, but they acknowledged that the 25,000 troops there are also subject to the review. |
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