The Pentagon has been adamant that it has no plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops in South Korea. “Not even a subject of the discussions,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters traveling with him this month. “We’re not going anywhere.”
But when Mike Pompeo was asked by a reporter in Singapore Monday if the security assurances the U.S. has prepared to offer North Korea leader Kim Jong Un might include a discussion of removing U.S. forces now in South Korea, the secretary of state did not rule it out.
“I’m not going to get into any of the details of the discussions that we’ve had today,” Pompeo said at an early even briefing for the press. “I can only say this: We’re prepared to take what will be security assurances that are different, unique than have been provided, that America’s been willing to provide previously.”
The U.S. has some 28,500 troops permanently stationed in South Korea, and routinely moves more troops in and out for military exercises with the South.
Last month, the New York Times reported that President Trump wants to withdraw American troops because South Korea doesn’t adequately compensate the U.S. for the cost, and said Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare contingency plans for a potential drawdown.
The Pentagon was quick to issue a full denial. “The story is false. The president has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman. “The Department of Defense’s mission in South Korea remains the same, and our force posture has not changed.”
Speaking to reporters on his way back from an annual defense conference in Singapore, Mattis said he has no idea where the report originated.
“I really don’t know where this stuff comes from, “ he lamented. “Once someone’s made it up, however, apparently it gets a life of its own. Someone picks it up, and someone else said so, too.”
Mattis insisted there has been no consideration of drawing down troops. “No, it never comes up.”
The Pentagon says troop levels in South Korea are a joint decision of the U.S., South Korea and the United Nations under terms of the treaty that ended the Korean War in 1953.
But the wild card here is President Trump himself, who will be in the room with Kim and two translators, and no one can predict with certainly what he may do.
At his news conference, Pompeo warned reporters not to read too much into his open-ended statement that the security assurances the U.S. is willing to offer will be unprecedented.
“You should assume that I’m simply refusing to tell you,” he said, while passing up the opportunity to deny the issue is the table, as Mattis has. “We are not going to conduct these negotiations in the open with the media. We’re going to conduct them between the two parties, so that we have an opportunity to have a real success here.”
Most of the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are located in the fortress-like Camp Humphreys, a 3,500-acre base renovated and expanded over the past decade to include all the comforts of a small American city, along with the standard complement of airstrips and firing ranges.
The base now has room for more than 35,000 troops, if needed.
