U.S. Forces to Remain on the Peninsula

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U.S. Forces to Remain on the Peninsula

The U.S. Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, welcomed the scheduled summit between North and South Korea on April 12, saying that the United States had encouraged the North to this end. However, he confirmed the continued presence of U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula in the face of some forecasts that the 37,000 U.S. soldiers currently stationed in the South would be withdrawn.

Cohen didn't forget to praise President Kim Dae-jung's efforts to restore dialogue with Pyongyang, despite condemnation and conflict at home and abroad.

Yonhap News Agency reported that President Kim had clearly expressed his intentions to keep U.S. forces in the nation for security reasons in his meeting with Secretary Cohen. "However, the final decision is up to Seoul and rests on developments in its relations with Pyongyang, though the deployment of U.S. forces in the South is a continuing necessity right now", the agency quoted Cohen as saying.




by Kim Jong-hyuk

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