"Pentagon to shift troops in S. Korea"

[Mike Yared <mikeyared@yahoo.com>]

[so, we're not technically at war anymore?, Mike]

Pentagon to shift troops in S. Korea
By Bill Gertz
Published June 6, 2003
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030606-123328-4429r.htm

    The U.S. military will move thousands of troops
from bases near the border with North Korea to areas
farther south, the Pentagon announced yesterday. 
    Regular exercises, however, will be held along the
tense demilitarized zone separating the two countries,
according to a joint U.S.-South Korean statement. 
    "This process is not something that should wait
until the North Korean nuclear problem is resolved, as
though somehow it's going to weaken our posture," said
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. 
    "On the contrary, it's part of an effort to
strengthen our overall deterrent on the Korean
Peninsula and enhance our ability to defend against a
North Korean attack." 
    Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the
review of U.S. force structure in South Korea was
undertaken after a request from the new South Korean
president, Roh Moo-hyun. 
    Mr. Roh campaigned for president last year on a
wave of public sentiment against the U.S. troop
presence in South Korea. But once in office, he
backtracked and urged that U.S. troops remain in the
country. 
    There is no cutback planned in the total force of
37,000 U.S. troops deployed in South Korea. 
    The plan announced yesterday calls for first
moving 7,000 U.S. soldiers, based in Seoul at the
headquarters of the U.S. Forces Korea command, out of
the city to an area farther south. 
    The second part will involve an initial
consolidation of the 15,000-troop U.S. Army 2nd
Infantry Division to two major bases, known as Camp
Casey and Camp Red Cloud. The consolidation could
begin as early as later this year. 
    Some time next year, the entire division will be
based in what the joint statement said were "hubs"
south of the Han River. 
    A new facility near Osan, where the U.S. Air Force
has forces deployed, will be built for the division,
defense officials said. 
    Currently, the division is deployed in 15 small
camps scattered north of the Han River and close to
the DMZ. 
    South Korean press reports stated that the Seoul
government next year will buy land near Osan and
Pyeongtaek for the U.S. troops. 
    The Pentagon also expects to spend $11 billion
over the next three years to modernize U.S. forces
with about 150 force enhancements. The upgrades will
include the addition of Patriot PAC-3 missile
defenses, deployment of the new Stryker Brigade combat
unit, and the addition of high-speed naval vessels,
according to the U.S. military statement. 
    Defense officials said that if North Korea decided
to attack South Korea, all the U.S. troops currently
based near the border would be forced to retreat under
heavy artillery fire and through clogged urban roads. 
    The redeployment farther south will send a signal
to North Korea that it cannot conduct a lightning
attack on U.S. forces in hopes of a quick victory, the
officials said. 
    Having troops based farther south near Osan also
will signal North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that any
attack would be met with a lightning counterattack by
U.S. and South Korean forces that would drive to the
capital of Pyongyang in the same way U.S. and
coalition forces ousted Saddam Hussein in Iraq. 
    The announcement yesterday followed two rounds of
talks between U.S. and South Korean officials. 
    Assistant Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Cha Young-koo,
who led the South Korean side in the talks, said
continuing regular U.S. military exercises near the
border "will mean that U.S. troops will continue to
play the role of a tripwire to deter war." 
    Defense officials, however, said the military
maneuvers are not meant to put U.S. troops in that
threatened position. "We disagree with that," one
official said. 
    The U.S. side in the talks was led by Richard
Lawless, deputy assistant defense secretary for East
Asia. 
    The move of the infantry division will be the
first major repositioning of U.S. troops since the
Korean War ended in 1953. 
    U.S. officials said the goal of the troop
redeployment is to make the ground forces in South
Korea more capable of conducting quick movement
operations to other hot spots in the region or world. 
    Enhanced U.S. air and sea power also will improve
the military forces' capabilities, the officials said.

    The South Korean redeployment is part of a
Pentagon review of overseas troop bases. Other
potential changes include deploying forces in
Australia and moving troops and forces from Western
Europe to Eastern Europe. Force deployments in Japan
are not expected to change dramatically. 
    Mr. Rumsfeld said in March that large numbers of
U.S. forces in South Korea are "arranged very far
forward, where it's intrusive in their lives." Also,
the troops there are "not very flexible or usable for
other things," he said. 
    He said South Korea "has all the capability in the
world of providing the kind of upfront deterrent that
is needed." 
    U.S. forces can provide stronger air and sea power
and reinforcement capabilities, Mr. Rumsfeld said. 
    Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have remained
high since the war that ended 50 years ago this
October. South Korea's military includes about 650,000
troops that are facing North Korea's 1.1-million-man
army. 
    Most of North Korea's troops are deployed along
the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ, which divides the two countries
along the 38th Parallel. 

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