Seoul, Washington agree to slower troop withdrawal

WASHINGTON ― South Korea and the United States have reached an agreement on a more gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops from the peninsula, South Korean officials said yesterday.
“The U.S. side agreed to postpone the timetable from 2005 to 2008, but the number of troops cut will remain the same,” said a South Korean official involved in the talks. In May, Washington said it would cut a third of the 37,500 U.S. troops stationed in Korea by the end of next year, prompting concerns in Seoul of a sudden security vacuum. South Korea had been asking the United States to put off the planned cutback to 2007 or possibly 2008.
The United States will pull 5,000 troops, including the 3,600 already redeployed to Iraq, before the end of this year, the official said. By 2008, the remaining 7,500 will be withdrawn gradually, he added.
“The defense ministries of the two countries are currently adding their final touches to the agreement, and the timeline of the troop cut will likely be announced before the upcoming security consultation,” the official said. “The agreement could be announced as early as this week.” The two countries’ defense chiefs are scheduled to meet at their annual security meeting here on Oct. 22.
Another South Korean Defense Ministry official also said the two countries are working on how to phase the number of troops to be cut. “Our requests will be largely accepted,” he said.
Another concession was also made on the U.S. side, Seoul officials said. The United States agreed to alter its troop cut program by excluding the two multiple-launch rocket system units from the withdrawal. The units are the core U.S. firepower deployed to counter North Korea’s long-range artillery, heavily dug in along the inter-Korean border. After Washington told Seoul that it would include one of the two units in the troop cut plan, concerns about weakened deterrence against the North were raised in the South.
South Korean Defense Ministry officials said the newly agreed deadline for the troop cut better coincides with previously-agreed changes in missions of the two sides forces.
After the agreement to relocate Yongsan Garrison outside of Seoul and pull the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division from the border, the two countries agreed that South Korea would take charge of 10 missions by 2006, including counter-artillery operations.

by Kang Chan-ho, Kim Min-seok