Peace in Korea won’t bring U.S. troops home
McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — With new troops rotating to South Korea from Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Sill, Okla., the Pentagon says it’s too soon to consider withdrawing U.S. troops even as the two countries discuss ending the war that has been stalemated for almost 70 years.
Talk of peace on the Korean Peninsula brings up a strange scenario for the Pentagon. The Defense Department has numerous planning books for all manner of military scenarios with different countries, but not necessarily directions for preparing for peace.
The interest in whether to keep the more than 25,000-troop U.S. presence along the Korean Peninsula was piqued when South Korean President Moon Jae-In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met April 27 to discuss denuclearization and the possible end to the Korean War.
Mike Carpenter, a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration, said he’s unaware of any Defense Department planning that outlines a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.
“We’re in kind of unchartered territory as far as what this means and what the Trump, Kim negotiations bring out,” Mr. Carpenter said, referring to the planned summit between President Donald Trump and Mr. Kim, possibly later this month.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of pulling the more than 25,000 troops from South Korea, but his military leaders this weekend reaffirmed the United State’s ‘ironclad commitment’ to defending South Korea.
“We continue to provide military options to the president,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman. “That is what the DOD does. Obviously this is squarely in the diplomatic lane at this point.”
Reports surfaced late Thursday tha Mr. Tump has asked the Pentagon to study a possible reduction in U.S. forces in South Korea.
Families of Fort Hood and Fort Sill, which is a 2½hour drive outside of Fort Worth, as well as their leaders, welcome talks of peace after months of heightened rhetoric between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim. But they’re also cautious.
“As a representative of thousands of soldiers stationed at Fort Hood, I always prefer to see diplomacy prevail over war,” said Rep. John Carter, RTexas. “But as history has taught us, it’s crucial to remain vigilant where the North Korean regime is concerned.”