Trump orders Pentagon to consider reducing U.S. troops in South Korea: New York Times
Fri May 04, 2018 09:28:am World
3.9K By Obiaks Blog
Reports in the US says president Donald Trump is considering reducing the number of troops the U.S. has in South Korea and has ordered the Pentagon to draft options to that effect for him.
The New York Times reports published on Thursday, which cites several sources that had been briefed on the deliberations, said the reasons for the proposed reduction in
the number of U.S. troops are not related to Trump's planned summit in late May or early June with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
The paper, while acknowledging that a full withdrawal of U.S. troops was unlikely, added the officials say a peace treaty between North and South Korea reduces the need for U.S. soldiers (numbering 23,500) stationed on the peninsula.
But according to Reuters News Agency, a U.S. National Security Council official told a visiting South Korean official in Washington via telephone the report was false, the South Korean presidential office said in a statement.
Reuters also noted that South Korea had on Wednesday said the issue of U.S. troops stationed in the South was unrelated to any future peace treaty with North Korea and that American forces should stay even if such an agreement is signed.
Trump had previously stated that unless South Korea considers covering more of the cost of having U.S. troops in the country, then the United States should consider reducing the number of troops they have in South Korea.
The New York Times reports published on Thursday, which cites several sources that had been briefed on the deliberations, said the reasons for the proposed reduction in
the number of U.S. troops are not related to Trump's planned summit in late May or early June with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
The paper, while acknowledging that a full withdrawal of U.S. troops was unlikely, added the officials say a peace treaty between North and South Korea reduces the need for U.S. soldiers (numbering 23,500) stationed on the peninsula.
But according to Reuters News Agency, a U.S. National Security Council official told a visiting South Korean official in Washington via telephone the report was false, the South Korean presidential office said in a statement.
Reuters also noted that South Korea had on Wednesday said the issue of U.S. troops stationed in the South was unrelated to any future peace treaty with North Korea and that American forces should stay even if such an agreement is signed.
Trump had previously stated that unless South Korea considers covering more of the cost of having U.S. troops in the country, then the United States should consider reducing the number of troops they have in South Korea.
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