The Pentagon plans to reduce its role in deterring North Korea, transferring primary responsibility to South Korea. This could lead to a reduction in American troops on the Korean Peninsula.
The Pentagon envisions a "more limited" role in deterring North Korea, with South Korea bearing primary responsibility for the task, according to a policy document released Friday, which could lead to a reduction in U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
Details
South Korea hosts approximately 28,500 U.S. troops as part of a joint defense against the military threat from North Korea, and Seoul has increased its defense budget by 7.5% for this year.
"South Korea is capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited U.S. support," states the 25-page U.S. National Defense Strategy document, which outlines Pentagon policy.
"This shift in the balance of responsibility is consistent with America's interest in updating the posture of U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula," the document says.
In recent years, U.S. officials have expressed a desire to make American forces in South Korea more flexible to potentially operate beyond the Korean Peninsula in response to a wider range of threats, such as defending Taiwan and deterring China's growing military influence, the publication writes.
South Korea has resisted the idea of changing the role of U.S. forces but has worked over the past 20 years to expand its defense capabilities with the goal of taking command of combined U.S. and South Korean forces during wartime. South Korea has 450,000 service members.
According to a U.S. official, the Pentagon's top policy official, Elbridge Colby, is scheduled to visit Asia next week and is expected to visit South Korea.
What else is envisioned
The broad document, published by each new administration, states that the Pentagon's priority is homeland defense. The document says that in the Indo-Pacific, the Pentagon is focused on ensuring that China cannot dominate the United States or U.S. allies.
"This does not require regime change or some other existential struggle. Rather, a dignified peace is possible on terms favorable to Americans, but which China can also accept and live with," the document states, without mentioning Taiwan.
China claims that democratically governed Taiwan is its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
The Pentagon document builds on U.S. President Donald Trump's National Security Strategy, released last year, which stated that the United States would reassert its dominance in the Western Hemisphere, build up military power in the Indo-Pacific, and potentially re-evaluate its relationship with Europe.
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President Trump said on Thursday that the United States has an "armada" heading to Iran but hopes he doesn't have to use it, renewing warnings to Tehran about the dangers of killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program. The deployment of troops to the Middle East expands the options available to Trump, both to better protect American forces in the region at a time of high tension and to take any additional military action after a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. The Pentagon document states that while Iran has suffered setbacks in recent months, it seeks to rebuild its armed forces, and Tehran leaves open the possibility that it may "try to acquire nuclear weapons again." Even with American troops heading to the region, the document states that Israel is an "exemplary ally" and may receive additional capabilities for self-defense. The United States has at times strained relations with Israel over the war in Gaza, the publication notes.
Regarding Europe
Trump's National Security Strategy last year caused outrage among Europeans after it stated that Europe faced "civilizational erasure" and could one day lose its status as a reliable U.S. ally.
The Pentagon's strategic document was more restrained regarding European allies, noting that while the United States would remain engaged in Europe, it would prioritize defending the United States and deterring China.
It noted that Russia would remain a "persistent but manageable" threat to Eastern NATO members, and that the Pentagon would provide Trump with options to "guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key territory" in various parts of the world, including Greenland.
Trump said earlier this week that he had secured full and permanent U.S. access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose Secretary General said allies would need to strengthen their security commitments in the Arctic to deter threats from Russia and China.
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