US to divert troops to Iraq

2004-05-17 19:59

Seoul - The United States will redeploy up to four thousand US troops away from the tense border with nuclear-armed North Korea for combat duty in Iraq, South Korean officials said on Monday.

Washington informed Seoul of its plan earlier on Monday and South Korea expressed understanding despite concern about the security threat posed by North Korea's 1.1-million-strong army, officials said.

The redeployment was part of a phased rotation of US forces in Iraq, said Lieutenant Commander Flex Plexico, a Pentagon spokesperson.

"The army looked at various units and recently came to the conclusion that the best unit to provide the support was going to come from South Korea," he said.

The number of US troops to be redeployed to Iraq will not exceed 4 000 of the 37 000 based on the Korean peninsula as a deterrent to the Stalinist state, Kim Sook, head of the foreign ministry's North American affairs bureau told a news briefing.

Media reports said the US troops would be dispatched from South Korea within weeks, although Kim said it could take several months.

Fighting continues

The pull-out comes as Washington struggles to maintain troop numbers in Iraq where fighting continues despite plans for a partial transfer of power next month.

It also coincides with negotiations between Seoul and Washington on plans to realign US forces in South Korea as part of a broader reorganisation of the US post-Cold War military posture.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told US President George W Bush in a telephone call he understood the pull-out was "inevitable" in order to ensure the successful transfer of sovereignty in Iraq, Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

South Korea has previously vigorously opposed any US troop cut here amid increased instability caused by the 19-month nuclear crisis with North Korea. The Yonhap report said the two presidents also discussed the ongoing nuclear stand-off.

Seoul is seeking assurances that the 4,000 troops will return once their Iraq mission is concluded and that their absence would not reduce the deterrent capability of forces deployed here, officials said.

The Pentagon spokesman said it should not be inferred that the move would lead to a permanent reduction of US force levels in South Korea.

Rotation

"Don't draw that link. This is a deployment, it's a rotation," he said.

"When we look at it a few months from now, we'll decide whether it makes more sense for those troops to come back to South Korea or to go somewhere else," he said.

The United States has concluded that it has to jettison plans to reduce troop numbers in Iraq amid deepening insecurity and is hard pressed to maintain numbers following the withdrawal from the coalition of contingents from Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

South Korea has delayed its own plans to deploy 3,000 troops to join the US-led coalition in Iraq on a rehabilitation mission because of security concerns and US officials have said it was unlikely other allies will deploy additional forces as long as the fighting rages there.

- AFP