U.S. to reduce forces in S. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea - A U.S. plan to cut the number of its troops in South Korea by one-third by the end of 2005 will force the South to shoulder more responsibility for defending itself against any North Korean military aggression.

The U.S. plan calls for withdrawing 12,500 of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, according to a statement released Monday by the U.S. military in Seoul. The statement coincided with the beginning of talks between the two allies on another sensitive issue: moving U.S. troops farther south away from the tense border with North Korea.

Those troops were long considered a "tripwire" that would ensure U.S. intervention in the event of an attack from the North. Many in the South also see it as a healthy restraint on the United States, believing Washington won't take military action that could provoke the North when U.S. troops are in harm's way on the border.

The American plans augur the biggest shift in the U.S. troop deployment on South Korean soil since the early 1990s, when the two allies coordinated the removal of 7,000 U.S. soldiers. The new scheme, part of a global realignment of American forces, comes at a time of heightened tension over North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

North Korea was silent Monday on news of the U.S. plan to withdraw troops, but some South Koreans are concerned that their communist neighbor will view the development as a sign of weakness on the part of Washington, its longtime adversary.

China, a major regional power that has preserved its traditional alliance with North Korea while developing close economic ties with South Korea, might also view a withdrawal of troops as an opportunity to expand its influence on the peninsula.

The U.S. delegation in Seoul, led by Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Lawless, told the South Koreans that the troop reduction would not affect U.S. defense capabilities in the theater because the United States plans to bring in more modern weapons systems, according to Kim Sook, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American bureau.

The U.S. troop cut would include some 3,600 soldiers already earmarked for redeployment this summer from South Korea to Iraq, the statement said.

South Korea's 650,000-member military is a modern, well-equipped force that routinely conducts joint training with its U.S. counterparts. Most of the combat-ready troops are concentrated close to the border or around Seoul.

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