Wolfowitz Says U.S. Troops Must Adapt in Korea

Reuters ^ | Sunday, June 1, 2003 | Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

CAMP GREAVES, South Korea (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Sunday changes in U.S. and South Korean forces were needed to exploit North Korea's weaknesses and match similar moves by "the enemy" in Pyongyang.

"We have an enemy, for all its crudeness, that keeps adapting, keeps looking for our weaknesses, to try to exploit them," Wolfowitz told U.S. troops near the demilitarized zone between South Korea and the communist North, grouped with Iran and prewar Iraq by Washington in an "axis of evil."

"We have to keep adapting and fixing our weaknesses and exploiting the enemy's."

Wolfowitz, a key advocate of the use of U.S. power, is the most senior Pentagon official to visit East Asia since the Bush administration took office two years ago.

Officials said the two-day stopover in Seoul aimed to correct what they called misrepresentations by political opponents of South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun of U.S. plans for military restructuring.

Wolfowitz said "there are real opportunities for both U.S. forces and Korean forces to be more efficient, more effective, more deadly and better deterring.

"Not that we're not good right now, but with that enemy up there you want to be as good as you possibly can," he said.

Citing lessons from the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said he would urge South Korean officials to expand their capability to use air and ground forces in speedy joint operations.

Wolfowitz said protection provided by U.S. forces had helped South Korea build one of the world's strongest democracies.

Two decades ago, some people "thought somehow that those weird people up north would have the better of it (but) it's pretty clear now that time is on our side," he added.

Washington backed the South in the 1950-53 Korea War, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, meaning the North and South are technically still at war.

Wolfowitz insists no decisions have been made on troop realignments in Asia -- part of a restructuring of forces worldwide. It has 37,000 troops in South Korea.

LIFE AND DEATH

But experts with close contacts in Seoul told Reuters South Koreans feared Washington would foist changes on them. "They see this as a life-and-death issue. They are afraid the United States may be presenting them with a fait accompli," one said.

The Los Angeles Times said last week Washington was considering moving most of the 20,000 Marines out of Okinawa, Japan, to new bases in Australia; increasing the presence of U.S. troops in Singapore and Malaysia; and seeking to locate Navy ships in Vietnamese waters and ground troops in the Philippines.

Wolfowitz said he did not think the report on Okinawa "will be entertained at any serious level or in any serious way."

He said there was "no realism in thinking about naval bases in Vietnam" and since the Philippines several years ago forced Washington to abandon long-standing bases there "I don't see a prospect of them wanting us back."

Australia supported the controversial Iraq war, but its isolated location makes it less than ideal for a permanent U.S. base, U.S. officials say.

Adding to anxiety in Seoul is that troop changes are being discussed during a crisis over North Korea's apparently determined efforts to produce nuclear weapons.

Seoul says its units on the DMZ are poorly equipped compared to U.S. units and if American troops withdrew, it would have to spend millions of dollars to compensate.

[7 x 77]

Seoul says its units on the DMZ are poorly equipped compared to U.S. units and if American troops withdrew, it would have to spend millions of dollars to compensate.

This is a good thing.

[kellynla]

Time to remove the troops from Korea and place them on the Mexican and Canadian borders.