Posted on 02/13/2003 2:42:27 PM PST by AntiGuv
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday he wanted to shift U.S. forces away from the fortified border between North and South Korea and perhaps remove some of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South.
Rumsfeld said no final plan had been developed for realignment of the long American military presence in the south, but that South Korea's President-elect Roh Moo-hyun had asked the United States to study the bilateral relationship.
His comments to the Senate Armed Services Committee came at a sensitive time for relations between longtime allies Seoul and Washington and as the Pentagon openly reviews the post-Cold War balance of U.S. forces deployed around the world.
South Korea has been rocked by recent anti-American protests and the United States is seeking Seoul's help in resolving a crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"For one thing, I would like to see a number of our forces move away from the Seoul area and from near the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), and be more oriented toward an air hub and a sea hub" in the area, Rumsfeld testified.
He did not say whether such large hubs for facilitating the easy movement of U.S. troops around the world might be inside or near South Korea, but added that "with our improved capabilities of moving people, some of those forces (could) come home."
FORCES BEING STUDIED
The secretary said that Army Gen. Leon LaPorte, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, had been studying the alignment of American forces on the peninsula for months.
"It is quite clear to me that ... the deployments we have, for example, in Korea can be reviewed in cooperation with the South Korean government," Rumsfeld told senators.
"And, as matter of fact, the new president of South Korea has suggested that we look at our relationship and see if we (can) rebalance it in some way. And I have accepted that invitation."
The U.S. military has maintained a stabilizing military presence in South Korea since the Korean War a half century ago.
But that presence has become increasingly controversial in the past year, with some critics in the south accusing the Bush administration of hindering closer ties between Seoul and Pyongyang's hardline government in the north.
The issue of alleged crimes committed by U.S. troops in the south has also become a subject of tension.
The U.S. military in South Korea said on Thursday it had put an American soldier on trial for charges including sodomy and aggravated assault against a South Korean soldier, in a case that could reignite anti-American feelings.
STATUS OF FORCES AGREEMENT
The statement said South Korean authorities had transferred jurisdiction of the case to the U.S. Army, although the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) gives the host country the right to try the case because the alleged crime did not occur during official duties.
Late last year, large numbers of South Koreans protested over the SOFA pact and the U.S. military presence in the country after the acquittal of two soldiers involved in a road accident in which an armored vehicle crushed two schoolgirls to death.
The accident occurred during a training mission and the soldiers were tried by a U.S. army tribunal under SOFA provisions giving the U.S. military jurisdiction of official duty cases.
South Korean emotions in the case were fanned by local media reports alleging the soldiers had intentionally run over the girls and that the U.S. Army had not apologized or compensated the victims' families. Some activists continue to protest.
The accident prompted several apologies to South Korea from President Bush and resulted in bilateral agreements to improve the implementation of SOFA rules governing the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South.
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