Seoul Denies US Official’s Troop Withdrawal Threat

Korea Times | June 10 2005

South Korea Tuesday flatly denied a media report early Thursday that a U.S. official threatened to withdraw U.S. troops unless Seoul accepts Washington’s request for more strategic flexibility.

Deputy Defense Minister for Policy Ahn Kwang-chan told reporters that although he met U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless on Monday, there were ``no such words spoken’’ during the luncheon meeting that has been reported by the newspaper.

``How can a deputy undersecretary make such remarks when the defense ministers from the allied powers have had a good discussion (on the pending issues in Singapore),’’ he said. ``There was no such comment even in jest.’’

Lee Kyu-hyung, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, also denied the news report saying, though an official at his ministry met Lawless and had comprehensive talks on various issues including ``strategic flexibility,’’ there were no such remarks reported.

In the June 9 edition of the daily Hankyoreh, a front-page article stated that Lawless, who visited Seoul from Saturday to Monday, made the intimidating remarks while meeting with officials from the Ministry of National Defense and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Allied for more than 50 years since the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korea and the U.S. have faced some difficult challenges of realigning the alliance as both countries have developed different security perspectives from the past.

Officials from Seoul and Washington say, despite some problems in the course of restructuring, a variety of pending issues related to the alliance have been solved relatively smoothly.

But conservative forces in South Korea, as well as some U.S. hardliners, have often attacked the Roh Moo-hyun administration’s policy on the alliance.

The latest controversy of the alliance was the U.S. plan to give more agility and flexibility to its troops stationed abroad, including the 32,000-strong USFK, possibly enabling the U.S.-South Korea combined forces to be dispatched outside the Korean Peninsula in case of emergency.

However, Roh has made it clear that it must object to an idea that may entangle his country in a regional conflict outside the peninsula.

``Officials can discuss any problems pertaining to the alliance,’’ a senior official in Seoul said on condition of anonymity. ``But, I think this time there was a misinterpretation by the media. We don’t need to be so touchy about the misled report ahead of an important summit, do we?’’

Roh departed for Washington later in the afternoon for a summit meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday when the two leaders would talk about the alliance as well as the North Korean nuclear problem.