S. Korea President: 'No US troops in S. Korea in a decade'

Straits Times ^

[DeaconBenjamin]

SEOUL - President-elect Roh Moo Hyun has suggested that the tens of thousands of US troops in the country since the 1950-53 war could be gone within as little as a decade, giving Seoul responsibility for its own defence.

Facing North-Korea's one-million strong army, South Korea's military is not unprepared, said Mr Roh.

Mr Roh tapped anti-American sentiment as he swept to victory on a manifesto that backed his mentor's 'sunshine policy' of engaging communist North Korea.

'Although we don't know if it might take 10, 20 or 30 years, someone has to consider an independent defence,' Mr Roh told the Seoul International Forum, published in Choongang Ilbo newspaper.

South Korea, which faces North Korea's one-million strong army across the world's most heavily fortified border, was not unprepared, he said.

'Senior military officials have to prepare a plan for a special emergency situation on the Korean peninsula when the US army moves away,' he said

His remarks come amid a growing chorus of calls from conservative US politicians and think-tanks that it may be time to remove the 37,000 US troops in South Korea.

Meanwhile, US business circles have expressed strong complaints over the growing anti-American sentiment, threatening to cut their Korea-bound investments and halt bilateral cooperation projects, the Federation of Korean Industries said yesterday.

It said it has received a letter of protest from the US Chamber of Commerce, containing deep grievances against the spread of hostility towards the United States.

The letter warned the anti-US actions, complicated by the nuclear crisis, could prompt US investors to boycott Korea. --Reuters, Korea Herald/ Asia News Network

[Mo1]

Well .. if we pull out .. they are goners

[Howlin]

You'd think they'd understand that. I'm a believer in giving people what they want.

[NormsRevenge]

If you have never been to South Korea and met any of flesh and blood folks there, I would ask that you couch your terms re: what their fate should be.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

But for the million South Korean refugees that would surely flood California, I would say our troops can't come home soon enough.

[disgruntledinCa]

Get them out. Leave the ROK to their own devices. If nothing else, self-immolation would be interesting to watch. Why should we let our fellow Americans leave their asses on the line in a country that doesn't want us there?

[OReilly]

I am not a military expert

Neither am I, but I think you are correct and I haven't heard any experts explain why we should not say, "In and effort to reduce tensions with the paranoid North, and the ungrateful and soon to be dead South, we are going to begin a repatriation of our unappreciated troops."

an-nyong-hi-kye-ship-shi-yo

[optimistically_conservative]

I am not a military expert, so this all could be really idiotic, but...

Not idiotic at all. There's one problem, the ROK JCS and military are probably squirming uncomfortably right now.

We do need to pull our troops out, starting with moving our troops out of Seoul further South, then pulling out our troops up North.

But make no mistake, as proud and deluded as Roh and S. Koreans may be, they couldn't hold off the N. Koreans right now.

[dogbyte12]

37,000 aren't enough to prevent an onslaught. They are pawns and cannon fodder. We either put in a quarter million troops, or we withdraw. I don't really have an opinion on which option would be better.

[OReilly]

an-nyong-hi-kye-ship-shi-yo...

A formal good-bye...

[Walkingfeather]

Political posturing .... S.koreans are still pissed off about the accident by our military guys that killed 2 girls on the way to school. This guy is just using that to fan the political flames. Realize if we leave so does billions in US dollars that is spent in their country. They would be begging us to stay. This gut is a politician through and through.

[montag813]

'No US troops in S. Korea in a decade'

We should be so lucky. Good riddance and f**k off you ungrateful Korean bastards!

[krb]

Hahahaha!!!!!!

We have China for our cheap stuff, Japan for our fancy stuff, and Europe for our cheese. Do we really need to risk Americans to ensure the safety of a free S. Korea, especially if they are going to spit in our eye?

As long as the S. Korean semiconductor companies have a decade to move to safer shores, I say let's get our 40,000 guys out of harm's way.

[daviddennis]

I would certainly hope that the North Korean regime wouldn't last another decade, therefore making his theory almost certainly correct.

D

[NormsRevenge]

Bump Dat!

[OReilly]

We have China for our cheap stuff, Japan for our fancy stuff, and Europe for our cheese.

Yeah, but where are we going to get the likes of Hyundai and Kia?

[JRandomFreeper]

They are pawns and cannon fodder.

They are people I know and care about and whose e-mail addys I carry in my wallet. I was there last in Sept of 2002 for a couple of weeks. At Osan.

The entire country shut down at the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. Out of honor for our dead.

The local Korean women's auxiluary made silk poppy flowers for all of the American troops on base. Our base commander gave us an order allowing for us to wear them.

It's not either-or. There are creative solutions. We need to use those to protect our S. Korean friends, and render N. Korea toothless (as long as they are talking about WWIII).

/john

[pepsionice]

I think if you look at the way he worded his statement...he has every intention of building UP the South Korean military...probably twice the size it is today. And I would guess massive hardware purchases accompany that. South Korea is part of the Asian economy now and making a lot of money. The entire economy is growing. He knows the money is there.

I suspect his master plan is to help South Korean companies get into the military hardware business...selling to both themselves and other Asian countries...letting North Korean know that they can take them on without US help (which might scare the North slighty)...and force more South Koreans to be part of the military machine. As for the US, we could sure use those 37,000 troops along the border of the US or in the upcoming major Colombian civil war. I say full speed ahead...nobody loses out of this deal.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Bring those guys home and move them to the Mexican border immediately!